DUNDONALD
CHASE F.C. |
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PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY CAMPAIGN, RESULT SUMMARY:
After all the good work in our pre-season campaign so far, it was disappointing that we ended it off with a deplorable performance against the weakest team that we have played so far. To have played so well against Erskine and to have played so below par in this match was disappointing. A very hard and uneven surface may go someway to explaining the lack of fluency in the passing. We generally controlled proceedings early on and got off to a flyer, after Dave executed a glorious lob to put as ahead early on. Later on, Richie broke free and coolly slotted past the advancing keeper to make it two. At this point we looked odds on for another win, but we had no killer instinct or desire to destroy our opponents, a soft penalty and even softer goal conceded late on from a free kick, dampened our enthusiasm. We can reflect on missed opportunities, Falcons also missed a few themselves, but this performance was poor. It leaves us uncertain of our future, as things had looked so much brighter before today.
Chase’s toughest friendly opponents yet, as Steve Yeeles outfit are two divisions above with a realistic chance of winning their division. Erskine came out of the starting blocks and got in behind Dundonald on quite a few occasions but were just foiled by desperate defending. The game evened itself out midway through the first half at which time Erskine struck an excellent first goal from outside the area. Having gained considerable confidence over the past few weeks, it wasn't long before Dundonald got their equaliser through a wonderful 25 yarder from young Gary Lenny. The second half saw Chase step up a gear with Gary L, Damien and John being particularly effective at getting at their opponents, thus helping us go 2-1 up, through another from Man Of The Match Gary Lenny's strike from a pressured Dundonald build up this time blasting home a shot inside a crowded penalty area. The game went 2-2 from a well flighted Erskine ball and a well executed strike from Erskine’s number 10. Both teams were at this point using fill in keepers, which helped Dundonald score their third - as his their keeper's poor clearance fell to Richie just inside Erskine’s half which he duly repaid with a first time lob over the scrambling keeper into the unguarded net for a goal to treasure. A dubious equaliser followed from Erskine’s number 10 straight from the kick off. GK and Manager Ed was still shuffling the pack and making substitutions when the ref. lost concentration and allowed the strike from the re-start to count which was met with fierce Dundonald protests. Then Damion lapsed on to an excellent through ball to strike home Chase’s fourth before poor defending / goal keeping allowed our opponents to equalise. We must learn from this game in future if we wish to end up CHAMPIONS.
Chase started slowly but never looked in too much danger throughout the match and just as we were beginning to open Real up, Damion burst free on the right and played an intelligent cross to Leroy at the far post, who took the ball expertly down on his chest before unleashing a wicked shot from 10 yards. The second half was cut short due to the failing light, but with the sun returning in the second half this half seemed to be prolonged and with Chase hitting post and bar one from Ed, the other from Damion and Real not making the most of their two openings it was a tight finish until man of the match Damion finished them off with an exquisite lob. The game was a competitive affair as you would expect for a local derby match, which makes the result that little bit more sweeter, bring on the league games!
No match report available
The game started slowly for us, but after a couple of early scares the white and black army began to take control, buoyed by a high work rate. Just as this was happening we lost the ball in the Mulladween half, then a long ball forward set their forward on to goal and they smashed the ball past the on coming Leroy for 1-0. It didn’t take the Chase long to get their deserved equaliser when Richie drilled a header through the players on the goal line and crashing into the net from an excellently flighted corner from the tireless Adrian Dilworth. The rest of the half saw a more relaxed and dominant Chase performance but the most impressive part was the relentless pressure we put Mulladween under. This pressure created a second Dundonald goal, new centre forward David and Gary Lenny were again closing their relevant opponents down which ended with 2005/06 Player Of The Season Matty Aitken (the baby face assassin!) poaching the ball off the keeper to slot into an empty net. Half-time came with Chase still in the ascendancy. Leroy came out of goal which he kindly offered to do, to be followed by Adrian then Rob later, we seemed to miss Adrian’s work rate in the early parts of the second half as it was a much more even 45 minutes. The goals came early in that half from two well crafted moves, the first one from a Dave run down the left flank, a precision cross found Leroy free at the back post who finished well passed the Mulladween keeper. Next came a great run to the byline by Gary Lenny, who then found Dave at the far post, who scored well with his head to mark his debut with a goal. That’s the way it stayed, a great early confidence booster against a side who are fancied by Chase to do well in our division this year. Special mention to Rob who had a fantastic game at the back - Man Of The Match.
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