DUNDONALD CHASE F.C.
NEWS ARCHIVE

24 November 2002 - Morden & District League Division 10 v. Sutton Heritage (at Cheam Rec.)

Sutton Heritage 3 (1)
39,62,pen 89
DCFC 4 (2)
Glenn M 11, Nick 22 90, Damien 46

Shirin was awesome - surely a top 3 finish in the Man Of The Match votes

After over 8 years of being in existence, a club record was set today - Four consecutive wins in one season. Unfortunately the other record - 3 straight games without conceding didn't go. A chance of another club record - going top of the table for the first time, wasn't quite achieved - we needed Cheam Rangers Reserves and Merton Rangers Reserves to draw.

In what were testing conditions (very heavy pitch), we probably got off to one of the worst starts in a game this season. For the first 10 minutes, we were being run ragged and were struggling to get a hold on the game. It was Glenn who helped to end this nervy start, as he got his first goal of the season, after bundling the ball over the line from a scramble. It was also a vital goal in this game, as we took the lead, somewhat against the run of play. Heritage continued to cause us problems, the absence of James at the back, was beginning to show as we looked very uneasy at times. Shirin however, was having the game of his life, making some exceptionally vital interceptions to prevent Sutton from getting through. Having only just started to settle down, we then got number two, when slick Nick coolly slotted his shot into the bottom corner. We didn't feel that we deserved our lead, but what the heck, it's all about taking your chances. So now, two goals to the good we settled down and started to play a bit of the good football, that we have been enjoying of late, but Sutton were giving as good as they got. When Matt came racing out of goal and in the process, slid out of his area, Shirin did well to hold the forward up, but the goal was virtually exposed and the resulting strike was then cleared off the line by Glenn. This was soon followed by a clearance from Allen, which was played straight down the middle and the Heritage forward beat Matty on a one-on-one to bring Sutton back into the game.

Like last week, a one-goal lead at half-time seemed too fragile, we needed to get the game by the scruff of the neck to prevent Sutton from getting back into it and what a way to start, as Damien rounded 2 players and fired his shot into the far corner, wild celebrations followed - goal of the season so far ? It wouldn't be a long way off. Unfortunately for us, we were to be pegged back as Sutton scored from a spell of possession that they were enjoying, you had the feeling it was going to be one of those games. Both sides had spells of attacking, we were probably at this stage just about on top. Matt pulled off a good save to keep us hanging on, Sutton hit the bar and then Shirin pulled off a good save (hang on, he's not a keeper), the referee had no option but to award a penalty. A lot of protests followed, as the referee blew, only seconds earlier and this resulted in a lot of players freezing as a result of it, not quite sure what was going on, but penalty it was. With only a minute left on the clock, Sutton seemed to have got the equaliser and it looked as if we weren't going to extend our winning run. Then, with stoppage time being played, Ed played a nice ball through to Nick, who instinctively struck, with the keeper getting a hand to it, but it wasn't enough, as the ball hit the back of the net.

With only another minute of stoppage time left, we held on to continue this impressive run, which sees us go second in Division 10 and set a new club record.