6s vs Civil Service 8s 03.10.15

Starting 11
Dharmesh – GK
Matt Haswell – RB
Martin Quinlann – LB
Mark Chappell – CB
Darren Avey – CB
George Hall – RM
Ram – LM
Marvin Redmond – CM
Dave – CM
Kyle Smith – CF
Pete – CF

Subs
John Katandika
Paul Onomor

After some shuffling about of players between the 5’s and 6’s we finally managed to agree a last minute switch of Marvin Redmond from the 5’s to the 6’s to start with 11 and two subs on the way stuck in traffic.  It was also new guy Pete’s first game against his old club.

After neither teams really taking a grip of the game, it was fairly open without there being any clear cut opportunities.  Dharmesh made a couple of saves and tipped a shot bound for the top corner over the post.  Matt Haswell’s early freekick cleared the wall but didn’t drop quick enough to be a threat and Kyle Smith’s shot from distance was tipped round the post by the keeper.  About half hour into the first half one of the Civil Serivce players went down with suspected knee ligament causing a delay of about 5-10 mins.  Shortly after the restart we were caught napping and a quick one-two left the striker one on one with Dharmesh and slotted the ball into the net.

At half time new players John and Paul replaced George and Kyle giving us a much needed boost of energy.  Paul created well down the right causing the Civil Service right back a lot of problems.  Merton pressed well creating a few good chances, most notably Martin Quinlann bombing down the left hitting a well struck volley, which was equally well saved by the keeper.  With about 15 Merton were caught on the break again resulting in us going 2-0 down.  After a quick restart we got a freekick in a promising position just outside the box.  Up steps Mark Chappell, the ball went up and over the wall, missing Dave’s head by mere millimeters and bounced in the bottom corner untouched by anyone.  2-1 with 10 to go, game on.

As Merton pressed for the equaliser Civil countered on the break again, Dharmesh got a good hand to the ball as Mark chased the striker down, sliding in to prevent the goal, unfortunately missing and to add unsult to injur he collided with the post.  The post came away unscathed, but left Mark with a good sized hole in his shin.

MOM – Mark Chappell