The Days Between
Nothing much happens between the matches, just me looking for some more cheap, exciting young prospects.
FA Vase Third Round
at Salisbury, 7 October 2017
Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Legg,
Maguire,
Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson,
Barlow, Smith,
Duckett,
Macey,
O'Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone,
Clark,
Spearing, Parker, Jones,
Donaldson, McAdam, Martin,
Taylor,
Rae
Interesting, the odds of us winning are even. I’ll have a say in that! Oh well, only Macey was inspired by my speech. Our first goal is Smith’s first career goal. It comes off a corner, kinda. It gets headed or kicked toward the goal four times so I don’t think it really counts as a set piece goal. The drought goes on. Four minutes later they pull one back on yet another horrible clearance by Chicken Leg. At 33’ we pull back ahead thanks to Macey, with Pearson providing the assist. Just before the half we extend our lead from a Macey cross from the byline to O’Donnell’s noggin.
Maguire picked up a bruised ankle early in the first so I sub him out to get Clark some DR time. Just over a minute later Barlow gets in on the action courtesy of a long pass from Macey to Benny and his low cross. The rest of the half goes smoothly and we’re on to the next round!
POM: Ben O’Donnell (3 goals, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
The news on Maguire is as good as could be expected, out for 1 to 3 days. He’ll miss the FA Trophy match against Sheppey so Clark will get a start at DR. New arrival Martin Duggan will be our sub for left DC and Spearing will be the sub at right DC.
The Days Between
FA Vase Fourth Round Draw is today and we are the first team chosen from the pot and we get to face Soham. Mmm…ham… Soham are a level above us but are 17th out of 24 teams in the Isthmian Division 1 North. I feel confident.
I also look at the league stats page and evidently we’ve scored two goals off of corners. Go figure!
The Sheppey United team report comes in and they only have 4 non-grey players and one of them is injured. I think I’ll field my Second XI. Maybe even give the newbies some real match time.
FA Trophy Third Round
at Sheppey, 10 October 2017
Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Webb, Clark, Spearing,
Duggan, Parker,
Cullen, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin,
Rae
Subs: Friend, Johnstone,
Carroll, Smith,
Donaldson, Duckett,
Nixcon
And they’re off! Just before 4’ Martin sends a cross to the far post for an easy goal by Jones. But they pull one back 7 minutes later off a free kick that bounces around leaving their right CD alone with Webb. Why are we conceding so much recently?! Jones and Rae spend the rest of the half sending balls wide or off the crossbar. I tell the lads to get their act together. I have to bring off Cullen as he’s exhausted. I also switch the tactic to Attacking.
Six minutes in and Clark shows me he can play DR. He crosses from the right corner and it meets Martin a yard out from the far post and Martin puts in a nice header. I was hoping that Duggan would be the only one with a debut but with Rae doing nothing worth a damn I bring in Nixon as Shadow Striker and move Taylor up to Poacher. I really wanted to get Taylor a full game at AMC as he’s not improved at all in that arena. My changes pay off within 4 minutes as Martin feeds Taylor and we’re up 3-1. Thankfully the rest of the match passes without much happening.
Nixon had a good debut though he only rated a 6.7, which surprises me as he had a lot of good passes near the box. Duggan had a 6.4 so that was not too exciting.
POM: Sam Martin (1 goal, 2 assists, 6 key passes, 3 chances created)
