FM12 Eastwood Town (2012 BSBN Champs)

[Poli]

06 Oct 2012

Eastwood, 8-1-2 (3rd)
@
Ebbsfleet, 4-1-6 (16th)

Dry, 46 degrees


Ladapo, ZC

Andrews, Gardner, Dyer

Daniel, Joyce, Troke, Caines, Bailey

Gilpin


Cooper, Elliott, Benjamin, Lacey, Rewbury

[Poli]

4: Despite having the opening kickoff, Ebbs takes charge. A free kick is awarded and the result is the ball unintentionally bounds off a different Ebbs player and into the net. 0-1

16: Another free kick awarded to Ebbs near our net...Gilpin leaps and snatches this one.

20: Caines is called for a foul inside the penalty area. Gilpin makes a great save to keep Ebbs out!

21: Our first chance...Andrews dumps the ball into the penalty area and Ladapo takes a weak shot off to the left of the net.

33: Dyer with a yellow for tripping

36: ZC with his first opportunity, Andrews dumping it in to him on the right side...but ZC doesn't connect and sends it wide left.

43: ZC forces a corner. Gardner throws in to Troke, Troke heads into the bar and back out. Cleared by Ebbs.

45: Bailey a yellow for tripping.

[Poli]

Despite some late chances, it just appears we're overmatched. Ladapo's and ZC's shots came on a bit off of counter action...we just don't look good defensively against these guys.

[Poli]

52: Caines a yellow for shirt pulling. More tripping, less pulling!

67: Sub time: Lacey for ZC, Cooper for Bailey, Elliott for Gardner. Looking and hoping for some pop.

83, 85: We get our break. We get Ladapo in the clear and he splits the defense. Just the keeper to beat and he can't get it done! Tipped away for a corner. GAH! The corner is cleared and 2 minutes later Troke fires a weak shot at the keeper.

90+4: With the defense playing as aggressively forward as possible, Ebbs makes us pay, Gilpin is forced to come up as Ebbs breaks away and the pass to the opposite side leaves a nearly wide open net. 0-2

[Poli]

Happy to get out of there. That match sucked on all sorts of levels.


Ladapo 5.9, ZC 6.6

Andrews 6.6, Gardner 6.5, Dyer 6.5

Daniel 6.7, Joyce 6.6, Troke 6.1, Caines 6.6, Bailey 6.3

Gilpin 6.7


Cooper 6.5, Elliott 6.5, Benjamin, Lacey 6.7, Rewbury

[Poli]

Next match is at home against Altrincham (19th) in a week.

[Poli]

My apologies for not writing lately. Baby, work, some weekend football and family, and correspondence courses have been taking their toll.

[Poli]

Well, work is out (let me go Thursday), so I should have more time.

[Poli]

13 Oct 2012

Altrincham, 4-0-8 (19th)
@
Eastwood, 8-1-3 (5th)

Dry, 48 degrees


Ladapo, ZC

West, Andrews, Dyer

Daniel, Joyce, Troke, Caines, Bailey

Gilpin


Cooper, Barrett, Benjamin, Lacey, Rewbury



Caines and Bailey are on yellow card warnings.

[Poli]

Not a lot to say about this one. Altrincham scored the only goal in the 27th minute. Bailey picked up his yellow and he'll sit out the next match.

We only had 2 shots (out of 11) on target. We had our chances, we just failed to make the most of it.

[Poli]

Ladapo 6.3, ZC 6.8

West 6.7, Andrews 6.6, Dyer 6.6

Daniel 6.7, Joyce 7.1, Troke 6.1, Caines 7.1, Bailey 6.6

Gilpin 6.8


Cooper 6.4, Barrett 6.5, Benjamin, Lacey, Rewbury 6.7


Joyce suffered a thigh strain. He's out for 4-5 weeks.
Daniel gashed his leg. He's out 3-4 weeks.

1,635 in attendance.

[Poli]

Rodney Polston took several questions about the previous match and player performance from The Non-League Paper and Pitchero Non-League in the wake of Eastwood's 0 - 1 Blue Square Bet Premier defeat against Altrincham.

A journalist from The Non-League Paper chose the main focus point for the conference, asking, "You must feel robbed after that! How on earth did you lose it?"

Polston's response was, "We didn't take our chances well enough, while they were clinical in front of goal. We have to learn from this."

[Poli]

Our next match is in 3 days against 1st place Crewe. I'm terribly excited.

[Poli]

14 Oct 2012

We draw a road game at Mansfield in the FA Cup. They're currently 16th in our division. Match to be held on 27 Oct.

[Poli]

Crewe: 1-6 (Fav) Draw: 5-1 Eastwood: 10-1 (Blue Square Bet Premier)

Recently relegated Crewe should face little, if any, problems in overcoming what are vastly inferior opposition in the shape of newly-promoted Eastwood, according to Sky Bet.

Eastwood have been playing above all expectations so far this season and find themselves in 6th place in the Blue Square Bet Premier. Eastwood can overtake a number of teams including Gateshead and move as high as 3rd if they win their next game.

Crewe are currently on a seven match unbeaten run and the promotion contenders are enjoying 1st place in the Blue Square Bet Premier.

The referee for the match will be Richard Wigglesworth from Rotherham who has shown 18 yellow cards and no red cards in his seven Blue Square Bet Premier games so far this season. Wigglesworth's last Eastwood Town match was Eastwood's convincing 3 - 0 Blue Square Bet Premier victory over Tamworth on Saturday 22nd September.

[Poli]

16 Oct 2012

Eastwood, 8-1-4 (6th)
@
Crewe, 10-2-1 (1st)

Dry, 42 degrees


Ladapo, Barrett

Elliott, Dyer, Gardner

Benjamin, Rewbury, Caines, Troke, Hanson

Gilpin


Cooper, Montgomery, Ashton, Andrews, Lacey


With Joyce, Bailey, and Daniel all out...it doesn't look good. ZC is a bit on the tired side and will sit this one out. I plan on getting Ashton in the game, regardless of the result.

[Poli]

Crewe is starting a stud 16 year old in the midfield. He's making his professional debut today...kind of a slap in the face.

[Poli]

The match wasn't as bad as would have been expected. It wasn't as good as the final score suggested either.

Crewe wins, 2-1. Crewe took a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the match and finally some of our defense showed up. Ashton, Montgomery and Lacey all took the field at the half. Ash and Monty for Troke and Rewbury...neither Troke or Rewbury were having good games. Barrett was nicked in the first half so Lacey came on.

Lacey scored late on a header. I did my due diligence and told the team to take the fight to them but it just wasn't going to happen. We were simply outmatched. Outshot 15-3 and we only had possession 31% of the time.

Their little stud outperformed most of my team.

[Poli]

Ladapo 6.8, Barrett 6.1

Elliott 6.8, Dyer 5.8, Gardner 6.8

Benjamin 5.7, Rewbury 5.7, Caines 5.9, Troke 5.3, Hanson 6.5

Gilpin 6.6


Cooper, Montgomery 6.8, Ashton 6, Andrews, Lacey 7.4

[Poli]

Barrett twisted his knee. He's out 4-5 weeks.

[Poli]

We host 2nd place Forest Green in four days.

[Poli]

Steve Lacey becomes the youngest goalscorer in team history at 16 years old and 71 days.

[Poli]

17 October 2012

Richard Cooper suggests a team meeting.

It's time to fight.

[Poli]

Calmly, I enter the room and say, "I really want to ensure our heads don't drop. Things haven't been going our way but we've got the ability in this team to change our fortunes."

I go on to blah blah blah, fight team fight. Win one for the Barrett. I wish David Lee was here. That pond scum sucking Kallum Keane deserted us. Well, some of that is true.

I seem to have motivated all of them to an extent.

Captain Graham Barrett steps up.

"We need to buck our ideas up and we need to do it soon."

Alright. Don't let Graham talk again.

Let's turn to Richard Cooper. Please don't say anything stupid, Coop.

"I agree with Graham."

There you have it. I have a room full of...something on the team.

[Poli]

I can't end that meeting fast enough.

[Poli]

Caines reacted the best. He probably thought I was talking about him when I mentioned Keane.

No one reacted badly. Everyone came away motivated.

My book will be available on Ibooks in the near future.

[Poli]

Eastwood: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Forest Green: 4-6 (Fav) (Blue Square Bet Premier)

Newly-promoted Eastwood are up against it in their home encounter against Forest Green, according to Sky Bet.

Eastwood have been playing above all expectations so far this season and find themselves in 6th place in the Blue Square Bet Premier. By winning the upcoming match, Eastwood can move up to 5th in the standings and will hope to leapfrog Gateshead.

Forest Green have been playing above all expectations so far this season and find themselves in 2nd place in the Blue Square Bet Premier.

The referee for the match will be John Hopkins from Southend-on-Sea who has shown 25 yellow cards and one red card in his nine Blue Square Bet Premier games so far this season.

[Poli]

20 Oct 2012

Forest Green, 10-1-3 (2nd)
@
Eastwood, 8-1-5 (6th)

Drizzle, 44 degrees


Ladapo, ZC

Andrews, Elliott, Gardner

Benjamin, Troke, Caines, Hanson, Bailey

Gilpin


Cooper, Parsonage, Lacey, Dyer, Rewbury


Caines continues to be on yellow card watch. Forest Green is expected to bring the pain with an aggressive attack formation.

ZC hasn't scored in 379 minutes.

[Poli]

As expected, Forest comes out with a very aggressive 4-3-3.

It's just halftime, but it hasn't worked for them yet. While they had a number of shots early, we've been able to take advantage with counters to put us in some good shot opportunities. We haven't made the most of them, but Gardner did take a corner to Caines who headed the boy off two bars to go in.

We take the halftime lead, 1-0, not really losing much on possession or in shots taken. In fact, nearly all of our shots have been on target while just one of theirs has been.

Bailey did pick up a yellow at the 40 minute mark. That's my boy.

[Poli]

60: While one of the Forest guys is being attended to, Benjamin throws in at the Forest left corner. Ladapo is all alone there and sends a pass into ZC, who heads it in! So much for the scoring drought! 2-0

65: Cooper and Parsonage enter the game for Benjamin and ZC. Coop moves to the right wing. Gardner leaves the midfield for a left wing slot. We're essentially a 4-4-2 now with no left wing back.

Surprisingly, after my subs FG goes to a 4-4-2 themselves.

That would be how the match ends. I'm thrilled. Motivational speeches FOR THE WIN.

[Poli]

Ladapo 7.5, ZC 7.4

Andrews 6.9, Elliott 6.9, Gardner 7.0

Benjamin 6.9, Troke 7.0, Caines 8.2, Hanson 7.0, Bailey 7.1

Gilpin 6.7


Cooper 6.4, Parsonage 6.7, Lacey, Dyer, Rewbury


Caines is named MoM. 1,465 in attendance.

[Poli]

20th ranked Kidderminster fire their head coach.

[Poli]

Next match: 27 October 2012

English FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round

Mansfield v Eastwood

Field Mill

[Poli]

In case you're wondering, the team has a positive cash flow for the first time in a long time. Can't even recall the last time we were in the green.

[Poli]

The victory moves us back into 5th place.

[Poli]

Mansfield: 4-7 (Fav) Draw: 5-2 Eastwood: 4-1 (English FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round)

Troubled Mansfield are clear favorites in this home encounter but will still have to make sure they do a professional job against newly-promoted Eastwood, according to Sky Bet.

Sheff Utd is just one of the 110 teams that potentially await Eastwood in the First Round if they get through. Eastwood need to progress beyond the current stage in order to live up to minimum expectations in this season's FA Cup.

Both clubs will be doing everything they can to ensure victory.

The referee for the match will be Stephen Ross from Boston. Ross' last Eastwood Town match was Eastwood's Blue Square Bet Premier 1 - 1 draw with Kettering on Tuesday 25th September.

[Poli]

27 Oct 2012

English FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round

Eastwood
@
Mansfield

Breezy, 51 degrees


Ladapo, ZC

Andrews, Elliott, Gardner

Benjamin, Troke, Caines, Hanson, Bailey

Gilpin


West, Montgomery, Lacey, Parsonage, Rewbury, Dyer, Cooper


Caines is still on yellow card watch.

Ladapo hasn't scored in 406 minutes.

[Poli]

ZC leads out the scoring with a shot in the 8th minute. Turns out it was our only shot on goal in the first half. Mansfield has a goal disallowed after an offside call (correctly called I might add), but adds a legitimate goal in the 38th minute thanks to a Benjamin mistake.

I'm pleased with how we're playing going into the half. They have to sub a striker out at the half who was repeatedly beaten on by our defenders.

At 67 I sub in Dyer and Montgomery for Benjamin and Bailey. Both wingbacks are having bad games. West moves to the midfield for a 4-4-2 look. We leave the left wing open.

At 88 I take Montgomery out and put in Lacey. We go to overload to try and steal the win on the road. It almost works. Some terrific shots on goal a few minutes later but we can't seal it.

1-1 bore draw today.

[Poli]

Ladapo 6.7, ZC 7.2

Andrews 6.7, Elliott 7.0, Gardner 6.8

Benjamin 5.2, Troke 6.9, Caines 6.8, Hanson 6.9, Bailey 5.9

Gilpin 6.7


West, Montgomery 6.6, Lacey --, Parsonage, Rewbury, Dyer 6.9, Cooper


ZC picks up MoM.

[Poli]

Rematch is set for 31 October 2012.

Winner to face Crawley (npower league 2).

[Poli]

Eastwood: 3-1 Draw: N/A Mansfield: 4-5 (Fav) (English FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round Replay)

Newly-promoted Eastwood are up against it in their home encounter against penniless Mansfield, according to Sky Bet.

Eastwood know that a win would set up a clash with Crawley in the First Round. Eastwood need to progress beyond the current stage in order to live up to minimum expectations in this season's FA Cup.

Both clubs will be doing everything they can to ensure victory.

The referee for the match will be Tim Robinson from Brighton who has shown 3 yellow cards and no red cards in his two FA Cup games so far this season.

[Poli]

31 Oct 2012

English FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round

Mansfield
@
Eastwood

Drizzle, 48 degrees


Ladapo, ZC

Andrews, Elliott, Dyer

Benjamin, Troke, Caines, Hanson, Bailey

Gilpin


West, Montgomery, Gardner, Parsonage, Rewbury, Lacey, Cooper


Caines is still on yellow card watch.

Ladapo hasn't scored in 496 minutes.

[Poli]

A quiet first half this time around. Neither team scored, though both had chances. Our best was a counter pass to Ladapo...who couldn't get past the keeper. The ball bounded away to a defender who cleared it. Mansfield, on the other hand, had another goal disallowed for an offside call. Correct call once again.

Anchor down, defense.

66 minutes in and still nothing so I sub out the two most tired guys, ZC and Andrews. In go Lacey and West. I hesitate to send the kid Lacey out there, but he's better than what we have left at the striker position.

87 minutes and still no score. Benjamin is worn out so I sub in Gardner. Dyer moves to an attacking role, Gardner behind him. We're gambling at leaving the left flank open for more pressure up the middle. Time for some overloading action. It doesn't work.

Extra time. We revert to control. Gardner moves to left winger. Dyer back to a normal midfield. We move Bailey up to right winger. 3-5-2 action for us now. West is dinged but he's been playing great since the injury.

At 99, a Mansfield player picks up his second yellow. We switch tempos to attack. Unfortunately, we still can put it away.

Penalty kick time.

[Poli]

Ladapo, West, Elliott, Dyer, and Gardner our our Top 5. Rewbury would have been a great option. Troke is next in line.

[Poli]

Ladapo scores!

[Poli]

Mansfield scores.

[Poli]

The injured West sends it wide left.

[Poli]

Mansfield scores again.

[Poli]

Elliott scores!

[Poli]

Mansfield wide right!