Vs Ecclesall (LEAGUE) 26/02/17

THE LINUP:

GK: Cameron

RB: Adam

CB: Jack

CB: Ethan

LB: Ben

RM: Jon

CM: Owen

CM: Alex

LM: Sam

ST: Alfie

(Yes we started the game with 10 players)

THE OPPOSITION:

Ecclesall are a solid side for the league that like to play a short passing style from the goalkeeper, through the defence, into midfield, and finally to the strikers. Never mind us only having 10 players, they were favourites for the game as they are doing better than us in the league. 

THE MATCH:

The match started with EMU's on the back foot, which for 90% of the match, seemed to be the case. But despite all of Ecclesall's possession, their first goal of the game came as they counter attacked down the right from a EMU's corner. This allowed the striker to execute a fantastic volley over myself into the back of the net in the 20th minute. But EMU's responded well and were rewarded for their hard work, as Ben swung in a low, in-swinging corner which somehow went through everyone without a touch, into the goal on the stroke of 30 minutes. This was a wake up call for Ecclesall and responded with the help of good fortune on the 36 minute, where the ball was slid through the EMU's defence, and the striker took aim and slid it past the onrushing keeper from 10 yards. Ecclesall doubled their advantage 4 minutes before the break as a good move on the edge of the box allowed the Ecclesall midfielder to find space to poke the ball into the corner from 16 yards.
HALFTIME SCORE: ECCLESALL 3-1 EMU's

Things went from bad to worse for EMU's as Owen had to come off injured at halftime, feeling pain in his chest. But somehow they hung on due to the heroics of the keeper. And the efforts of all the players were soon rewarded on the 63rd minute when a cross to the back post found Jack in acres of space and took the chance with a cool finish on the half volley. And for a while, EMU's believed that they could score a third, but they will live to rue missed chances, and as legs started to tire, Ecclesall pretty much killed off the game with and excellent, whipped effort from 20 yards which cannoned off the post and in, with 17 minutes left to play. And on the 78th minute the victory was sealed as the extra men paid off and the Ecclesall attacker found space in the box, and placed his effort into the top corner. But that didn't conclude the scoring as with 5 minutes of play left, Ecclesall got the sixth in similar fashion to the third goal.
FULLTIME SCORE: ECCLESALL 6-2 EMU's

PLAYER RATINGS:

Me - thought I had a good game, started off shaky, but in the second half kept the score down making a couple of excellent saves 8/10
Adam - seems to struggle a lot in the first half of games, and this trend continued but grew into the match 6/10
Jack - a good leader on the pitch and led by example, never gave in and deserved his goal 9/10.
Ben - was sloppy at times but for the majority, was very good in all departments 8/10.
Jon - always worked hard and was up and down the pitch, defending and attacking 8/10.
Owen - Unfortunately got injured and only played the first half, but he was excellent in the first half, and the opposition couldn't handle him 9/10.
Alex - slowly starting to get back to his best and started a lot of our moves, kept possession well 8/10
Sam - had one of his better games, mainly in the first half he worked his socks off for the team and was unlucky not to score a free kick 8/10.
Alfie - didn't get any good service as the game went on, but worked hard for the team 7/10
Man of the Match: Jack

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:

Not much to stay apart from that I really enjoyed the game despite us losing. Was a great experience to play on a 3G pitch and I was happy with the sides performance and my individual performance. I reckon if we had the same amount of players as them, we would've won that match. But the result I think is a fair one, maybe 4-2 or 5-2 would've been a better representation of the game, but overall, no complaints. 

Vs Killamarsh (CUP) 05/02/17

THE LINEUP:
GK: Cameron
RB: Adam
CB: Ben D
CB: Ethan
LB: Nathan

RM: Sam K
CM: Jon
CM: Alex
LM: Sam H

CF: Owen
ST: Alfie

THE OPPOSITION:
Despite being a division lower than EMU's, Killamarsh are a solid side that are very organised and have a couple of good individual players in the attacking areas. Apart from that they were an unknown quantity to us.

THE MATCH:
Despite decent weather, the pitch was cutting up all over the place which made the ball bobble and the surface slippery. It was a lively start as within the first minute of the match EMU's took a one nil lead as Owen blocked the defenders clearance, then ran onto the deflection and slotted to ball passed the goalkeeper at his near post. But EMU's fast start was cut short as they failed to clear the ball and the Killamarsh striker looped the ball right into the top left corner of the goal just a couple of minutes later. And Killamarsh's comeback was complete 10 minutes in as again, EMU's failed to clear a corner and the ball was struck hard into the bottom right corner giving myself no chance again. After that there wasn't really any chances to report on but Killamarsh were clear on top and EMU's looked like they didn't care.
HALFTIME SCORE: KILLAMARSH 2-1 EMU's

The second half started pretty much the same way the first half ended, with EMU's looking half asleep and Killamarsh having the majority of the ball. And in all truth there wasn't any highlights at all until the last 10 minutes as EMU's struggled to hold on. But finally we had a goal but not the score line that you would've expected...Somehow Alfie managed to fire the ball in from close range and give EMU's a moment of hope with an equaliser. But once again, EMU's failed to switch on and Killamarsh put the final nail in the coffin with a superb strike into the top right corner. An unstoppable effort with just 5 minutes left, but two controversial decisions made by the referee after the goal didn't do EMU's any favours. The first came from my long ball forward which was flicked on into the path of Owen who put the ball into the net, but the ref deemed Owen to be offside, a close call for Killamarsh. The second incident came when the Jon was slipped through one on one and managed to get a tame shot away but as he struck the ball he was pushed by one defender and tackled to the ground by two others. But the ref deemed it a fair tackle and soon after the game finish, which increased to hostility between the two sides and the referee.
FULLTIME SCORE: KILLAMARSH 3-2 EMU's

PLAYER RATINGS:
Cameron: had a decent game but didn't really have a great deal to do and couldn't do anything about the goals. My distribution was good and did well to carry on with an injury. 7/10
Adam: was poor throughout the game, offered nothing to the side and didn't show any desire. 4/10
Ben D: was one of the best players on the pitch, a good leader, defender and had great footwork. 9/10
Ethan: played well but struggled as the team underperformed. 7/10
Nathan: didn't really seem to have much to do but still didn't really perform. 6/10
Sam K: again, didn't seem to get involved, looked like he couldn't care less about the game. 5/10
Jon: had a decent game, but by his standards he was well off the pace. 7/10
Alex: similar to Jon, played okay but by his standards, was poor. 6/10
Sam H: probably his worst game in a EMU's shirt, didn't get on the ball much and when he douche gave it away to the opposition. 3/10
Owen: scored a good goal but seemed to struggle with an injury throughout. 7/10
Alfie: not his best game but did at least try to effect the match and did grab a goal. 8/10

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
This is a hard game for me not to slate for many reasons, whether it's the poor performance, the awful refereeing or the shocking pitch. But I'll try to keep it short and and sweet, but firstly the goals we conceded were pretty much unsavable, but poor defensively as we had plenty of chances to clear the ball. The pitch was barely playable for reasons I have explained. And how the ref failed to give us a penalty in that game was ridiculous, and don't even mention the goal that never was! As you may be able to tell, I'm very annoyed at the performance and the result. But the league is more important and we need to regroup and pull ourselves together.