Another away day for the Vets as we travelled to Purfleet to take on Little Thurrock Dynamos. In his novel Dracula, the author Bram Stoker briefly based the bloodthirsty fiend in Purfleet. The fictional Carfax House served as the base for Drac's nocturnal shenanigans. Unlike last week, todays opponents were an unknown quantity to us and like a stake through the heart our preparations were dealt a blow with the late withdrawal of goalkeeper Gary Doodes. Paul Obinkwo stepping up to don the gloves. Due to this situation the plan was to keep the game narrow, to avoid crosses coming into the box. Also there's been a bug going round and the team talk was often interrupted by coffin. So after a somewhat scrappy opening it was no surprise that it was Dynamos who drew first blood. All round the field we looked as though we'd rather be at nearby Lakeside picking out some flowery curtains. The hosts picked up our fragility and began to up the ante, putting a bit more bite in the tackle and generally giving it large sensing an upset. Again we conceded a soft goal and it looked as though our unity was about to unravel with some Champions league moaning replacing the football. Then out of nowhere a lifeline. A decent passage of possession put Martin T one on one with the 'keeper and what can only be described as a judo move led to a penalty that was tucked away by HALIL HASSAN..2-1..and back in it. We started to play with a bit more verve and Dynamos looked a shadow of themselves and yet again with half-time approaching another hammer blow as the home team scored again, an unstoppable strike giving Paul O no chance.H-T : LTD 3 HALE END 1 A lively half time discussion ensued with plenty of voices throwing their two-pennorth in and as a result a different Hale End took the field. Trevor Burton took over in goal and from the whistle it was clear we weren't going down without a fight. Uncertainty crypt into the hosts play, they stopped trying to play and began pumping it forward to their top two, but we coped easily. They were giving us the freedom we love, with Taj and MT going close. But the comeback began from an unexpected source. A huge throw into the box from Julian was poorly defended, the ball arriving at the feet of Darren who skipped past two orange shirts to set up ALEC BROWN whose crisp strike from the edge of the area found the back of the net. 2-3. You could sense Dynamos have been here before as their first half swagger evaporated. We were all over them like a cheap overcoat. On the left,Count Dazzula, a man who felt the harsh sting of the suns rays after a night drinking claret, finally awoke from the dead, denied by the crossbar and the 'keepers fingertips. Dynamos offered sporadic attacks and Trevor was called on to make a superb close range save. The equalizer duly arrived. Taju latching on to a ball in the inside left channel, his side-footed effort was parried by the the 'keeper into the path of MARTIN TREADWAY who stroked the ball into an empty net..3-3.. The Dynamos had run out and we went for the jugular. Julian Lievano-Rodriguez putting in tackles and spreading the ball well as we pushed for the winner and with five minutes to go MT found space in the inside right channel and bore down on goal. He had every right to try for his 7th of the season but un-selfishly played inside to TAJU OYEDEJI who finished coolly from close range...3-4.. The hosts had nothing left and we saw the game out without any problems. Final scare:LITTLE THURROCK DYNAMOS 3 Team: P.OBINKWO,T.BURTON,A.BROWN,K.WHITWORTH, |
Seasons > Match Reports 12/13 >