In a rather worrying way, the Eagles were shorthanded before kick off, depending on 2 players to arrive before kick off to ensure we had eleven players. Hardly the start we were hoping for, in terms of having the right preparation before a match!! Thankfully, 4 players turned up, albeit late and we found ourselves with a strong squad of 13.

 

With no goalkeeper having been signed, Ben stepped up for his penultimate Eagles game for this year and donned the magic gloves – those are the magic ones that drop the ball if a shot comes in their direction!

The back three saw Ryan, Nick and Mark combine for the first time. Gareth started in the defensive midfield position with Matt and Luke ahead of him. Ryan and Alex started on the flanks, with Pete and Mark resuming their partnership up front.

 

The Eagles started well, with plenty of possession and good accurate passing. The back three looked comfortable on the ball and the midfield was showing lots of movement and was passing the ball well. The ground was very hard and dry, so the first touch at times let us down, but from the outset it looked as though the Eagles would dominate.

However, it was South Wimbledon who would have the first chance at goal. A long throw was knocked on by a Wimbledon striker and the big centre forward charged towards goal like an angry hippo. Ben, choosing not to advance to the perfect lobbing distance unlike Joe, stood tall and a fierce show was hit straight at him. A good solid hand to the ball saw it sail out for a corner. An early warning for the Eagles.

The corner was easily dealt with and the Eagles began setting about their ideals of total football.

Minutes later, Wimbledon had another chance to take the lead. On another long ball chase, the Wimbledon striker was matched stride for stride by Mark and a well judged sliding tackle that just won the ball, was harshly awarded as a penalty. With the benefits of replays perhaps the ref would have changed his mind, but from the reporters position directly behind the tackle, you could see a slight nick on the ball before the striker went down. Still a penalty was given and the shot could only be blasted down the middle, where Ben easily kicked it aside and justice was done.

Despite the possession and the passing, the Eagles were hitting difficult balls to the front two. At times when we needed to take a touch, we went for the flick, in times when we needed to play a simple ball; we tried something a bit too tricky. We still did create a lot of half chances though, with Matt, Al, Mark and Nick all getting shots in at goal early in the half. Nick and Mark were both unlucky from Eagles set pieces, poking shots just wide of the post. We were guilty on a couple of occasions of not shooting soon enough, but the Eagles were not to be denied.

The deadline was broken by the Eagles midway through the first half. The ball was worked forwards from the back and into the midfield. A good ball was laid into Mark and some really quick feet saw him skip past the last defender with the ball under control and then fire a shot into the bottom corner.

The Eagles continued to control much of the ball and restricted Wimbledon to a few set pieces, which were all dealt with confidently. Going forward the Eagles were not as dangerous as last week, with the final ball not coming off too many times.

Half time saw us comfortably in control, but the score line only showed a 1-0 lead.

 

The second half started much slower for the Eagles. Whilst we still had the majority of possession, it was given up too cheaply and a game that should have seen us dominate possession, instead became more desperate as we went in search of a second goal.

The Eagles never really looked in trouble, but the long ball game Wimbledon were playing meant the midfield started to get bypassed and the defence had a lot more work to do. Fortunately, on the 2 or 3 occasions the Wimbledon attackers got through, they were not up to the task and Ben was rarely troubled.

The second goal came when the Eagles were starting to get frustrated. Again, it came from a passing move, this time started on the left flank. Mark played a good ball up the line to Luke. The ball came inside to Matt who played it forward first time to Enda. Good control and a good pass to Mark saw him bury his second goal of the day.

This should have been the cue for the Eagles to push on, but again, our passing became to direct and attacks would breakdown. One excellent move started by Alex nearly led to the third goal. Al passed the ball back to Jarrod, who laid it infield to Luke. Al called for the ball over the top into the right wing and made his run. Luke’s perfectly weighted ball saw Alex in the perfect position and an excellent cross into the box saw Mark desperate to get on the end, but his volley flew wide. It would have been a glorious goal.

The third goal, however, would go to Wimbledon. From the ensuing goal kick, the ball evaded Luke and a nice turn by the big Wimbledon central midfielder saw him chip the ball over the Eagles defence. The rhino like forward thundered forwards under pressure from Jarrod and for once managed to fire a good firm shot across Ben and into the bottom corner. All in all, a good turn and good finish, although Ben was disappointed not to get something on it.

A Wimbledon onslaught never materialised though, as the Eagles still where the stronger side.

The third Eagles goal could have come from Mark when he beat the last defender, but his touch was a little heavy. He was still able to get a shot off, but the keeper got a hand to it and the ball was cleared by their defence.

Another good run by Mark saw him nick the ball away from the keeper in the six yard box. He cut the ball back with Matt waiting to shoot, but Enda got there first and his turn and pass caught Matt flat footed and the chance was gone.

When it did come, it came from an unexpected source. Pushing forward in the attack, Gareth found himself on the edge of the penalty area with the ball at his feet. Matt was to his left, but the pass was a little short. Unwilling to give it up, Matt charged into the tackle and having won the ball hit a driven shot into the bottom corner to put the Eagles 3-1 up.

With only 4 minutes to go, the Eagles were now showing a score line that was more in line with their dominance.

However the final say would go to Wimbledon. With seconds counting down, the Wimbledon striker ploughed across the edge of the box and not wanted him to get a free shot in; Matt committed a foul on the edge of the box. Expecting the Eagles defence to cope with anything Wimbledon threw at them, the Eagles set up their wall in preparation. What they weren’t expecting was the quick free kick and whilst still organising themselves the ball was curled into the top corner to make the score 3-2.

There was a bit of confusion over the referees’ responsibility to let the defending team know about a quick free kick, but in truth, the Eagles were at fault for not staying switched on for 90 mins. We should have had a player on top of the ball to prevent the quick kick or at least within a few yards to hear the ref confirm that the kick could be taken quickly.

 

As it is, it would be more or less the last kick of the game and the Eagles won 3-2. The score line certainly didn’t reflect the fact that the Eagles were the dominant team, but at times we needed to show more maturity and less urgency.

Balls were being fired up to Mark and Enda, not really giving them much opportunity to bring the ball under control and involve the midfield. On the occasions we did get the ball into the strikers’ feet, we looked dangerous and were able to create attacking chances. We also had a lot more chances to switch play from flank to flank, but failed to both look up and spot this opportunity, or didn’t communicate with one another adequately enough. Patience is vital when we are dominating matches. Our good football will create goal scoring chances, without the need to force them. If we believe in our game for 90 minutes we will score plenty of goals. In a game like this we should be keeping the ball a lot longer and not simply looking for 2 passes and a shot.

 

It was a good victory and individually there were good performances from all players. Now we need to work on our discipline and possession.

Next week sees us playing against probably our main rival for promotion, so expect a tough match. Number will be up a little, with Dave returning from holiday, Tom likely to be back from injury and hopefully Jason and Alan ready for there first run out of the season. Kick off is 12:30, so PLEASE be there for 11:30 at the latest!!!!

 

PS – Shaun sends his apologies for not making it. He had a hell of a day, dropping his phone in the gutter and then getting lost on the way to the ground!!