Earls Colne 3 – Frinton and Walton Blues 1
(H. Chamley 2, J Fordham 1)
At long long last, victory – and well deserved too. On a warm and dry day the boys worked extremely hard to nullify a good Frinton team. The quality of the football was not always great but the organisation was sharper and the belief that we could win slowly seeped in. The new Fordham strip looked fantastic and bought us some luck that had previously been on extended vacation.
We started with a distinct changes to last week. Calum Harrison joined George in the centre of defence, whilst Alfie sat in the holding role, allowing Harry to move up front. The early exchanges were nervy and error riddled, with most of the action taking place in the middle of the pitch. What became clear was that Frinton’s strength lay in their midfield, and that James was starting to cause some anxiety in their defence. The first goal came after about a quarter of an hour. Louis played a ball over the top of the defence for Harry to chase. Collecting the ball at the edge of the penalty area Harry hit a diagonal lofted shot clear over their keeper. The belief began to build…
Frinton pushed on, and pinned us back for extended periods of time, but Calum was awesome. His strength, speed and control gave us a far more solid back line than we have enjoyed in the past. He also took two decent corners, but what pleased me the most was his determination to get back into position as quickly as possible. Then a lapse in concentration cost us. A cross from the left evaded our entire defence, passed across Thomas and found their striker all alone at the far post, who neatly sidefooted the ball home.
Our response was instant. Some good work between Alfie and Sam in midfield sent Harry through again. On seeing their keeper racing out to meet him Harry coolly lobbed the ball into the unguarded goal.
For the first time in many a moon we went in at half time one goal up. Early in the second half the pattern of midfield scrapping and occasional breaks repeated itself, but what was clear was our defence was firmer, leaving Thomas little to do. The midfielders worked hard with Luke particularly impressive on the left. Eventually we won a free kick ten yards into their half. Up stepped Jake with his trademark ‘boot’. The connection was perfect and the ball flew high towards their goal. The keeper could only help the ball into his own net and we suddenly had a two goal advantage.
As I stood on the sidelines I gradually felt more and more at ease, as we closed the game down. Despite some late pressure from a series of corners Frinton did not seriously challenge our goal. As the whistle blew the crowd cheered and a year of cold A league pain melted a little more.
We still need to play better, controlling the ball and making sound passes. We also need to create more chances from positions in the final quarter. Calum was the man of the match because he was never found wanting. His control of the ball, determination to win and positional sense gave us a foundation on which to forge a win.
Thank you to the dads who put the goals away, Kevin for running the line and Val for the winner’s snacks.
Man of the Match – Calum Harrison
Dave
