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After so much procrastination, finally a game. This in itself was a relief, as idle minds and feet cause momentum to drain and belief to wane. The weather was mild, later cold and rainy, the pitch - heavy, to say the least. Thomas had a thumb injury so Jake went into goal. Joe returned to his pre Earls Colne days to fill in at left back, and Josh joined Harry C in the midfield for his second game.
St Edmunds were not the team that thumped us at home. Gone was the manager and a number of quality players were no longer wearing the dark blue jersey – a similar story to Portsmouth. However, they did possess some highly combative midfielders and a captain with Gerrardesque qualities.
Essentially the first half was nip and tuck. Their defence looked tight and their danger man in midfield was giving Josh and Harry a hard time. Our defence looked strong for once, and it was the confidence that they showed that started to filter through to the rest of the team. This was evident in the first goal. Luke broke forward and fed James, who crossed neatly for Louis who scored with a header. We don’t score many goals this way, and it was a pleasure to watch.
The score was levelled when their big number seven was tripped in the box, and his cheeky penalty said a great deal about his confidence. St Edmunds then moved into the lead when their midfielder struck a cracking shot from outside of the box, leaving Jake with no chance. In the past we have buckled, but today we persevered. Louis was very unlucky to be judged offside with another header following good work from James, but the half finished level when Harry C struck a sweet left footed drive from outside of the box into the far corner.
With a whole raft of changes at half time I was a little worried that we would not be able to maintain the positive start we had made. Certainly the first ten minutes belonged to St Edmunds. The players who had come off did not deserve to be swapped, but we all deserve a game. Slowly we started to gain control. The slope now favoured us and they started to tire. We had a number of chances in the half – Harry C hit the bar, Cameron had a golden opportunity but his shooting boots deserted him, Louis was in acres of space but the ball was passed to their keeper. Louis had another goal disallowed for another offside. Whilst frustrating, they were at least chances, and more were to come. Louis nudged us ahead with his second, and in the final moments Harry LA picked up a poor clearance and as the cold rain began to sting he finished well – relief all round.
A good game – a number of players were on form today – Joe, James, Harry C and Calum all were very impressive, but the MotM went to Josh. He stuck to his guns and helped nullify their key player – well done and thank you to him.
St Edmunds helped make this a good game of football, despite the pitch. I wish their new manager all the best. |