Casuals and Pelham first competitive match of the season ended in a 7-2 home win against Angel Ware in the county cup. After a torrid pre season of 3 defeats out of 3 and 2 games called off at the last minute from opposition, Pelham needed to put that behind them and look ahead to the season. That is exactly what they did, and they came out firing from the start. There were so many wrongs to right and 90% of them were. Pelham got on the ball from the off and made sure they kept possession rather than giving it back to the opposition needlessly like they had been in pre season. By controlling possession and passing well they stopped Angel Ware from creating any real chances and before long Pelham were creating their own. Pelham could easily have taken the lead after 15-20 minutes with both Steve Callan and Cal Lynskey getting to the by-line and playing the ball across the face of goal, but without anyone getting round the backpost for the tap in. The first goal of the game came after 35 minutes. Pelham had won a freekick still a fair way out on the left hand side. Gavin Brace stepped up and whipped a ball into the box which only just eluded an on rushing Mark Jolley and just nipped over his head, only for the keeper to be focusing on that header coming but instead the ball ending up whizzing past him and into the corner of the net. After that goal Pelham continued to dominate and their lead was doubled not long after. Two simple passes from the back line saw Dan Boyce pick the ball up in centre midfield, and from there he slotted a ball through the massive gaps in the Angel Ware defence and into Charlie Daniels who rounded the keeper and slotted home. Three minutes later the ref blew the whistle for half time with Pelham leading 2-0 at the break. The home side knew the next goal would be key in the game and were determined to get it. That determination showed as it was 3-0 straight away on 46 minutes with Pelham working the ball forwards quickly and Charlie Daniels rounding off the move for his second of the game. His hattrick was completed soon after on 48 minutes with Charlie himself going on a mazy run only to be taken out by two Angel Ware Defenders. He stepped up to take the resulting free kick and popped it over the wall high to the keepers left. Pelham were good for their 4-0 lead but unfortuntely moments later they conceded and ruined the clean sheet they had worked so hard for in teh first half. Pelham dropped off momentarily with Angel Ware attacking down the right hand side. Three defenders drifted across to the ball to stop the attack but left a man free in the middle and as the ball came across Mark Hainsby done his best to get to the striker, who managed to get there first making it 4-1. That goal restored some life into Angel Ware and for 5-10 minutes they put Pelham under a bit of pressure. However Pelham stood firm and rode the storm before striking the next goal. Once again it was Charlie Daniels who finished it with Gavin Brace putting a ball through which took a slight deflection on its way sending Daniels slightly wider than he wanted. However he managed to beat the defender and get his shot off early which went underneath the diving Angel Ware keeper making it 5-1 to the home side. The game was well and truly over at this point and Pelham got a foothold back on the game. However the scoring wasnt finished there. Angel Ware doubled their tally on 87 minutes when Pelham gave them slightly too much space on the edge of their own box, allowing the Angel Ware striker to get his shot off and slot in to the bottom corner. At 5-2 on 87 minutes you would assume that would be it for the goals, but Charlie Daniels got his fifth of the day on 89 minutes making it 6-2 and then forced an own goal after he drilled in a low pacey cross which hit an Angel Ware defender and went in on 90 minutes. Once that final goal went in the ref blew his whistle and Pelham finished winners on the day with the scoreline 7-2. So much better than pre season today boys, but to be honest it couldnt get any worse than those three games. We actually put the effort in for this game and we got out of it what we put in and what we deserved rather than just turning up and hoping for the best. The talking, organisation, possession football, shape and covering of positions needs to be carried over to next weekend. However dont get too complacent and think thats it, we are back to normal now because although it was good, apart from that 10 minute spell after they scored their first goal, Angel Ware let us play our own game and didnt put us under too much pressure. But lets build on todays performance because it was so much better but its nowhere near the finished article yet. There were some contenders for man of the match today and no one had a bad game at all, everyone played really well, Jamie Richards in particular probabaly had his best game in a Pelham shirt, but its hard to look past the man who bagged 5 goals, 1 assist and forced an own goal, so Micks man of the match this week is Charlie Daniels. Onto the first league game next week away at Birchwood Rangers so lets dig deep, improve on today and take maximum points in the first game.
