After some good pre-season performances, and an unlucky defeat in the previous game, Cavalier were in high spirits going into this game, with a real chance of getting their 2nd victory of the summer.
However, the mood soon changed, when on the morning of the game 3 players failed to turn up. Dec McEniry, Delvin Keane and Carl Ledbury all no-showed, giving manager Roger Wiltshire a real selection headache, leaving his team with a bare 11.
Things soon went from bad to worse, when arriving at the pitch, Roger Wiltshire discovered that half of the opposition players are regulars for Marlborough Town 1st team. This only spurred on The Cavalier, who put in a spirited and impressive performance to be proud of.
With all the shuffling of positions prior to kick-off, Jez Wiltshire played in goal due to a niggling leg injury. This freed up Marcus Rossi to play in his old position at the heart of defence alongside utility man Liam McEniry. Dave Young made his 2nd appearance of the season at right back, and Rory Wiltshire made his 1st appearance of the season at left back. Rob Randall, who had impressed in the previous game, was rewarded for his efforts by given a starting place on the right side of midfield. Lee Whyte was again preferred at left midfield, with veteran Leigh Blanchard and the engine of the team Antony Butler in the middle of midfield. Matty Francis retained his place upfront after getting his first goal of the season 4 days prior. Taylor Ellicock partnered Francis in attack, hoping to use his pace on the counter attack.
From the offset it was clear that Marlborough Casuals had some classy players, and were spreading the ball about all over the park. Cavalier defended well though, and thwarted every attack with ease, especially clearing from the numerous crosses Marlborough were putting into the box. Cavalier also had plenty of the ball, and the possession stats were pretty even for large spells of the game. Leigh Blanchard was leading by example for the away side, and his constant presence both physically and verbally had a positive effect of the rest of the side, and is sure to be a valuable asset to Roger Wiltshire for the upcoming campaign. It was Blanchard who had one of the first chances of the game, trying a spectacular 40 yard drive, but unfortunately his effort finish up closer to the corner flag.
The deadlock was broken at the half hour mark. Marlborough’s left winger sold Rob Randall with a drop of the shoulder and whipped in a venomous cross. Rory Wiltshire let his man get a run on him at the back post, who met the cross with a powerful header. Jez Wiltshire managed to get his hands to it, but it wasn’t enough to keep the ball out.
The best chance of the game then fell to the young feet of Taylor Ellicock, who coolly rounded the ‘keeper, but somehow failed to score with the net gaping at him from 5 yards. Lee Whyte then nearly scored twice, but Antony Butler took the ball away from him just as he was about to pull the trigger for what looked like a sure goal. The last piece of action of the half saw Marlborough double their lead after a great run saw the striker smash the ball past Wiltshire in goal, with his strike going in off the post.
HALF TIME: 2-0.
The 2nd half started brightly again for both teams, with lots of spells of possession, and some great ranges of passing by both sides. Cavalier kept pushing and pushing for a way to get back into the game, but without a natural goal scorer, were finding it hard to get that breakthrough. Marlborough extended their lead midway through the half, after a mix-up in communication between Jez Wiltshire and Dave Young allowed a Marlborough player to run through on a hopeful long ball and tuck it into the empty net.
With 15 minutes remaining, Roger Wiltshire came on to give the away side some fresh legs in the blistering heat, but couldn’t create any more chances for his side.
In the dying moments of the game, Marlborough capped off a good performance with a 4th goal. After failing to clear their lines from a corner, Cavalier switched off momentarily and let a Marlborough player turn and shoot with 5 yards of space, giving Wiltshire no chance.
FULL TIME: 4-0.
Overall a fantastic performance despite several players letting everyone else down. Well done to everyone that made the effort to play 90 minutes of football in unbearable playing conditions, not to mention several people playing out of position. We played against a very strong side and gave a great account of ourselves, not just in terms of work rate but also the passing football we played.
