On a sunny September morning Croygas took on the task of their first away league game of the season against Raynes Park at the old harlequins training ground. Croygas were sent out in a 4-4-2 formation consisting of Aiden-Sam, Dave b, Reeno, bradders-Jim, Matt, Rambo, gal-Reiss, Ross. On the bench was ad, Ken & Rossy. After a cagey first 5 mins of both teams getting it down and knocking the ball about Croygas took control of the game, getting a lot of joy down the channels through the pace & strength of Reiss & Ross s up top. A number of excellent chances were spurned before finally the deadlock was broken after Reiss squared the ball to gal who fired home to put Croygas one up. This set the tone for the first half as a number of chances would go begging interspersed with goals for Reiss (x2) and Ross S. Raynes park didn't really get into the game but still managed to create a couple of chances on the break which bought a good save from Aiden and a goal line clearance from Reeno. 4-0 up at half time the mood was very happy in the Croygas camp with the consensus of keeping going and not letting the oppo back into the game. However, the second half started in the worst possible manner with a penalty conceded and subsequently converted to bring the score back to 4-1. This led to the first real part of sustained pressure from Raynes Park which the Croygas defence handled extremely well with the concession of minimal chances for the oppo. Substitutions followed that broke up the flow of the game that looked like it was meandering towards conclusions until a Raynes park breakaway found the Croygas defence exposed an their forward rounded Aiden and tucked the ball home for 4-2. The remaining 5 mins was completed without drama and the 4-2 win for Croygas confirmed. Notable performances from Dave B & Reeno at the heart of the defence, Jim (2 assists), Reiss & Ross s (2 goals & 1 goals plus a constant threat in the first half) are all very worthy of a mention but the man of the match award goes to Rambo who although not having his best game on the ball worked tirelessly and selflessly for the team - especially in filling in/covering positions as others broke forward. Donkey of the day was between Matt for his miss & Aiden for finding a different way to concede a corner under no pressure! Due the amount of net available to him Matt just shades it for this week. In summary an excellent Croygas team performance, 4 goals (could have been a lot more), away win, 2 from 2 and a great start to our division 3 campaign. Well done lads!
Aiden - Couple of edgy moments but one very important save in the first half 7.8
Sam - solid, combative and unlucky to give away the pen 8
Dave B - Leadership, composure, rarely troubled 8.5
Reeno - mopped up anything & everything (praised by opposition fans) 8.6
Bradders - strong in the tackle and still has that golden left peg 8
Jim - not involved as much as I'm sure he wanted to be but provided 2 assists and always dangerous coming into the space when available 8.2
Rambo - battled hard and sacrificed his own game on a number of occasions to allow others to go and play. Captains performance 8.7
Matt - industrious and continually involved. Instrumental in the tempo we played at in the first half 8.1
Gal - bagged himself a goal and nearly had another with and excellent free kick. Tired a little as the game drew on. 8.2
Ross S - unplayable for the oppo in the first half. Scored one and created countless other chances. Have to work hard in the second to support in a more defensive capacity 8.5
Reiss - with you tube tutorials seems to have done the trick as the oppo just couldn't handle him (maybe the next video can be on how to head the ball!) 8.5
Subs
Ad - Didn't stop running after he came on 7.9
Ken - Struggled a little but still managed a couple of key tackles when it mattered 7.7
Rossy - Bought on to do a job and did just that...although does need to stop tackling himself! 7.7
