Its was a cold Gusty evening on the 30th September when a new look CSK Wanderers strolled onto the half litten Waterhall Venue. With league debuts being made by Stuart (Stuuuuuuuuuu) Savidge and Russell (Brother of Log) Turpin and a second appearance for Little Jimmy Elkins it left only 3 players from the usual line up due to a range of work and International duty related issues.
After a 15 minute wait for the match before to end the teams were redy to start as The Lectorns kicked off. CSK had their usual slow start but with Savidge and R Turpin looking solid at the back their opposition were left with long range opportunities in the main with Steve Winter in goal aking some fine saves, including tipping one goal bound effort onto the post.
That attempt burst life into the CSK players and some quick attacks followed with Elkins and both Turpins supporting Kevern in attack well, although the final balls were lacking, with Kevern having a torrid time trying to keep his shinpads in place! CSK's best chance of the half came when lewis turpin made a good run down the left hand side and crossed hard and low agonisingly past Kevern and the defender, as the sides went in at a stalemate.
At Half time Lewis Turpin had a few words for the referee over the definition of a slide tackle as the debate still rages on, btu he was ushered away and CSK got the second half underway.
The second half was a lot more open then the first, with Turpin drilling a shot towards the bottom corner only to see the goalkeeper pull off a fantastic save down to his right. This save was to go unwarranted however as from the following corner Jimmy Elkins swung in an inviting ball for Turpin, who did well to get infront of his man and prod the ball past the goalkeeper, who had right to claim he was being impeded, but the referee allowed the goal to stand.
CSK then had a reshuffle and started taking their time on the ball, passing it around a lot smoother and Kevern up front holing the ball up a lot better then in the first. Continued good work at the back from the debutants along with Winter in goal allowed Jimmy to push on a bit more and freed up space for the always dangerous L Turpin in the midfield as Wanderes broke well. The referee then started a mad last 10 minutes where his decision making was at best questionable, firstly by indicating a throw in one way and then giving it the other, and then secondly not giving Wanderers a clear penalty when a handball in the box went unnoticed. This angered the Wanderers palyers as the ref had clearly raised his whistle to his mouth only then to say that he ws just thinking about it.
The Lecturn then had a good opportunity at the other end but again the strun work of the back 4 meant that Winter in goal was able to intervene. Then with about 5 minutes to go the move of the match when Russ Turpin picked the ball up in his half, looked up and hit the ball down the line to Kevern who spotted the run of elkins and knocked it first time, Elkins still had a lot of work to do though and took a touch before calmly firing it into the far top corner from outside of the area to give Wanderes a 2 goal advantage and put them in the comfort zone a bit.
The last few minutes were a bit scrappy with the opposition giving away a few needless fouls, and then the tension boiled over when the referee gave a goal kick instead of a clear corner and Kevern was shown the blue card for berating the ref on his obvious mistake. The other CSSK players were unfazed however and with R Turpin through seemingly on goal he was brought down and their player was also sent off the field. After this Wanderers had a couple more chances including Steve Winter outrageousy hitting the bar from a goal kick! but the final whistlee blew and gave Wanderers all 3 points in a hard fought match.
After the game everyone shook hands and back home to La Burge we trundled, with Stuart Savidge giving an interesting incite into poo related issues!
FINAL SCORE: The Lecturn 0-2 CSK Wanderers
