Louis Van Chall took the helm again for the Steamers as he guided them into the 2nd round of the Berks and Bucks Junior Trophy.
DC Steamers haven’t seen the 2nd round of the competition for many years but with less league games than normal it was a vital win to ensure more fixtures for the 14/15 season.
Bracknell Manics would have thought they were in for a comfortable Sunday morning after a couple of through balls caught the Steamers defence a bit flat footed. From then on it was Steamers all the way. We kept the ball well and found the players in space to create plenty of chances. Our pressure resulted in a corner that was fired in toward the back post by Mike Stepney for Captain Fantastic, Richard Scaldwell, to head into the net for his 1st goal of the season.
Steamers played some great football and we were rewarded with a 1st half goalfest. Next on the scoresheet was JP. Keen to impress his on looking Mother he unleashed a right footed volley from a tight angle that was too hot for the keeper to handle. His goal was made by Jonny Clifford showing some trickery in the box before setting up the goal.
JP then set up Steamers’ 3rd (my favourite) of the morning after a great spell of possession he did a cheeky back-heel to Owen Temple at the edge of the box to place his shot in the corner of the net. The massive crowd of about 14 applauded a great team goal.
The goals didn’t dry up as Tommy Wilson bagged a wonderful goal, lobbing the charging keeper. Scaldwell assisted with a long ball splitting the Manics’ defence. Tommy then got his 2nd and DCS’ 5th when he showed his pace to take it past a rounder member of the Manics’ defence and placing his shot in the bottom right corner leaving the keeper with no chance.
H/T 5-0
With the game effectively won by half time the 2nd half dried up a bit. Steamers still dominated possession and were looking to add to the goal tally. Bert Ryan, Sam Wyatt and Stepney took on the more physical battle and bossed the middle of the park. Berts through balls just missed their target and a couple of mistakes crept into our game.
Manics were rewarded with a goal after a rare miscontrol by Scaldie was pounced upon by the striker to go through 2 on 1 and slotting the ball home past Paul Moore.
Paul went on to make a great save from a long range effort in the 2nd half that looked destined for the top corner. Efforts from Jonny Clifford and Sam Wyatt stung the palms of the keeper but we found it more difficult to find the back of the net. Matt Redmond came on for his first appearance in almost a season and showed a lot of composure on the ball, retaining possession and breaking down Bracknells attacks.
Sam Hall got himself on the score sheet for the 2nd week running after some fine play by Tom Wilson down the left hand side set Sammy up for a shot from 10 yards into the top corner.
Steamers showed a lot going forward and kept it tidy at the back. Ollie Harrington made his first 90 minutes in a Steamers shirt and was a constant threat down the right and cancelled out Bracknells’ attacks. Horton and Scaldwell had the physical battle won and gave little away to their strikers. Movement and creativity was in abundance for the Steamers and we will prove hard to beat if we replicate performances like that week in, week out.
I gave myself MOTM as I got to write the report but everyone had a great game.
COYS!
