This weekend's fixture provided a somewhat sterner test for our brave boys than was expected. A Division 3 Cup game at home against bottom-of-the-league Mangrove Reserves with Deacs confidence flying high after 3 back-to-back wins should have caused no problems - another easy win and safe passage through to the second round of the Cup.
How wrong we were. We started with the bare eleven (and even then, only just. Thanks to Andy for persuading Dave - Jason to his mates - to join the fray). The usual suspects all turned up, foresaking a couple of regulars in Dean and Marco, but more of them later. The back four, consisting of Ravenscroft, Lowin, Waterhouse and Franklin sounded solid enough, as did a midfield of Bailey, Maynard, Phillips and Wicks. The strike duo of Deaconsfield's all-time top scorer Yates and new boy Dave also looked strong on paper.
Our story, dear reader, is set on a dusty plain in one of the less-salubrious backwaters of Hoddesdon amid high winds on a torturous, dry, arid landscape, known to the local football officianados as Pound Close. The day did not get off to the best start, with the caretaker (a boy of approximately 14) turning up late meaning that both teams had to get changed at the side of the pitch. That said, the young lad did do a fairly good job of removing the copious amounts of canine excrement from the playing surface. Unfortunately he couldn't have been asked to do the same of both sets of players, who regardless of how you look at the game served up 90 minutes of pure, unadulterated shit. Not any ordinary crap, but the kind you'd need a sodding great big JCB to remove.
Before the game we'd talked about keeping the ball down so that the wind could not disrupt our brand of fine football. That all went out the window virtually straight from the kick-off, with Mangrove attacking and Deacs lumping the ball out of play. It would probably be fair to say that the ball spent more time off of the pitch than it did on it.
In what was a pretty uneventful game (can you tell?) in difficult conditions Deacs struggled to dictate the tempo. The central midfield duo of Phillips and Maynard battled hard, but I think it would be fair to say that Ali is still someway short of the fitness he maintained last season. Andy on the left was asked to move in and cover Mangrove's number 11 (a slight young fellow replete with long, flowing golden locks - think Andrei Voronin but without the ponytail) who was consistently winning evrything in the air, which is where the ball spent most of it's time.
The game was fairly even for most of the first half, and it was Deacs who broke the deadlock, Ravenscroft snaffling a chance from a Phillips corner that bounced around the area before falling at the left-backs feet for him to open his account for the season. If I was named Wicks or Trussler I'd be insisting that it was a 40-yard drive into the top-corner, but I'm just happy to get on the scoresheet so it will remain a 2-foot tap-in.
And that was about it for the first half. Yates went close with a flicked header from a Phillips free-kick and Franklin probably should have done better when blazing over from a tight angle following another superb delivery from our resident dead-ball specialist.
1-0 at the interval, and the talk at half-time was centred around the fact that we hadn't kept the ball down.
Deacs kicked off the second half and immediately reverted to type. In fact, the whole of the second half can be summed up by the following sequence; hoof, hoof, head, hoof, goal kick, hoof, head, hoof, throw.
In what was the most remarkably forgettable 45 minutes I think I've ever played in, the ball spent most of it's time careering between the two defences, only stopping briefly for Andy Halliwell to make a good save low to his right, palming the ball round the post. The highlight of the entire half came with the final whistle, Maynard picking the ball up on the right and toe-punting the ball goalwards with the last kick of the game. The Mangrove goalkeeper really should have done better considering he got both hands to the ball, but it sneaked in anyway.
And so a 2-0 victory sees Maynard and Ravenscroft join the list of scorers and also Andy Halliwell keeping his first clean sheet for Deaconsfield - a notable achievement!
Regardless of the fact that it was a poor team performance, I think that as individuals there weren't that many below-par performances - another victory borne out of determination and hard-work.
One last thing to say on our two missing regulars. Dean had a trip to London with Pete's mum to see The Lion King (hope you made her roar mate!) and Marco at least turned up to show his support - shame it was half-an-hour after the game had finished!
