Another league Game and another win saw DJE maintain their 4th place in the Portsmouth Sunday League Division One today at King George Playing Fields. It Appeared that the game was fortunate to be on as neighbouring pitches were empty . I Suspect Bunny had sommin to do with it as one of his boyfriends had bought him a thermometer for Xmas and he couldn’t wait to use it so he could enforce the ruling 11.7 line 3 which states a game cannot be played if a referees changing room isn’t heated to at least 17 degrees. Nice one bunmeister, another Sunday ruined for about 100 lads.
Todays opponents were AC Copnor who were placed one point behind DJE in 5th so there was a little bit of pride to play for. There was also another Cameo appearance from Southsea Goalkeeping Legend Lee Root. Great to have you back fella there were no hearts in mouths today I can tell ya! Great game.
DJE’s usual warm up consisting of a few widths of the pitch and some half hearted “jump up and head the ball” seemed enough to blow the cobwebs away from the over indulged DJE legs as we started brightly. Early signs were that Copnor weren’t going to offer much apart from a lot of bloody moaning and DJE were quick to make their mark. Copnor were pinned inside their third (that’s right, third not half!!!) and an early corner and barrage of crosses were eventually dealt with after some desperate last ditched defending. Copnor cleared to give themselves some breathing space….for about 2 minutes. A speculative through ball by a DJE midfielder had Adie “The first Touch” chasing down and the Copnor keeper and the stopper was more than favourite to gather but (I think) he spilled it and Adie tapped in.
This was looking good for DJE as we usually needed 10 chances before scoring one. So with the shot to goal ratio at 100% and Copnor looking and being poor, surely this was the game when a team comes across the DJE wrath and our true potential was unlocked! No it wasn’t unfortunately.
DJE were in control and caused problems from corners, crosses, through balls and dinky little runs but yet again (bored of writing this) our finishing and decision making in key areas was fuckin poor. We out passed them, out muscled them and even our 442 formation was working. As the game went on Copnor’s confidence grew with every missed DJE chance but fortunately their crosses, corners and free kicks were easily defended. Half time whistle came and DJE were deservedly winning the game but yet again this league tie should have been all over.
Second half panned out much like the first and DJE kept probing but the rewards never came. The Copnor keeper pulled of some good saves. The DJE quick ,crisp and precise passing was unsettling the Copnor shape, good chances and half chances came and went. DJE needed a second goal to settle themselves. It came! All I can remember was the ball bounced a couple of times around the 18 yard box and Coker smashed a high shot just in under the bar giving the Copnor Stopper no chance. Cokers celebrations carried on into the day as a lovely Kodak moment of him taking a dump were shared on Facebook. Two nil and a clean sheet was also on the cards. For some strange reason the goal didn’t settle us but instead made us nervous?? We stopped playing??? Copnor could sense this and even bought out the little man sydrome from their left winger. For some reason in an off the ball incident the little chap starting kicking out at Clubman and I think he even swung a punch? This unsettled the rhythm of the game and the tackles started going in. Copnor had a rare corner from all the chaos, DJE would normally just clear the ball but our minds were clearly on causing harm to their players and three attempts to thwart the Copnor danger weren’t taken and their midfielder half volleyed a strike straight into the Top corner. Root no chance with all the bodies in way.
The last 10 minutes were nervy but in all honesty this game should have been all over at half time. DJE got the win and from 80 minutes of domination this was deserved. We maintain our 4th place and the league is starting to take some shape despite some teams playing 6 games and some playing more than 10. The winning streak continues. If only we had started the first three games better!!!!! We could have been on for a league winners medal. Anyhoo…Hampshire cup next and the quarter finals beckons.
