DJE came into the game short of confidence and short of proper keeper so the game against bottom side Denmead was a much needed welcome. The game was always going to be full of goals with Denmead conceding an average 3 goals a game and DJE 2 goals.
DJE started brightly with some easy on the eye 2 touch passing and with Denmead struggling with the tempo they found themselves a goal behind early on.
The short passing game that had eluded DJE in alot of the matches previous was an ever present but DJE let Denmead off the hook with some poor final passes and finishing. Despite the lack of goals DJE were getting more chances than a game of Monopoly. Next up for a chance was Callum Coker who found himself in more space than Neil Armstrong, he gave the Keeper a get out of jail free card with a low driven shot going well wide. Confidence was high and when a DJE player was fouled 25 yds from goal this confidence could have taken a knock with the team only getting 1 in 30 free kicks on target previous. Barker unphased by this stat stepped up and confidently bent a hard curling strike into the planted keepers top left corner. Claps and smiles were all around but the celebrations wouldn’t be complete without a customary Brian pat or hand shake. Big sigh of relief when up he popped 10 seconds after the goal was scored with a hand shake right from the realms of Downton Abbey. DJE smelled blood, or it could have been the remnants of the Lanyards players regurgitation from last weeks game which was only two pitches away. Another foul 25-30yds out and Sanderson must have mistaken the free kick for an opportunity to give the ball back to the opposition. His back pass was somehow pushed into his own net by the Denmead keeper!! Leigh Taylor also scored in the half but as I cant remember anything about it, lets give Leigh the opportunity of the spotlight to talk us through his first goal for the club on facebook. Once Leigh has done this he may want to give the pedestal to Pete as I cant remember his goal either. Sorry. Exciting stuff this Sunday league goalkeeping.
Half time and DJE were four goals to the good and deserved their rest. Unfortunately Adam Sandler had forgot to turn up and his top quality H2O was missing from the retro yellow bottles. The usual in depth analysis and pep talk by Clubman Kev followed the disappointment of not having an A-list celebrity to fill the water bottles and Kevs words of wisdom left the team emotional and overwhelmed with silence and looks of … um….Boredom. Boredom soon turned to excitement when Barker suggested dangling a carrot in front of the Coker nose which consisted of pimping out his mum to the whole team if he didn’t score. No pressure then Callum!!!!
DJE started the second half with an air of arrogance which appeared to lift the Denmead team. The opposition put DJE under pressure with a barrage of corners and free kicks and were rewarded when the all action Taylor was deemed to have pulled back their forward. A shocking decision was eased with a shockingly taken spot kick. Tiller pulled out all the stops with some moves up and down the line which would have graced the strictly dance floor, thus causing the Denmead player to smash over the bar and onto the M27. The warnings were evident and with the continued poor passing and lack of discipline from the DJE players, it was helping Denmead. Could DJE keep their first clean sheet? Their impressive defence in this game certainly deserved one! Could they????? NO! Denmead got their goal when their answer to Nikolay Valuev had time to take a touch inside the box, turn, compose himself and then dribble a shot which could only be palmed poorly in to the corner by the stand in Tiller. Heads dropped, fingers were pointed, surely DJE wouldn’t let this one slip from their grasp? A short pass from Tiller into the usually reliable Fry caused him a few problems as with options open he passed it to their striker for the Frankie Cocozza clone to place pass Tiller for 4-2.… game on.
DJE showed some character very quickly when a good move all round resulted in a Taylor power drive deflecting off someone and then through the keeper! Boom 5-2. In a carbon copy of last weeks performance the opportunities came and were then missed. Denmead were gifted further chances from individual mistakes rather than great creativity which would have been punished by a better side. DJE left Farlington with their first 3 points and an encouraging first half performance that should hopefully kick start their season.
