Managers report......... Well done every one today,especially that ref,smart,good looking,on the ball and sharp as a button.... A Paul Tate double and a thumping drive from some bloke walking his dog earn't the tour lads a very good draw today against a more than capable Toshacks and E.FF side, I will openly admit that when looking at the 2 sides today i thought we would do well to make any sort of game of it and( i know it don't happen often?) but how wrong i was. Having a squad made up of mainly defensive minded players led to a double up of our midfield enforcers and a starting line up bereft of our undoubted ball players meant we played with 1 upfront and planned to make it as hard as possible for the opposition.Despite a somewhat nervy looking start and the conceding of an early goal we began to grow in confidence and with both sides creating good chances it was surprising that it remained 1-0 at half time. At the interval the ref decided to take on the guise of tour team manager and began with a recurring theme about players wanting the ball,being more vocal and not dropping our heads should we concede again and trying to lose that pattern of doing well 1st half and capitulating 2nd half. So out we go with a slightly more attacking 2 up front (I can't take the credit for that im'e afraid but at least I LISTENED). So normal service resumed, the silence was deafening and the 2nd goal came far too easily and quickly,but thats where things changed,the now obviously premiership quality ref awarded the tour team a free kick on the edge of Toshacks box and Taters done the rest with a perfectly placed shot beyond the flailing keeper and the defenders on the line.Game On...certainly was as the tour team found there spring again and the newly found midfield enforcer Mr Lane was starting to revel in his role, several times we threatened and a great ball through to Taters left him 1 on 1 but as he shook of the last defender he was brought down,the ref who had he been bald instead of still having a fine head of hair could easily have been mistaken for Pierluigi Collina took a moment to digest the incident and then pointed to the spot,Up stepped Taters again and comfortably dispatched the ball into the Onion bag 2-2......Unfortunately whilst we where still enjoying the fruits of our labours Toshacks retook the lead through some small fat bloke who after sleeping on the wing all game suddenly popped up in our box. Despite the previous heroics of our 3rd choice keeper Lee the leg end wenban i have to say he had no chance of stopping what was a very good move. So it seemed that we where to suffer the heart break of another brave but ultimately heartbreaking defeat, But i didn't bank on the move of the match,after some good play down the right involving Dave Party Smith and Gary Cheevers the ball was crossed into the box where Kev slimline Lane capped a very impressive midfield performance with a lovely touch back to the guy (now without his dog) to smash home a well deserved equaliser. Its fair to say a draw was probably a fair result but if Taters hadn't decided to do his best impression of offside Jim several times in the last 6 or 7 mins we could have ended up with a win....WELL DONE EVERYONE.....Dave
