G&S kicked off their 3rd friendly in 4 weeks at a 'rough & ready' Eltham Town Academy pitch in Foots Cray. The day started badly with overnight injuries to Terry, George, Frenchie & Ola. The Blues did however have a 14 man squad, bolstered by debutant Lewis Reed in centre midfield.
The Blues settled early and pressurised JB Knights from the outset. The Reds played their first full Eltham Div 2 season in 08/09 and finished a creditable 5th but were, like G&S, slightly depleted.
TJ was the main 'culprit' missing a few golden opportunities and it took until the 28th minute for the eventual, deserved breakthrough. Lakey slipped a gorgeous ball through the centre for another debutant, Anthony Yussuf, who skilfully slipped the ball past his defender before being scythed down. TJ stepped up to smash the resulting penalty past the keepers diving right hand.
TJ was on fire up front and was a major, major headache for the over worked reds defence. He was again through on 41 minutes but disappointingly shot wide again.
The firey front man was however soon to silence the mutterings on the sidelines when his hard work eventually paid dividends. A strong burst through midfield by Rich ended with another sweet through ball from the top 'assists' man to TJ who slammed the ball home from 10 yards on 44 minutes. There was still more time for TJ to chase and chase the tiring JB defence, as he lunged at a defensive clearance in injury time and saw his efforts rewarded with the ball rebounding beyond the sticksman.
The Blues went in at half time deservedly 3-0 up.
JB started brightly in the 2nd half but G&S were again soon on top. Francis was coming more & more in to the game and was unlucky to see his shot ping back off the post as he shot from the left.
On 65 minutes the hard work from the Blues told. The ball was slammed across and Anthony pounced to scissor kick the ball home from 6 yards whilst horizontal, for a very well taken goal. 4-0.
G&S' solid defence, well marshalled by Captain Luca, then soaked up what the Reds threw at them. Then a moment of pure genius from the ever improving Francis. He picked the ball up from Rich and then danced & weaved his way past 4 or 5 hapless defenders down the left, cutting in to slot the ball under the advancing keeper. An early contender for goal of the season!
As the match drew to a close the opposition keeper suddenly sprang to life to save a drubbing. Firstly he saved at close range from Rich's flying right foot volley at the back post and immediately dived full across the goal to palm Lakey's hard struck, swerving follow up volley round the post.
Jake was also in the late action as his shot from outside the box just cleared the bar. There was however still time for a sixth goal in injury time. Rob swung in another sweet left foot cross and Anthony ghosted in to calmly slot home the volley just inside the post.
The final whistle blew and the G&S players, officials and supporters drifted away extremely happy with a very solid performance from all 14 men today!!
Although today there were clearly 14 'Man of the Match' performances, Lewis just outshone 'hat-trick' hero TJ with a solid, skilfull, battling midfield display. One of many to come we hope!
