It was the long awaited season opener for Jaguar, making their debut in top flight football for the first time in the club's history.
Manager John Ison had been backed by the club's board during the off-season, bringing in 10 players to bolster the squad through a mixture of youth and experience. Veterans David Sparrow and former disgraced manager Stu Nicol returned to the playing field. The infamous "Towelgate" episode is now very much forgotten.
A healthy squad of 16 turned up on the day despite 7 players being unavailable. Rumours of a bust up behind the scenes surfaced as manager John Ison allegedly implemented a fastest text return policy for squad selection. Ian Turley's absence was noted and he was spotted in Phones 4 U later in the day upgrading his Nokia 8210 for a slicker model. A club official later played down the link.
To the game and manager John Ison went back to basics with a 4-4-2 formation. New signing and American international Alan 'Tex' Orth made his debut. Tex was seen to catch the ball before the game - a sight not seen of a Myton Jaguar goalkeeper for some time.
Skipper Danny Burke set the tone by winning the coin toss - it was a tight affair - several hours practising the flick power and rotations over the summer paid dividends. Unfortunately the team couldn't follow up the majestic flick of the finger and as usual Jaguar were slow out of the blocks.
Chances were at a premium in the early exchanges but with almost the first real attack new signing Kieran Marsden poked in from close range after a delicious cross from wide boy Sean Monnington. Chief scout Ben Clay was pleased with his work and tried to poke in a different kind of thing in the goal celebration but Kieran was wise to these tricks by now and dodged the attempt. Nothing a bit of rohipnol won't fix for Clay later.
One-season-away-from-veteran Jez Carpenter almost doubled the lead ten minutes later with a free kick from 20 yards. The ball rattled the inside of the post and flew across the face in what would have otherwise been a moment of magic. Andy Bynon certainly thought so. Jez's afternoon wasn't about to get much better from here however...
This effort appeared to galvanise the visitors and the gung-ho style certainly unsettled the Jaguar back four as overlapping midfielders reaked havoc. So much so that Dave Sparrow pulled a groin and had to leave the field early - Micky 'Sex' Panther joined the party with Jamie Found dropping back to centre half, fresh from his stint working for Colchester tourist board. Jamie was influential in the Wallace's next attack however, tee-ing up the opposing striker who fortunately saw his deflected drive go in. If only Jamie had opted for egg and bacon instead of double sausage McMuffin the goal could have been avoided.
It was all square at half time and Dale was keen to show he was ready for the big time with a fresh selection of oranges. An ok start to the season for Dale but he was clearly rusty having not got involved in pre-season. With satsuma season on the horizon Dale is clearly looking to pace himself this year and bring the good stuff out for the big fixtures.
The second half was a hard fought affair with the Wallace goalkeeper made to work from Ben Clay, having to search for a ball in the trees after a half chance on 50 minutes. This was followed by a couple of point blank saves as Jaguar started to enforce their dominance. On 70 minutes, a penalty was awarded for handball and Jez stepped up to the plate. Unfortunately he followed up his pre-season spot kick miss with another as the Wallace goalkeeper covered ground well and parried away. Jez's position as penalty taker is now in danger as messrs Bynon and Marsden snap at his heels. Galdins may have had something to say about this too but he was unavailable through depression, having been dropped by Christ the King first team for putting on a few pounds over the summer. John was seen readying Drewy's shirt for Kiam next week.
The final 20 minutes opened up as both teams pressed for the win but the barrier couldn't be breached and the game ended in a draw. Not before full back Owen Deneny picked up a yellow card for politely enquiring about the referee's decision not give a free-kick in the closing stages. The big ref took offence to being called sh*t. Talk about being touchy.
All in all a draw was a fair result. An unbeaten start and a few positives to take away. Canley next week at home. Bring the shin pads.
Man of the Match sponsored by Rod Ison was Owen Deneny.
