After a not so good pre season our first league game was upon us.
A nice sunny morning up at Chislehurst Rec was the perfect setting for our 1st game against rivals FC Elmstead. After Elmstead taking 4 points from us last season & just beating us to 3rd place in the league on goal difference we knew revenge had to be on the cards.
Despite having 16-17 players per game in pre season surprisingly Taxi’s team selections was straight forward as we had bare bones with only the 1sub!
Little Ben was back in goal after missing the last game. The ever present Sean partnered Bradley at center back with Terry & Kav slotting in as full backs! Darren & Phil started out wide with Stocky & Barry in the center of the park. That left Ben Thompson upfront alongside Adrian. Aaron was our only sub & later came on to make he’s debut at the delight of Terry as he’s no longer the only Ginger on the team now!
A bright start straight from kick off saw Station take control of the game with Gary & Barry pulling the strings from the middle of the park. After numerous chances that were created Adrian got on the end of a long header that was cleared by sean, only to see him take out a pigeon that was 30ft up in the air! We knew that the first goal wouldn’t be long coming & so it proved on 20mins when Phil Bowes rose highest in the box to get on the end of Gary’s corner, great header 1-0 Station!
Not long after taking the lead came our 2nd goal & i must say what a goal it was! James Kav started the move from defence passing it down the line to Darren, who with hes 1st touch he found Gary Stock. Stocky then played a delightful one, two with Barry, upon receiving it back he looked up and with a defence splitting pass found Darren who had continued he’s run down the right hand side. A first time pass from Darren then picked out Adrian across goal who had the simple job of getting his yellow boot on the end of it to make it 2-0 Station.
Adrian could have possibly put the game out of reach for Elmstead after Ben Thompson put him through with a flick on but a great last ditch tackle kept them in the game!
Fc Elmstead finally got into the game on the half hour when there winger picked the ball up on the edge of the box with he’s back to goal. In one movement he turned on the ball and smashed it into the top corner and put Elmstead right back into the game.
There wasn’t time to for Station to re-shape before Elmstead’s best player picked the ball up out wide and ran with it. A simple one- two left Terry for dead and as he approached the edge of the box he unleashed a great strike that left Ben in goal with no chance and Elmstead were all square at 2-2!
After a Two quick fire goals from Elmstead we regained our composure and got back on top. As half time approached there center midfielder ran towards goal, Sean spotted the danger and went in for the challenge only to come off 2nd best in what nearly resulted in a all out war. Sean then reacted to the challenge which then resulted in them both being booked! But a yellow card was a let off for sean as the players dad who was built like a brick shithouse came steaming on the pitch to give sean a piece of he’s mind ( thank god for Sean thats all it was ) lol. The ref then done the sensible thing and blew the whistle for half time!
After an eventfull 1st half & the team not happy with conceding two goals like we did heads were down half time!
The 2nd half could not have started any worse for Station as a lapse in concentration from Bradley at the back resulted in Elmstead being gifted with a 3rd goal and taking the lead so soon after the break! Aaron was then introduced to make he’s debut for a straight swap in more ways than one for Terry at right back!
The second half then proceeded with end to end action and great for neutral to watch!After numberous chances created at either end the score remained at 3 - 2. Little Ben produced a string of saves to keep us in it, with Adrian, Ben T and Stocky all coming close for us at the other end.
With the clock ticking down we were struggling to get our breakthrough and get the all important equaliser. Then with 5 mins to go Aaron picked the ball up on the edge of our box and made a surging run overthe half way line. A cross field pass found Barry and after two touches he looked up and curled a beauty into the farright hand corner. He left the keeper NO chance. 3 - 3
At last we had the goal we were looking for and looked certain to take a point, or so we thought. Elmstead continued to aply the pressure and broke down the left side with 2 minutes to go. Their left winger cut in and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box. Sean made an excellent last ditch slide tackle to prevent the goal. But the ball span off his boots into the path of Bradley, who was unlucky with the spin. It managed to spin round his left boot and into the path of the striker who made no mistake in finishing!! again a costly mistake at the back costs us!
With no time remaining the ref blew for full time and The Station were condemed to their 1st defeat of the season. On the balance of things we deserved a point atleast from the game but it wasnt to be.
We knew it would be hard with 4 1st team players out and so it proved!
Next week we go again missing sereral key players but we know we can give anyone a game!!
