Scorers: Semaj (2), Robinson, Morris
A ‘reem’ performance from the 4’s as they travelled to deepest darkest Essex in the AFA cup. With East London’s second most famous Geordie footballer still absent (wedding/camping/underwriting insurance deals in the City), stand in captain Pat McGlogan led a strong outfit around the North Circular to Old Chigwellians for a shot at Cup glory.
The defence of Pat, Stu Johnson, James and John, was bolstered by Tony Bent in between the sticks, and we lined up with a midfield of Jacko, Carl, Seb and Nathan, with Brad and Elvis up front. Conditions were great, the pitch was immaculate, and AP immediately put the oppo under pressure with slick movement and passing across the midfield and forward lines, with Jack and Nathan always available in the wide areas, putting quality balls in (Nathan) or attempting to go past the entire Chigwell backline via a series of Cruyff turns (Jack)
Stuart really took control of the defence and as a result we looked solid, with Tony not having to make a single save, which was fortunate based on the warm up (only joking Tony). We deservedly went ahead after good hustling down the right from Nathan saw him feed Elvis who finished crisply from just inside the area. A few minutes later we doubled our lead as Jack drew a foul, then battered the subsequent free kick at their keeper, who failed to hold it and Carl, following in well, nodded home.
We had to make a change shortly after the second goal, as a very poor tackle on Brad left him unable to continue, which was a shame as he’d been doing an excellent job of linking midfield and attack. Jamie came on as replacement in central midfield, with Seb moving up front which must have been a relief for the oppo midfielders, as AP’s top marketing professional had been battering them all afternoon.
2-0 at half time and two changes saw Reynolds and James Earle come on for Jack and Carl. We started the second half very slowly and allowed Old Chigs far too much time in midfield, allowing them to put us under pressure and force us back towards our own box. After a very dodgy ten minutes we regained our composure and began to get close to the oppo, using the ball much better when we had it and getting back to the level of play in the first half.
James Earle and Jamie were proving to be a solid platform in the middle, and John Murphy in particular was getting into some great positions down the left hand side, and from one such opportunity he picked out Elvis at the far post who ran in to nod home from six yards. A great goal which came after a sustained phase of pressure from the boys.
Chigs pulled one back when John was very harshly judged to have controlled the ball with his hand intentionally. Anyone who’s seen John try to control a ball will know that it was far too good a touch to be intentional. We pushed on after this minor setback and had several attempts to notch a fourth, eventually doing so after James Earle robbed Roland from Grange Hill in central midfield, drove into the area and squared for Jack to tap in from 2 yards. Top finish Jacko!!
All in all a good result, we’ll play much better teams this season but it was encouraging to see the team move the ball around so well and we’ve now scored 9 goals in the last two games. Thanks to Tony for stepping in to help us out on the keeper front, and also Brad, hope your knee’s alright mate! First league game of the season next week against EBOG’s so let’s carry this form on and kick off with a win.
