Premier Division
Spelthorne Sports 3 Marsh Rangers 1
Wednesday, 27 August 2003
STILL LEARNING
Marsh Rangers went into this match thinking that perhaps their baptism in the " big boys" division might now be coming to an end , and " Normal Service May Be Resumed " . They Were Wrong . There is still a long way to go before we come to terms with the fact that in this division you get punished for errors of judgement a lot more than in division one .
Marsh started brightly enough , and although Tony Dowding was making a now rare appearance in goal for the absent Van Rooyen , the defence seemed fairly strong . Also back in came Andrew Thomas , David Kearney , Matthew Hoyle , Rob Manning , John Mackenzie , Steve Haughey & Michael Turtle .
On the bench , rested due to various minor injuries picked up in other atches , Tony Heath & Martin Campbell ,plus tactical substitutes Gary Winter & Shaine Thomson . Out with injuries were Daren Brown& Brian Way , which all meant that manager David Campbell was now using the "rotation system" often used by Chelsea F.C. Only Paul Hine , Chris Ranson , & Paul McGill , were retained from Saturdays starting line up .
This was the 4th different line up in 4 matches and NOT all down to the managers choice .This also proved that a big squad was needed for the step up into the Premier Division .
Both sides set about this match with a will to win , but Marsh were once again punished for mistakes . A Steve Haughey effort went narrowly past the Spelthorne post and a Paul McGill shot was well saved by the Spelthorne
keeper . Mickey Turtle ventured forward whenever possible and Matthew Hoyle & Chris Ranson were called upon to work hard in the midfield . Tony Dowding was positive in the Marsh goal , and Paul Hine , John Mackenzie , Mickey Turtle & Andrew Thomas all seemed able to cope with a lively Spelthorne attack .
Paul McGill & Steve Haughey caused a few problems against an experienced defence , whilst Rob Manning & Dave Kearney overlapped the wings .
Suddenly it all went wrong !!!!! Slack defending allowed a cross to be forced home from close range , and before half time even worse defending allowed a close range , unchallenged , header to double the score . Marsh forced a free kick near the edge of the Spelthorne box which gave them a chance to pull a goal back before half time but nothing came of it .
The second half saw various tactical changes by Marsh , and they started in a more challenging mood . Rob Manning had an excellent second half , running at the Spelthorne defence . Steve Haughey dropped into a midfield role and
worked hard to try to get Marsh back into the match . Mickey Turtle & Andrew Thomas were joined by Martin Campbell and things started to look better for Marsh . Tony Dowding kept Marsh in the game with an excellent block save ,
which seemed to inspire them more . Shaine Thomson swept the ball out to Rob Manning who had his first cross blocked but managed a left foot 2nd effort into the penalty area .
It was too much for the keeper to hold and PAUL McGILL was on hand to score , only our second goal of the season , from an acute angle . This gave Marsh more self belief and they applied more pressure on the Spelthorne goal . Spelthorne still looked dangerous on the break but Marsh were now competing in the football match . With time running out Marsh had to push extra players
forward to try for an equaliser and with the last kick of the match Spelthorne capitalised well on a mistake and scored the third .
Marsh can take a number of good points out of this match but must continue to try to cut out the mistakes , and take more chances when they come .
Clive Goodman
Marsh Rangers F.C.
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