| 14th Dec 2002. Div 5 Cup. Coal Exchange 5 v 2 Ashington Rovers Reserves. We were up against our arch rivals Ashington Rovers Reserves this week. It was a 2nd Round game in the Div 5 Cup. We started well and went three goals up with two goals from Lee Good and another from Keith. The pick of the bunch was Lee's delicate lob from an accute angle over the keeper into the right top corner, a real 'Goal of the Season' contender. We looked like scoring on every attack. Geoff and Bran made bursts from the midfield and Scholesy and Chalkie were savaging their defense down the wings. Towards the end of the first half the tide started to turn and our defense came under mounting pressure. Jon returned in goal and pulled off some cracking saves. They did pinch a goal to make it 3v1 at half time. After the break the 'Ashington Ringers' turned on the pressure but our three centre backs Ollie, Andy & Tim played out of their skins and kept them out. Our next goal came from a brilliantly flighted free-kick from the boss. He aimed for the back of Lee Good's head and the bounced the ball into the back of the net! Danny let Lee claim the goal for his hat-trick! We wrapped it up with a final goal from Keithy. They got a consolation goal. Another fantastic win. 5 v 2. |
| 21st Dec 2002. Div 5 South Petworth 3 v 9 Coal Exchange It was a wet and misty day at Petworth Park, but the Coal Exchange Football team lit the place up with some dazzling football. It was obvious from the starts that the Petworth Third team were no match for the might of the Coalie, and we scored a couple of early goals to make the point. However after the lads got a bit cavalier on the defensive side, we did slip up (in most senses of the word) and let Petworth in for a goal to make it 2v1. We eventually ran out 9v3 winners with goals spread around amoungst the team. Lee Good scored a couple of crackers after some tenacious work in front of goal. Bran also snatched a brace, as did Geoff. Jamie battled away in the muddy conditions down the right, as did the skipper ("Please pass it to me") down the left. Danny was denied by a handball on the line, missed by the ref! Keith had a slow day by his standards, but still got on the score sheet, and Ollie galloped forward from defense to knock in a great header from a Keithy corner. In the second half Marc, Clive and old-boy Jimmer came on, and Chalkie and Andy pushed up front. Chalkie got on the scoresheet after a fantastic run by Ollie. Ollie managed to beat most of the Petworth team but just couldn't get the ball past Chalkie and cheeky Harold Terrace chappie pummelled it into the back of the net. It was a tough day for keepers, but Jon (mostly) coped brilliantly. He did have one charitable moment to gift Petworth a goal...wath out for tht big air kick on 'What happened next' (Sorry Jon). Another great result and with Ashington losing we are now only one poin off the top, with three games in hand! UP THE COALIE!! After the game we had a fantastic Xmas Do at the Bulls Head in Fishbourne. Cheers to Scholesy for organising that. Next week home to Rose Green. Merry Christmas. |
| 28th Dec 2002. Div 5 South Coal Exchange 8 v 1 Rose Green Utd It was a bit of a demolition job on Rose Green this week. Some of the lads were taking things a bit easy with international (snowboarding) duty starting tommorrow. We kept up a constant offensive, with Rose Green only really having two chances in the heavy conditions. The first was a penalty saved by Jon, and the second a rather freaky goal over the keepers head. Our goals were scored by Ollie 2 from the back, Keith 2, Scholesy 2 (including the one he nicked off the foot of the Boss) and one for each of the Lee's. Good performance takes to the TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!! |
| 4th Jan 2003 Hants Cup Red Lynch 3 v 1 Coal Exchange Report Supplied by Jez Bullen..."Only missing two influential (Fellows and Bartlett) and a couple of reserve players, the Coal Exchange travelled to the other side of the New Forest to take on Red Lynch. Following a good start the Coaly were pressed back into their own half after around 20 minutes, and were unable to clear before Red Lynch took the lead through a header. 10 minutes later, John rushed off his line rashly to take out their approaching striker, and then only just got a hand to the well struck penalty. Soon after the restart, Coaly hearts were sunk (ed. very poetic) as Red Lynch send a spectulative shot 25 yards which looped over John, who only got a hand to it to deflect it into the net. They started a fight back, but was too late, and losing Clive on 70 minutes made this very difficult, despite Jamie tapping in from Lee's superb cross." You'll be glad to hear that we are still top of the league, as the Div 5 South League games this week were all called off due to the weather. Next week we are at home to Petworth. Kick-off is 2pm. |