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LEAGUE
St John's Bowling Eagles 3-2 LRBC
�NEIGH� REWARD FOR LRBC
Ed Jackson reports
A cold but beautiful morning provided perfect conditions for the 3rd meeting of these teams this season. As two horses munched on the frozen grass, the gypsy caravans were nowhere to be seen. All that was left by the pitch was piles of rubbish and a corrugated iron shed that had seen many finer days.
LRBC's new centre-half?
Fielding a near full strength team LRBC knew they had to get into the saddle early if they were to get anything out of the game. Renowned slow starters, they did improve on their usual slow trot to give their more illustrious opponents one or two problems. St John�s were soon aware that this would not be mere horse play.
St John�s though, have a style that they stick to and it serves them well, and as the first half wore on they started to create some good chances. Their �mane� man in centre midfield began to impose himself and had their finishing been better they would have got more than the one goal in the first half. The frozen firm ground that later became good to firm may well have been a factor in this although bookies would have been reluctant to take bets against goals being scored in some of the situations.
LRBC poor marking led to the first goal as they allowed St John�s too much time on the ball, a problem they had all game. However, they struck back quickly as immediately from the re-start Anthony Thorpe galloped up the right wing, hurdling tacklers and delivered a cross which the goalkeeper dropped at the feet of striker Jackson who easily slotted home.
1-1 at half time and LRBC had worked well to have kept themselves in the game despite playing up the slope. The game was there for the winning and they will look back on the second half with some disappointment.
With half time words still ringing in their ears LRBC had a disastrous start to the second half. The horses may well have competed better and LRBC appeared to be wearing blinkers as St John�s charged forward and their striker was left unchallenged with time and space to fire home.
As frustrations grew and tempers became a little frayed, Anthony Thorpe blotted his copy book, picking up a caution for dissent. Whilst the referee had opted for a user unfriendly approach all through the game, there will only ever be one winner when it comes to arguing with any official.
LRBC lacked the quality in possession to create good chances and were often struggling, particularly down their left to cope with the home teams attacks. The game hung in the balance, and LRBC needed a little fortune. This came courtesy of a slip by the home teams centre half which let Jackson in down the right. As Parkinson jockeyed for position, the striker whipped the ball across the goal for Parkinson to fire home through the keeper�s legs. 2-2.
At this time LRBC could sense a victory but they could not build on this. It was in fact the home team again that struck the fatal shot. A breakdown in communication between Frater and the defence enabled the bearded home striker to take his time and slot the ball into an unguarded net. Whilst you could not doubt the endeavour and hard work of the away team greater organisation, discipline and communication when on the defensive is needed to prevent these soft goals being repeated.
LRBC used all their substitutes to try and add some energy to the team and it was substitute Mark Fisher who could have stolen the draw. A great ball forward put him through on the keeper but as he cantered forward he could not quite get a good contact on the ball to cause the keeper to save. Apart from that there were some hopeful hoofs which generally caused few problems. At the other end LRBC continued to look vulnerable and kept themselves in the game through some last ditch tackles from Hoy and Brownnutt.
Duncan Brownnutt received the MOTM award and credit must go to Jonny Hoy for a determined display at centre half and credit also to Rick Mayers kept his winger very quiet. It was hard work for the midfield 4 and they struggled to get on the ball in good positions, spending most of their time chasing and harrying. It is a measure of the progress of this team that they go into game like this with a genuine chance of winning, and they must take the positives into the crunch game with St Peters.
LRBC Team: M Frater, R Mayers (D Turner 75), J Hoy, D Brownnutt, J Jarvis, A Thorpe, J Wilson, S Robinson, M Philpott (E Johnson 70), J Parkinson, E Jackson (M Fisher 80)
LRBC Goals: E Jackson, J Parkinson
LRBC Man of the Match: D Brownnutt