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| Saturday 29 July 2006 East Court 9 Cowden Mavericks 0 East Court kicked off their pre-season campaign with a resounding win at their new ground at Notre Dame against division 9 newcomers Cowden Mavericks. Mavericks lined up with former Court player James Salter in their midfield as East Court retired their old red away kit. Included for the first time in East Court colours were Mark Champion at centre-back, Stuart Moseley at right wing and Carl Zimmatore up front. Dan Medcalf was moved to right back to allow Champion to play alongside skipper Simon Nickols at the back with Nick Palmer at left back. Richard Hayes was joined by last season's top scorer Billy Denyer in the centre of midfield with Moseley and Carl Buckler providing the width. Ross Kelly partnered Zimmatore up front. The game started scrappily for Court as they tried to rid their legs of 3 months of inaction on the football field. Indeed, for the first 20 minutes Mavericks matched their more well-known opponents, eventually though the hard work put in in pre-season began to tell as East Court started to slowly turn the screw. Kelly was first on the scoresheet after good work from Denyer before Buckler added a second from a Moseley cross. Ten minutes before half-time it was 3-0 as Denyer raced onto a through ball before outmuscling two defenders and slotting the ball home. In the process he picked up a toe injury and was subbed to join Paul Bishop and Medcalf, who had earlier been replaced by Andy Wright, on the sideline. Kelly returned to partner Adam Shillibeer up front with Zimmatore dropping into a central midfield role he was to occupy for the rest of the match. It remained 3-0 at half-time with East Court mostly in the ascendancy apart from one strike that hit the bar from a Mavericks striker. It could have been even more as Cowden struggled to deal with any balls delivered high into the box but Court failed to make the most of their supremacy in this department. At half-time Paul Bishop replaced keeper Dan Lamprell and Denyer returned to the eleven. It didn't take too long for East Court to increase their lead as Kelly struck twice more as Moseley continued his good work down the right hand side. Soon after Moseley was replaced by Medcalf with Wright moving to right midfield. It was from this side that East Court added the best goal of the game, Wright threw the ball in to Zimmatore who held it up before laying it off for Medcalf. Medcalf ran onto the ball and crossed first time for Buckler to come in unmarked at the far post and score his second header of the game. Denyer made it seven before Zimmatore set up numbers eight and nine for Wright and Moseley respectively. Wright ran onto a through-ball before rounding the keeper and lifting a left-footed shot into the roof of the net. Moseley fired home across the face of the goal from a tight angle to round things off. As the team was rotated more towards the end of the game gaps started to appear but Mavericks failed to take advantage of the situation and Bishop remained a relative spectator between the sticks. Team: D.Lamprell, D.Medcalf, N.Palmer, R.Hayes, M.Champion, S.Nickols, S.Moseley, B.Denyer, R.Kelly, C.Zimmatore, C.Buckler. Subs (all used): P.Bishop, A.Shillibeer, A.Wright. |
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| Above (from L-R): Andy Wright, Simon Nickols, Richard Hayes and Nick Palmer discuss tactics as the players prepare for the start of the second half Team Photos Back Row (L-R): Mark Champion, Richard Hayes, Ross Kelly, Simon Nickols (Capt), Adam Shillibeer, Paul Bishop, Carl Buckler. Front Row (L-R): Daniel Medcalf, Billy Denyer, Daniel Lamprell, Stuart Moseley, Andy Wright, Nick Palmer. |
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