Dainite (away) 10/09/05

A trip to rainy Market Harborough was in store today as the boys looked to build on our 4-1 win last week and send a message to the rest of the league that we mean business.  Everyone knows what’s at stake – win the league and Adie shaves his tash off.  If that’s not enough to motivate the lads then we might as well just give up.  Despite getting lost on the way thanks to fit again Bash Senior’s so called directions, we arrived in good spirits.  Thank god Bash’s midfield organisation skills are better than his directions, as Adie was able to select his first choice centre midfield of Bash, Scott and Docs, with Steve on the right and Pro-Evolution champion Cam in his more familiar role of left wingback. Eddie slotted back into to the back 3 with Scriv and Bash Jr.  Rooney kept his place between the sticks, and Jack was given the nod to partner Gibby up front, which meant Danny had to settle for a place on the bench, and had to do the unthinkable and actually talk to his missus who’d come to watch.  Scotty Mac and product of the Fisher Youth Academy Jason joined Danny on the bench.  Amateur psychologist Adie had told the lads Dainite had narrowly missed out on promotion last season, and were gonna be a force to be reckoned with, and they took the lead in 5 minutes.  We are just so slow to start games these days, Adie and Stitch will need to sort that out in training.  But on the break, no team can touch us and we responded about 2 minutes later. Cam released Jack on the right who ran the length of the pitch and squared a delicious ball for Gibby who amazingly found the net from 6 yards. Jack was again involved in number 2 as a defender took him out when he was clear on goal, and Gibby stuck the penalty away.  Gib, who couldn’t hit a cow’s bottom with a banjo last week, was on a hatrick.  We were well on top, Docks and Scott were pinging passes about left right and centre, and Eddie, Scriv and Bash were winning everything in the air. It was no surprise when we got number 3, when another great ball from Cam found Jack with one defender to do, and he brushed off the challenge to slot the ball under the keeper. 3-1 up at half time and to be honest, we were cruising. Even a combo of an inept ref and 12 year old Dainite linesman couldn’t stop us. We even had the luxury of having a Scotty D strike disallowed for offside. Maybe offside means something else in Harborough, because Scott was 5 yards on, and to compound an erratic performance, the ref booked him for sticking the ball in the net.

Second half was all one way traffic, with the boys picking up where we left off.  Dainite were going through the motions, and we carved them open time after time. Scriv came close with a couple of headers, and Jack and Gibby were too easy on the keeper, placing shots when they should’ve hammered them home. But Gib got his hatrick soon enough, after good work from Docs found him on the edge of the box with his back to goal. Gibby spun round and clipped the jammiest lob I’ve ever seen over the onrushing keeper. Brilliant goal if he meant it, jammy as feck if he never. Sure enough in the Fisher later he was claiming he meant it.  The words “tactical” and “genius” are often uttered in the same breath as “Adrian Kelly”, and the boss man decided to unleash Danny Bhoy for the last 25 minutes in place of Jack. On another day, Jack could’ve had 10, but no-one can complain with a goal and two assists.  Eddie also made way for big Scott McBlain at the back. Straight away Danny heaped more misery on the hapless Dainite defence, picking up a Scotty D pass on the halfway line, before taking it past 3 defenders and rounding the keeper to score an absolute cracking solo goal Paulo Di Canio would be proud of.  Danny’s second came a few minutes later, and I was pleased to have a hand in it, crossing in a David Beckham-esque ball (not my words, the words of club vice-captain David Scrivener) which took the keeper and defender out of the game, leaving Danny to slide in and volley into the net.  Danny really had a point to prove, and could’ve had a few more after this. There was a hearts in mouth incident when Rooney raced outside his box and took an oncoming Dainite striker out of the game, but thankfully the ref done the sensible thing and pulled out a yellow, as Scriv and Bash Jr were on the line and would’ve cleared anyway.  Jason replaced Scotty D with 10 minutes to go as Adie decided to give the youngster a taste of first team action. 6-1 it finished going on 20. And though its still early days, as long as we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, it could turn into an interesting season.

PLAYER RATINGS:

ROONEY… 7

Not much to do, but a lot more assured and commanded his box confidently. Crazy challenge to take the striker out of the game

SCRIV…..8

Didn’t lose a tackle or header all game

BASH JR…..8

Solid. Cleared an effort off the line

EDDIE……8

Strong, good in the air, I even heard him talking once or twice

CAM……..7

Good tackling and passing, had a hand in a few of the goals, although what was that mad pass across the box all about?

BASH SNR……9

Covers his defenders, never hides, sets up attacks, does the simple things brilliantly, not bad from this most senior of citizens. MOTM

DOCS………7

Good skill and flair

SCOTTY D …..8

Never offside, ref. What were you thinking?

STEVE….7

Up and down, nothing fancy (apart from the exquisite ball for Danny’s goal)

JACK…..7

It’s a shame he left his shooting boots at home, or he would’ve had a double hatrick

GIBBY…….9

Somebody stop him! He’s back, oh he’s back!

Subs

DANNY……8

25 minutes, 2 goals. Adie now has a selection headache Jose Mourinho would fancy

SCOTTY MAC……6

Helped steady things at the back

JASON…..5

Last 10 minutes, got stuck in