Sunday 2 March 2014

Green Dragon 2-3 Trentside FC

Venue: Titchfield Park, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

Competition: Notts Sunday League, Premier Premier.

Scorers:

Dragon -  Martin Lester (15), Rob Neale (75)
Trentside - Eugene Francis (61 pen), Justin Edwards-Clarke (77), Rory Francis (87)

After the bright sunshine on Saturday, Sunday was cold, wet and windy, and it was a difficult decision whether to go to a game or not. Luckily I was able to stay very local again - Titchfield Park is only a couple of minutes away.

Had a chat to the Trentside Manager before the kick-off - it looked like he was going to have to play,  but was given a last minute reprieve when their eleventh player turned up. As it transpired, Manager "Mickey" did take to the field later on and created the final two goals for his team.

Before kick-off,  there was a well observed minutes silence held in memory of the father of a visiting player, recently deceased.


Looking at the Trenside starting eleven,  it was obvious Dragon were going to be given a tough time. The visitors line-up included Hucknall Town's Leon Aikman, Eugene Francis and Tristam Spencer, along with former Yellow  Romaine Graham. Add Greenwood Meadows'  Rory Francis to this and the outlook seemed a bit grim at the onset for the home team.

Dragon never let the big name players settle though, and deservedly took the lead in the 15th minute through MARTIN LESTER. A ball in from the left was only half dealt with by the Trentside keeper, and his fumble gave the Dragon no. 16 a simple close range header.  Trentside increased their tempo as the half went on, with Rory Francis a constant pain down the left side. H-T 1-0

Referee Liam Jones awarded the visitors a  penalty  on the hour mark after Edwards-Clarke was upended in the Dragon area. EUGENE FRANCIS easily beat the home keeper from 12 yards.

Dragon roared back though, and regained the lead on 75, ROB NEALE nodding Kane Matthews' free-kick home after his initial header had been well saved by the keeper.

This is when the game changed. Prior to the restart, Manager "Mickey" went on in place of "Beefy" who had been injured early on in the game.  Bald headed, bespectacled and  shockingly alabaster white legs - but what an impact!  His first action was to cross the ball in from the right to the near post where EDWARDS-CLARKE was on hand to sneak the ball past the Dragon keeper.  Then he played a cracking ball in front of the home goal, and RORY FRANCIS had the simple task of drilling home from 10 yards out. F-T 2-3

Attendance - a dozen or so souls braved the crap conditions, but to be fair to both sets of players,  they coped admirably and put on  a great  display  of Sunday morning footie!

Link to league table