What sparkly morning! A nice change after the last few weeks of miserable weather and fixture cancellations! For the first time that I can remember there was no wind in Trelai Car Park! Although as usual, once we were out in the middle of the fields, sure enough a nice keen cutting wind was felt! Well at least it wasn't anywhere near as strong as on previous occasions! Derm and Mike had nine lads to choose from today, so needed to work out the substitutions for every game. Fortunately the size of the pitches meant that eight a side was easily manageable although those goals are getting to look awfully small these days!

The first game was against Rumney Reds, a team our lads only played once before on the first game of the season at Hailey Park. On that occasion the Eagles emerged 5-1 victors but from looking at the warm up it was obvious the lads were going to have to work a little harder today. The game started at a furious pace and the referee needed to establish himself early as Rumney were putting in some overly robust challenges. The lads kept their heads however and kept on trying to create openings. Stout defence meant that Rumney attacks were posing little danger and the Eagle attacking play meant that the game was being played deep in the Rumney half. It was no surprise when Aaron scored the first goal after 3 minutes and the lads were well on top. Aaron put two more away to put the game beyond Rumney but they nevertheless kept competing and a little slack tackling at the end allowed Rumney to gain a single consolation goal before the final whistle. 3-1 was a fair reflection of the Eagle dominance and the Marlboro Crew on the side were really looking forward to the next two games!

In game two the lads were opposed by our Marlboro C colleagues who the lads had heavily defeated in the last encounter and it might be that the lads approached this game with a little complacency. The "C" lads were really up for it and competed well especially in the middle of the field where our lads found very little time on the ball. It was not against the run of play when the C lads took the lead towards the end of the second half and the Eagles unblemished record against club colleagues looked in danger. Despite desperate efforts the lads were finding it hard to put their passes together and attack after attack was snuffed out and the situation looked bleak. With 30 seconds left the Marlboro Sideline Crew were resigned to congratulating the opponents but one should never underestimate that Eagle resolve! Just in the nick of time a James thunderous effort was parried upwards by the diving C keeper and the ball lobbed towards the head of Mike who was following up the shot. Mike placed his header perfectly over the desperate keeper and the ball sailed between the sticks! What a goal! There was just time enough left for another Eagle raid but this time the C lads cleared and the whistle sound to bring the game to and end! So it finished at 1-1 a score with which none of us could complain about!

Game three was to be against Thornhill A with who the lads drew 1-1 at Coed Glas a month ago. The Thornhill lads were determined to complete and it was noticeable how closely Aaron was being marked. His previous goals had not gone unnoticed and it seemed that he was to be afforded little room to work his magic! As usual Ewan and Niall competed robustly in the centre of the field and the defence was dealing with the Thornhill strikers with relative ease. However the close marking of our front players meant that  openings in front of the Thornhill goal were not appearing and it was hard to see where the first goal was going to come from. Unsurprisingly the score remained 0-0 at half time. The second half continued in the same vein and a goalless draw was looking a distinct possibility. Mid-way through the second half Aaron pounced on a Thornhill defensive lapse to take a free shot at goal past a confused keeper. The ball  ended up exactly where Aaron wanted it to go and the goal celebrations started as the ball crossed he line! It seems as if the keeper placed the goal for a goal kick not realising the ball was still in play, as he backed off to take a run up Aaron simply ran up and kicked the still ball towards the goal! This was very unfortunate for the replacement keeper who had played well throughout the game but, as they say, "these things happen". Thornhill pressed hard for an equaliser and right at the death it looked as if they had pulled themselves back to parity when a shot hit both post and bar to ricochet out to a Thornhill attacker 6 yards out. The attacker produced a thunderous drive that was headed towards the top right of the goal when Jonathan produced the most spectacular save diving backwards and to his left to just parry the ball around the post! The save was a match winner as the whistle sounded moments later! 1-0 to the lads!

Next week the lads visit Maindy Stadium for the first time! See you all there!!

Marlboro Eagles Squad for today.

Declan, Niall, Mike, Aaron, James, Leo, Ewan, Hassan, Jonathan

Round up of Today's Results

Marlboro Eagles 3 Rumney Reds 1
Marlboro Eagles 1 Marlboro C 1
Marlboro Eagles 1 Thornhill 0

A couple of Keegans on view in the game against Rumney. Click photo to Enlarge.

Aaron sending opponents the wrong way!
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Ewan heads from a defensive corner, Leo, Jon and Dec defend the goalmouth. 
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Mike sending a through ball on to Aaron
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Hassan tussles for the ball against Thornhill.
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James engaging in a mid-field battle against Thornhill. Click  photo to Enlarge

The Thornhill keeper makes a fine save, James is ready for the rebound!
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