We were pleasantly surprised at the set up at St Mellons as our hosts had erected movable goals for the matches which meant we weren't playing on badly rutted pitches with worn out goal areas! Also the ridiculous off-road motorcyclists that we've witnessed before were conspicuous by their absence! Even so the lads had to content with hard pitches with a just a few holes caused by horses which caused one or two ankle injuries during the course of the morning! Happily this was a well organised venue (unlike last week!) and there were no necessary on-the-hoof arrangements to be made by our management! That said a now familiar problem reared its head again this morning: No goalkeeper! Saying that, our stand-ins are now performing so well we are no longer disadvantaged by this! This morning Declan (one full game v Pentyrch), Sion (full game v Capital Trucks), Niall (half game v St Mellons) and James (half game v St Mellons) filled the breech. Well done lads!
The round-up of today's results!
Game 1 Marlboro Eagles 4 Pentyrch Rangers 0
Game 2 Marlboro Eagles 3 Capital Trucks A 0
Game 3 Marlboro Eagles 1 St Mellon's 1
Game 1 saw us take a slow start against Pentyrch. The lads ground out a one goal lead by half time but took control in the second half to finish deserved winners by 4 goals to 0.
Game 2 was reckoned to be the mornings most difficult match for the lads and it indeed was a very competitive affair against Capital Trucks A who we had previously met at Trelai and emerged victorious by 3 goals to nil. The game was a closely contested affair and at half time the lads just about deserved to have taken a one goal lead. The second half continued to be very competitive but the lads increased their lead twice more to once again win 3-0. The fact that Capital failed to score was testament to Sion's performance in goal! Several times he was called on to make difficult saves and each time he was well up to the task! The goals included yet another of Hassan's specialist corner goals! (see photo 16). Game 3 was thought to be an easy run out for our heroes as we had performed well against St Mellons several times this season but as it turned out this was a very difficult match. Our opponents fought for every ball and the lads were glad to take an early lead. However, some slack defensive work allowed an equaliser and it remained 1-1 at half time. The Eagles squandered several chances early in the second half and the lads were to regret this as the game headed to a 1-1 draw. Right at the death a Hassan corner was met powerfully on head by Declan (see photo 20) but it went well wide! And so the game finished honours even!
