7 Star Performance from the Dragons

Well Here we are again, New Season, New Faces, New Division, bigger pitch but same TD!

A lovely sunny morning and the pitch looking like a carpet put the boys in a good mood and ready to go out there and show what they could do In a divison 2 higher than last season.

Our first Game was against Eastbourne Borough who came 3rd on this division last season, so we knew they would not be slouches! Eastbourne travelled well last season so the boys wanted to do their best to get the season off to a good start.

From the off Nigel set the boys up in an attacking 3-4-3 formation that had been working extremely Well for us during preseason. The boys were a bit slow to start, With Eastbourne picking up some decent positions and keeping a hold of the ball really well. This gave our boys a bit of a tough job to get the ball off of them but we did our best too and after a rocky 5 minutes the boys really started to get a foothold in the game and started to cause issues to the Eastbourne Midfield and Defence. A front 3 of Sam, Kieron and Stan moved the back line around and made some fantastic runs for the midfield to pick out.

A few close chances for us seemed to lift the boys and it was a Great ball won in Midfield by Harry, Who then played it out to the left hand side. Some neat play along the wing and a quick 1-2 between Stephen and Lewis, ended up with Stephen whipping a cross into the middle and Kieron controlling the ball before finishing quick through the keepers legs.

Eastbourne did step up a bit after the goal and tried to get their wingers involved a lot more and they did start to get into more dangerous positions.

After some back and forth, TD won a corner over on the left side. Lewis whipped the ball into the middle but it was met with a strong punch by the keeper only to bounce out around 25 yards out. The ball was still on the bounce when Dean burst out of defence and hit the most outrageous thunder bugger Half volley you will see! The ball rocketed over the keeper and nestled into the top right corner! Outstanding! Dean, buddy, After a goal like that PLEASE celebrate!

This Lifted our boys and they started to cause more problems down each wing with the defence and Midfield feeding the wingers.

Dorian Went on a mazy run and beat 2 players before a tackle from the EB defender, Harry and D put the pressure on and Dorian took it personally and pulled off an unreal tackle to win the ball on the edge of the box before turning another defender and whipping in a wonderful finish into the same Corner Dean had just hit!

Shortly after this, Dorian and Stephen switched wings and Dorian won the ball on the left hand side before playing it through to Kieron. Kier had the EB defender on his shoulder who was over 6ft tall already and shrugged him off before lobbing the keeper from outside the area with the cheekiest Chip you will see! Kier just stood and said to the boys- ' I told you I would chip him'!!

HT- TD 4- EBYR - 0

After a great team talk at Half time from Nigel and Darren, The boys wanted to go out and continue the form from the first half.
Keeping the same set up and team as the first half, the boys came out flying and kept the pressure up on the EB team creating a lot of chances and keeping the ball in our possession.
Some changes came after about 45 mins and George came on for His debut and Zack came in for Dorian. Harry got a bit of a rest as Riley was bought on, also for his debut and Toby came into the back.

With the changes made, the chances continued to come and after a disallowed goal due to a head injury, the EB defence played the ball back to Lewis on the half way line. Lewis looked up and drove forward, unchallenged about 15 yards before hitting a 35 yard screamer about 4 inches off the floor into the bottom left hand corner. What a goal!

Pretty much from Kick off, Riley won the ball and went on a marauding run from Midfield down the left hand Side and put in a peach of a ball across the box to the back post where Zack met it with a volley and buried it for another goal!

It didn't stop there and again, pretty much from EB kick off, Riley won the ball in midfield and played it into Sam, Who sat the defender down before playing a pass through to Dorian. Dorian played a quick 1-2 with Freddie ( who was holding off 2 players) and set a lovely ball into the feet of D who only had to finish past the keeper with a lovely finish.

After this, we continued to press but with the Heat and scoreline, you could see the boys cooled off a bit.

FT- TD 7- EBYR - 0

A fantastic result today with a strong statement to the rest of the league. Looking forward to Horley away next week.

MOTM- HARRY O- A unanimous decision for the coaches today- if 70% of the planet is covered by water, Harry covered the other 30%!!