What a difference can make in football. The sun and conditions were brilliant last week and this morning we woke to a wet and miserable September morning but one thing can improve that - The Dragons!

After a fantastic first showing for the lads last week against a tough opponent, the boys were in for another challenge today. A trip to local opposition with Horley Town awaiting us in the cup. It's been about 3 years since we last met in league competition but a different setting today with the League Cup opening round.

A shuffle with the players we had available and a formation change gave us a new look today. A 3-4-1-2 set up gave us the ability to take the game to Horley. Lathir stepped up in goal for the first time this season. Blu, Dean and the debuting Zak were our back 3. Harley, Stan, Cam and Ellis were our midfield 4 while Lewis G stepped into the 10. Stephen & Liam were our strikeforce. Our bench had depth with Ethan, Freddie, JJ, Alafy and Sam all raring to go when needed.

We started a little slow giving Horley an early corner which was cleared off the line by a fantastic header from Blu. After this, we used this as a wake up call and pushed forward, creating good chances before opening the scoring with 6 minutes gone.

We won a corner over on the right side and Stan stepped up and put in a delicious ball into the middle of the box which was met with a thunderous header by Stephen who lept like a salmon and put it into the back of the net. 0-1 to TD.

The lads continued to push for another goal and were flooding forward, getting joy down the wings while being strong in the middle.

We got our second with 14 minutes gone. Ellis won a header in the middle and flicked it forward into the path of Stephen who lashed a volley towards the goal forcing the keeper to tip it into the middle. Liam, who was sharp and aware to the rebound, Jumped highest and thumped it into the back of the net with a firm header. 0-2 to us.

This is then when we got a bit slack, the boys switched off and credit to Horley, they took advantage. A loose ball in the midfield was met with a long ball over the top of our defence and their striker finished with a chip over our keeper. 1-2.
A few minutes later, Horley drew level with a long free kick into the middle of the area, the ball took a wicked bounce in front of Lathir and bounced into the path of the Horley forward to bundle it into the net. 2-2.

With 30 gone, some changes were needed just to freshen it up a bit. Ellis & Zak made way for Alafy & Ethan.

A few minutes later, the changes paid off. A huge throw down the right hand side from Blu into the path of Lewis G who put in a first time cross, only for it to bounce back to him and put in another ball towards Stephen in the middle of the area. Stephen lays it back into the path of Alafy who comes in with a great shot into the bottom corner. 2-3 to us.

Right before the half, we took our 2 goal lead back. Stan took another great corner that was cleared well by Horley only to get back the ball on the right side, Look up and pick out a peach of a delivery into the front post that Livewire Liam met and bought down with his chest before poking it past the keeper to make it 2-4 to us.

HT - HORLEY TOWN - 2 - TD - 4

At the half, there was some good points to discuss and also some poor ones. We knew that we could step it up a gear when we needed to and this was the talk. Stan who had been putting in a shift, asked to come off due to a knock on his knee with JJ taking over in the middle. Sam came in for Lewis G, Freddie O came on for Liam.

We challenged the boys to keep the ball and work with it, try different approaches and be clinical in front of goal in the second half.

The lads got their next goal with 4 minutes gone in the half. Some good work from Dean down the left, beating a man before laying it into Alafy. Alafy cut inside and played a pass towards Freddie who poked it round the corner into the path of Harley. Harley took one touch to set himself, look up and hit a rocket into the top right corner of the net! What a goal! 2-5.

The game got a bit scrappy from here and for 10 minutes or so it became a basketball game with both teams trying to push the ball forward and get the advantage. Horley were battling in the middle and Cam, JJ, Blu, Ethan & Zak when he came back on, were all battling and winning in the central area. Zak pulled off a great challenge on the edge of the area to win the ball back and then received a nasty challenge not long after which ended up in a bit of handbags between the teams. This was calmed by the ref after a couple of yellows handed out.

We used this to push on and with 62 minutes gone, Alafy picked up the ball on the left hand side of the pitch, Turned his defender inside out and then hit a wicked shot into the bottom left hand corner from 18 yards! 2-6.

Some chopping and changing with players and subs to make sure everyone got a good amount of minutes, disrupted the flow a bit from here.

With 4 minutes left, we got our final goal of the day. Some good work down the right, Ethan played it into Ellis, Ellis looked to deliver but the ball was blocked and fell at the feet of Ethan. Ethan held off his man, turned down the line and drove forward before putting in a brilliant ball into the middle of the box for Stephen to meet with his head and direct into the back of the net. 2-7.

FT - HORLEY TOWN - 2 - TD - 7.

7 Heaven for the lads, a performance that was very good in parts but also a bit sloppy. They knew what they needed to do to win the game and they went out there today and did it. Some moments of brilliance sprinkled in with some hard work today.

A special shout out to our Captain Cam, who today made his 100th Youth appearance for TD Shipley, a stalwart & always reliable. Congratulations Cam.

MOTM- Liam Darkins - A brilliant performance from Liam today, Constant running, Buzzing about the front line, two well taken goals and helping drive the team forward. Well deserved!