Fellow Cup Winning Dragons
The Reserves BEAT Broadfields 1-0 to WIN the MCFL CUP at Uxbridge FC in front of packed stands. The Dragons had a plan – playing a 3-5-2 formation to surprise Broadfields and support their recent faltering attack. Would the youthful Dragons, with the occasional veteran, remember the cunning plan? Certainly the Dragons created scoring opportunities whilst limiting Broadfields to long pot shots before near disaster struck as the Dragons lost their midfield captain through injury to leave it 0-0 at half time. On 60 minutes a lung bursting run lead to a square ball back to the onrushing Dragon veteran striker who finished calmly to make it 1-0. A great team goal but could the Dragons take it to the end? The game was now frenetic and then unbelievably the Dragons lost another key player with a nasty ankle turn. Despite the Dragons back 3 now being all under 19 they coped brilliantly with their superb goalie mopping up behind. As Broadfields pushed on the Dragons were looking sharp on the break but Broadfields just kept coming, desperate to equalise. Into injury time and it was now kitchen sink o’clock for Broadfields as they endlessly won cheap free kicks. In the final 10 seconds the biggest aerial goal mouth scramble ensued with the whistle in the referee’s mouth. The Dragons keeper half cleared with a punch, the out of position Broadfield’s keeper headed it back, another scuffed clearance and the ball headed for the net until it was hooked clear one final time. The referee pursed his young lips and the Dragons were MCFL Cup Champions – if just by the skin of their collective teeth. The players were exhausted; the fans more so.
The Firsts beat Saracens 3-1 at Osterley to further their prospects of promotion to the premiership. There are now a handful of tough games left which will decide who goes up …..and who stays put.
The U17’s beat Bessingby Park Rangers 3-2 at Birbeck. Courtesy and good manners are not the first words that spring to mind when considering Bessingby. The Dragons toiled under the sun gifting the disgruntled Bessingby a couple of goals to leave the scores level at half-time. Despite injury to the Dragons goalie it looked like the Dragons were going to pull away as they scored an early goal. Bessingby however raised their game to equalise but it was to be the Dragons day as they pummelled home their third and winning goal. Bessingby sulked their way off the pitch back to wherever such behaviour is the norm.
The U15’s beat Belmont 4-1 at Birbeck. This was another typical Dragons game – except that it was not raining. The Dragons had a full squad of talented players with a welcome sprinkling of parents watching them play exhibition football without actually scoring much. As Belmont’s coach showed signs of increasing bad temper the Dragons passed, twirled and practiced their kick ups against the hard working Belmont side. Finally one of the more gifted, but often laid back, Dragons players was allowed on the pitch to demonstrate how goals are actually scored at the end of controlled build ups – by ruthless calm precision in front of goal to convincingly win the match.
The U14 Nighthawks lost 1-4 to Forest United, the second bottom team in the division. The Dragons played well with just 1 sub but Forest were hungrier and had 5 subs. Some have commentated that the Anno Horribilis continues but others would suggest that learning to lose is the first step in developing the resilience to win except their Latin is rusty.
The U14 Eagles had no match but watched reruns of their top 100 goals instead.
The U13’s lost 0-2 to Hillingdon. The Dragons were forced into making several positional changes due to players being unavailable and a re-arranged defence was caught out in the first 5 minutes as a Hillingdon midfielder got to the by line and crossed the ball low; the Dragons keeper tried to cut it out but could only parry the ball into the path of a Hillingdon striker who converted. The Dragons began to control the game midway through the first half as their passing game began to excel and they created a couple of good chances but failed to convert. Only the cross bar prevented the Dragons from equalising from a great shot from their striker. The second half was much of the same with the Dragons having the possession for most of the half except a Hillingdon counter attack caught out the Dragons defence to lead to a 1 on 1 with the keeper and a goal to clinch the win for Hillingdon.
The U11’s lost 2-4 to Wealdstone. The full squad of Dragons were raring to go on the beautiful Sunday morning at St Marks. The game started at a fast pace with Wealdstone on the attack and the Dragons on the back foot giving Wealdstone an early goal. The Dragons regained their competitiveness and started to play some exciting football, moving the ball around the pitch with precision passing but were caught by a Wealdstone counter attack to go down 0-2. The Dragons then had two goals disallowed, one from a poor refereeing decision. The Dragons refused to be downhearted and kept up the pressure to make it 1-2 at half time. Wealdstone then scored a further two early goals prompting the Dragons coaches to make the three substitutions which had an immediate impact with a superbly executed goal. The Dragons were now finding their feet but alas time was against them and they were caught by the final whistle.
An ever increasing number of cheerful U10’s trained.
The Girls had their biggest turn out to date at their Friday training session.