FC Deportivo Galicia Reserves 2 v 4 Kensington Dragons Reserves
Saturday’s Dragons Reserves game against FC Deportivo Galicia seemed to be an easy win judging by the league table. Unfortunately, everything changed just before the kick-off when opponents brought much of their first team to the pitch after their game had been postponed. Dragons are never scared and players always face up to the challenge!
The Manager decided to rotate the squad and start a few players who’d spent the last few games on the bench. In the starting 11, took their place Matt Finch and Justas Krisciunas. Also Jamanhi Henry took his place in behind Elhabib Oumar. The balance of the team was perfect and from the start it seemed they had come back to their early season form. The Manager asked players to keep the ball, make the most of wide areas and work very hard as a team.
As a result the players brought full commitment as was asked on the pitch. Dragons were very careful at the beginning. Most of the time the ball stayed in the middle area but after 20 minutes El Habib Oumar was face to face with the keeper but saw his shot saved. After 25 minutes El Habib jumped into the channel to create another opportunity. Keeping between the defensive lines of opponents, he took a pass and immediately moved it forward to Jamanhi who beat the keeper. For the rest of the half Dragons played fantastic football and didn’t let the opponents take even one shot.
Over the half time break, Manager Marcin asked the team to stay calm and continue their fantastic work. Soon after the restart, Matt Finch won the ball on the wing, sprinted past a defender and delivered into the box, straight into El Habib who scored his first goal of the game and doubled their lead. Almost from the restart the same player scored another goal and put the team in a comfortable position at 3-0 to the good. Dragons were now in full control of the game and it was left to Lamelle Williams to replace injured team captain Adam Finch and straight away with his first touch scored for 4-0. The last 20 minutes for Dragons were full of problems. 3 players played with injuries with only 1 sub on the side already used. The inability to freshen things up on a heavy pitch saw a drop in concentration and the team conceded 2 almost identical goals from corners. 4-2 and the final whistle gave Dragons Reserves 3 points and 1st place in the league table with only 7 games remaining.
A great game and very hard work from the whole team gave us what we wanted to get from this game. Man of the match was El Habib Oumar who played fantastic! With games in hand, Dragons have to build on their great performance in search of the Club’s first Senior Division title.