Reserves use home advatage to beat their bogey side

Kensington Dragons Reserves 5 v 2 Indian Gymkhana Club Reserves

Kensington Dragons Reserves faced Indian Gymkhana Club in a league game, a fixture played in the best of spirits but usually with the away side taking the points. With a full squad and 4 subs, the team felt a little bit more comfortable and looked forward to another challenge. As the game approached the coach made the team aware of what they had to do individually and collectively to bring another 3 points.  Dragons started very slowly. It looked like they couldn’t take control. The Team sat deeper than usual and tried to play very quickly when they won possession. This approach gave a positive effect. The first two attempts served warning which the Dragons opponents did not heed and on the next counter attack an opportunity for Andrew Scheck was made and he scored for 1-0. This goal opened up the game. Our opponents tried to push forward and forgot about the team balance between attacking and defending.  Dragons were sure that other chances would come and minutes later another straight pass from the middle area and great run from Josiah Johnson gave the team another goal. Dragons stayed calm and looked forward to the half-time whistle. Just before that a very harsh ref decision gave our opponents a penalty.  2-1 and 15 minutes for quick review and deep breath.

Just before the restart, Ben Ravenwood injured his groin and had to be replaced. Matt Fitch came on and with his first touch scored a brilliant goal and gave Dragons back their 2 goals advantage.  The team was now on fire. All the players tried their best and it soon resulted in another goal. Again great movement from man of the match Andrew Scheck brought goal number 4 and the Dragons were now 3 goals in front and the team was sure that nothing wrong could go wrong.  Gymkhana pushed the game forward but the stoic Dragons defended well.  The Manager took off one of the strikers and replaced him with a central defender and the decision changed the team mindset. Players knew that they had to be focused on keeping what was shaping up to be a great result. The game in truth then  became a little bit boring, but credit to the visitors who scored a 2nd goal to give them some brief  hope at 4-2 but this just made the Dragons ever more hungry for goals. It looked very difficult especially when Jon Laycock who was deployed as a CB for this game was forced of with an injury. A quick line up reorganization and the team was ready for the last 15 mins. Dragons didn’t wait too long for another opportunity as Justas Krisciunas made a long penetrating run with the ball and scored the 5th Dragons goal and most definitely the goal of the game.

Dragons won another league game and bring another, very important 3 points into the league table. The Team showed absolutely great mental abilities as well as football performance and look forward to the upcoming with optimism.