Winter hit with a vengeance. After constant rain all Saturday night your correspondent was not the only Dragon whose twinge of regret at his game being called off was less pronounced than it should have been. The only games played were:
The Firsts beat Hillingdon Abbots 4-0 away in the second round of the Middlesex County FA Cup. This was the third of four away games on the run for the Dragons and the second cup game before returning to league action next week. The conditions were not the best and on a heavy sloping pitch the Dragons struggled to settled into their rhythm. The break-through came with half an hour gone when a nice pass lead to a clinical finish. Substitutions at half time refreshed the team and an in-swinging corner found an un-marked Dragon for the second goal before a good passing move resulted in yet another. The Dragons were now causing havoc and went on to score again before the end.
The Reserves lost 1-4 at home to Brentham. With what looked like their strongest squad this season the Dragons fired themselves up prior to kick off looking to reignite their league campaign. However it felt like groundhog day with an early individual error at the back gifting Brentham the lead. Slowly the Dragons improved but still poor decision making and inaccurate passing prevented the threatening of Brentham’s goal with their immobile manager stand in goalkeeper. The second half started more brightly after strong words from the bench and the Dragons equalised. It seemed they would be reignited and with strong substitutions surely a victory was now on the cards. It was not to be, for the 4th time this season the Dragons conceded immediately after scoring and the impetus was lost. The final 30 minutes were frantic with opportunities for each side but it was only Brentham who scored with the Dragons failing to even hit the target. There are two tough cup matches to follow and a serious reshuffle required.
The U11’s lost 2-5 away to hard hearted Harlington. An ice cold Sunday by Heathrow saw the Dragons, with a player short from the squad, put on a really strong performance against a Harlington team seeking revenge with a player wearing the number 24 shirt looking more like a 15 year old rather than an U11. The Dragons showed character but found themselves having conceded 4 goals at half time. The Dragons started the second half believing they could score and quickly fired in 2 brilliantly worked goals to get them right back in the game. Harlington’s heads had dropped and the Dragons kept pushing but they could not find the net and conceded one more goal before the end. With a full squad the Dragons would surely have won.