A wet week lead to a wet weekend with most matches cancelled and those that were not maybe should have been. The only bright light was the successful start of the Girls’ Section on Friday evenings from 5.30-7pm on the main pitch at the Westway – all girls aged from 9-15 are welcome to join in, just turn up.
The Reserves lost 2-5 to St Lawrence. The Dragons squad was improved with 2 additions from the Firsts as their fixture was postponed. Unfortunately St Lawrence were in a similar position and fielded 7 of their top team. An easy fixture against the League whipping boys suddenly looked a tougher prospect. The Dragons took to the mud bath in good fettle and produced a superb 45 minutes of football to leave the score 2-0 at half time. The Dragons are still trying to work out what happened next as within 7 minutes of the restart they had totally capitulated. For the second weekend in three, an obvious offside goal was missed by their own Linesman busy chatting with the opposition. They still led, but not for long. A dreadful decision from the keeper and fullback to play a goal kick short left the centre back with few options, the St Lawrence striker nicked it and the keeper failed to keep out the tame shot. Panic set in and the St Lawrence comeback was completed a minute later – an angled shot from 30 yards was never anywhere but in the top corner. There were 30 minutes to go but the game seemed already to be lost. The Dragons battled on but the early confidence had been replaced with shock and a late gamble on shape back fired with 2 poorly conceded goals in the last 10 minutes.
The U14 Eagles lost 2-7 away on a muddy quagmire to YAC Ealing in what should have been the biggest game of the season. The match barely resembled football with large patches of the pitch under water and much of the rest reduced to swampland. It was 1-2 down at half time despite the Dragons dominating the half. After the restart the Dragons found it impossible to play with the ball on the ground. Team spirits began to sag and when a dubious offside and an unseen hand-ball gifted Ealing an unwarranted three-goal lead, that sinking feeling was no longer simply literal. Never the less in the face of some disgraceful Ealing behaviour the Dragons behaved impeccably and proved to be a credit to the club. The Dragons have a chance to put things right next Sunday on the return leg at Home