Game reviews

These game reviews are written by me (a Eurasat team member) normally on the afternoon of the game. To read the more recent reviews, scroll down on the arrows to the bottom left corner of this text box and you will find more reviews. Some people may not agree with my view and you are welcome to comment on the message board.

5th August was our first chance to see whether all the effort we had put in during the summer had paid off by having a friendly with Division 7 Alsden FC. The game started for the first 15 mins fairly even before Wayne planted a perfect cross for Gary to head home with 29 mins to go. 3 minutes later Wayne was on the scoresheet from a penalty, and 3 mins after that Joe looped a long free kick from the side line that beat everyone and dropped into the net. 2 minutes later Alsden got one back from a freekick but this was cancelled out with a minute of the half to go by Wayne and Gary teaming up again for Gary to take his second. 4. 1 at half time was probably what everyone expected as there are 3 divisions between us. The second half started pretty much the same as the first had ended with Gary taking advantage of a loose ball and blasting it into the net with only a couple of minutes gone. A few minutes later a refereeing decision went against Eurasat which seemed to totally ruffle Eurasat's composure. A few changes in players and positions compounded this lack of composure and Alsden took advantage by reducing the deficit with 38 to go from a free kick, 36 to go when our midfield and defence were all over the place, 26 minutes to go Alsden scored a cracking goal that even a premiership team would have been proud of, 15 to go Alsden equalised at last with a penalty then rubbed salt in the wound by scoring their winner from another penalty with minutes to play. Eurasat played some lovely football in the first half, which showed by the scoreline, however Alsden out played us in the second half and kept their composure MUCH better than us, kept their heads high even when it looked like a lost cause and came out worthy winners today. Superb Alsden, well done. EURASAT; A VALUABLE LESSON TODAY!

12th August was our second friendly, this time it was Lectus who had the honour of showing us our weaknesses. I have great regard for Lectus, and they play good football, but maybe we shaded it for about 15 minutes or so during which time we managed to gain the lead through a Joe Harris goal. After that lady luck left us and Lectus took full advantage. About 20 minutes in, Lectus had equalled the score, 15 mins after that, Dan had a defensive ball covered when he somehow fell over leaving the Lectus forward to score. 2 mins later it was Steve's turn to make a mistake which ended in a 3 . 1 scoreline. 2 more followed before half time leaving us 5.1 down. A stern talking to at half time was called for and a reminder that we too had been 5 . 1 up last week only to lose it all again. There was to be no such luck this week, Lectus started the scoring in the second half to go 6 . 1 up. Wayne managed to get one back from a Joe corner, but not long after Lectus cancelled that one out with their 7th then Joe got his second to leave the final score 7.3 against. Beleive it or not, i actually thought we would lose heavily today, but I was quite pleased with the lads keeping their heads up in the second half. Great game Lectus, very well done. EURASAT; ANOTHER VALUABLE LESSON TODAY!

28th August was to see whether we had learned anything since our last drubbing against Lectus. We had an evening friendly against Mr Farrell and his Premier team Branksome CC. The evening got off to a late start owing to an accident at Poole bridge and it was agreed to play a shortened game. For 15 minutes or so we were equal to Branksome with them just catching us out with their speed in attack after about 15 mins. They did almost the same again a few minutes later and then the Eurasat discipline went AWOL. Everything was someone elses fault, from the ref to the linesman to their own team mates. This was an embarrassing display of ill discipline this evening and i didnt even count the goals we conceded. (Either 6 or 7). I mada a mistake as referee towards the end when Eurasat players encroached into the penalty area during a Eurasat penalty and i disallowed the goal and gave an indirect free kick to Branksome (I stand corrected and realise it should have been a retake, but it wasnt going to make a vast difference to the result anyway). One of the worst things was that the team talk between players at the end of the game was congratulatory and encouraging! I was gobsmacked and can see that if they were happy with their performance this evening, I have got a hard job this year!

2nd September was our first serious outing of the season with a cup game against Div 2 Old Bournemouth. The boys went onto the field with harsh words still ringing fresh in their ears. For the first 20 minutes or so was very even with the first real attempt not happening till the 20th minute when Joe missed an absolute sitter. Luke was responsible for Eurasats' first goal when he dribbled all the way down to the right corner His cross was relayed on by Gary for Wayne to battle with the defender, Waynes resulting cross was flicked into the net by Luke who had started the move. We were constantly worrying the Old boys defence as Joe was sliding lovely balls through for our strikers. This tactic paid off in the last minutes when Gary beat 2 defenders to make it 2 0 at half time. Wayne laid the ball on to Gary almost straight from the kick off for the second half, Gary battled again with 2 defenders to make it 3 0. With 20 odd minutes to go, the Old boys must have wondered what was happening when Joe, and Wayne both missed sitters, Jody had the ball cleared off the line and Phil had a header hit the bar all within minutes of each other. Joe crossed a corner late in the game for Luke to head into the net to make it 4. Old Bournemouth getting a consolation goal with about 5 minutes to go making the end scoreline 4 1. Credit to Old Bournemouth today, who kept their cool and did their best, but this was EURASATS day today and I am well pleased!

9th September saw us take a depleted team to 2nd division Cranleigh for the second round of the Robbins Cup. Despite 6 of my first choice players being away (from a squad of 18) we still managed to field a perfectly respectable side. Harry, Hems & Pat all coming out of the woodwork to make their first starts of the season. It was Harry that started the scoring, when he harrassed the keeper who was trying to clear a passback, the next second the ball was loose and Harry was happy. I was too nervous to make my usual notes, but we went in at half time 1 goal up. The second half didnt start so well for us when Cranleigh scored with only a few minutes gone. I genuinely thought our heads would drop after such a successful first half and Cranleigh would start to take charge, but we went straight back on the attack and matched them for the remainder of the half. Extra time followed and the first half was pretty much the same as the first 90. The second half of extra time we had a spate of about 5 corners one after the other, Joe floated the ball over and Steve powered through everyone to make it 2. 1. Everyone was superb today, but maybe a special mention should go to Hems, who was like a steam engine as usual despite massive blisters on his heels. Steve who didnt get out of the pub till 4 hours before kick off!, but probably my man of the match was Cliff in goal, who had an absolute blinder again today and definately saved us on more than one occasion.

16th September was another 2nd division team in the InExcess cup. Our old friends Vienna (who incidentally knocked us out of this cup last year). We had very nearly a full compliment of players this week, but the first half was pretty much Eurasat hoofing the ball forward for Vienna to regain possession and come back at us. Unfortunately this was as much as we could do as 4 of our boys were very much below their best. Vienna went in at half time one goal up. The second half started much better for 15 minutes or so when managed to keep the ball and played some nice football, however the steam soon ran out and we reverted back to the long balls again for Vienna to take control and add another to their scoreline. I dont wish to take anything away from Vienna today as i dont beleive they were at their best today either, but i really do beleive if we had played like we did last week, we would have ended this game winners. Good luck in the next round Vienna, and maybe we will meet in the next round of the Robbins cup?

23rd September was our first league game against Littledown. Our first half performance was abysmal to say the least, the few chances we did have went skyward but every time Littledown got the ball they looked like they could score. And score they did, 4 times in the first half! Realising we had nothing to lose, we came out the second half a different team, we dominated the play, retained posession and probably had 15 shots on goal, unfortunately only about 3 of them were on target and none were good enough to get past the keeper. Littledown got a suprise 5th goal against the run of play in the second half then Wayne at last managed to get our consolation goal only minutes from the end. I was actually really pleased with our second half performance today, and on another day some of those chances would have dropped into the net rather than clear the bar. Congratulations to the boys for keeping their heads and battling hard when all looked lost. It should be said also that I have great regard for the Littledown team and management (not so much their referee) and It was great to see them in a truly sporting manner yeaterday. Well done boys.

30th September had Christchurch United come to Slades Farm for our second league game. Both teams were nursing wounds following large defeats the previous week and both wallowing at the bottom of the table. The signs didnt look good for us with 5 minutes gone, when Cliff in goal brought an opponent down in the area and a penalty was awarded. Fortunately the penalty was kicked skyward and we were still in the game. 10 minutes later Joe floated a corner in to the back of the area, Gary headed the ball down for Wayne to knock it into the net. Only about 5 minutes later, Hems was brought down in the area and made a better job of his penalty than Christchurch had done earlier to make it 2 . 0. Hems was involved in the 3rd too when he released Gary, who battled on his own to make it 3 . 0 at half time. The second half was pretty much more Eurasat pressure and Christchurch defending. Pez came on with about 30 to go and straight away made his mark by laying the ball on to Gary, who reciprocated by doing the same for Joe who blasted the ball in to make it 4. 5 minutes later Gary got his second after a volley of about 6 players all blasting at the Christchurch defence. Certain members of our defence believed the work had been done by now and we lost our shape at the back slightly. This allowed Christchurch to come back into things and they scored with about 20 to go. Gary got his hatrick a couple of minutes later with a beautiful solo goal, nutmegging a defender then lobbing the keeper (probably contender for goal of the season). Gary got his 4th shortly afterwards when Wayne had the option of shooting at goal himself, or setting any one of about 4 players up, layed him on from the left, Gary's shot blasted through a packed penalty area into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Wayne had the final word getting his 2nd (and our 8th) when Dan put a long ball for him to chase, the Christchurch substitute keeper came a long way out to intercept but was beaten to the ball by Wayne who rolled the ball into their net from well outside the area. This was MUCH more like it today although it has to be said that the opposition really didnt look like they wanted to be there today. Well done boys.

7th October had New Star reserves visit us at Slades with us feeling quietly confident after last weeks performance. Unfortunately maybe we were a touch too confident and while our midfield and forwards were all in the New Star half straight from the off, New Star were running past our defence to start the scoring with only 49 seconds gone. 6 minutes later they did the same and with only 9 minutes gone they were 3.0 up! Somehow we managed to take a deep breath and compose ourselves 3 minutes later when Cliff took a free kick which was headed on by Wayne for Gary to lob the ball over the keeper. With 6 minutes to go we were back in the game thanks to Wayne again laying Olly on for him to beat the keeper. 3 . 2 at half time didnt look likely after the first 10 minutes and the second half was pretty much more of the same. 13 minutes from the end of the game, the Eurasat defence believed the New Star striker to be off side and stopped, unfortunately on this occasion the referee didnt blow and the resulting goal blew any chance Eurasat had of snatching anything from this game. Both teams looked good in patches and apart from the first 10 minutes i think both teams were very similar. Discipline and arguing with the referee was pretty poor from both sides today, and maybe a neutral referee either would not have had so much abuse or would have been in a better position to penalise the offenders. Other than that, the game ended reasonably well humoured.