Report
I felt last week that this team of ours had something, today they proved they have! The pitch was always going to be awful in the middle so they played the ball to the wings as much as possible and this was how we won the game. Essentially, we started in a positive mode: straight away Cyril Baffour tormented his left back. On four minutes Cyril was able to steal the ball on the edge of the area, he looked up to see the ‘keeper off his line and tried to chip him. Unhappily, Keyes was able to stretch backwards to haul the ball out of the air.
Moments later Reilly’s corner was met by Tommy Lee on the edge of the six yard box. His first shot was smothered by the keeper and the second was deflected by a defender. This was to be Tommy Lee’s story for most of the match: Martin Keyes seemed to be able to get his body behind the ball every time Lee had a shot, there seemed no way Lee could score whilst Keyes was playing a blinder.
The Lilywhites began to control the game and looked well in command when Edgware’s Elliot managed to break free on the right. He seemed to be going nowhere and was being shepherded out of the area when, inexplicably Fletcher scythed him down. Happily for the Lilywhites, the penalty kick went so far wide a throw in was awarded. This signalled the Lilywhites’ onslaught on the Edgware goal. Tommy Lee and Jamie Reilly broke through from the middle of the park, took the ball wide and passed for others to have a scoring chance. The problem? Martin Keyes was still stopping everything and when he missed the ball Elliot was on the line to prevent a goal.
Cyril Baffour Had to go off injured early in the second half but a real turning point came when Edgware’s Glen Parry was sent off for head butting Tommy Lee. This time the Lilywhites did take advantage of their superior numbers and really went for the win. Fletcher and Jamie Dormer (who had an excellent match) ruled the roost on the left and with Tilley’s immaculate passing and Scotchmer a rock in the defence, the Lilywhites went looking for the goal.
The deadlock was finally broken on 75 minutes when Neil Tilley took a corner on the left and Neil Morgan rose to head home from the near post. This sparked a further pounding of the Edgware goal but the Lilywhites had to wait until the 89th minute when Tommy Lee got the goal he’d deserved through the whole match. Dormer won the ball on the left and crossed square across the front of the penalty area. Lee controlled the ball whilst riding a tackle. Two more tackles came in but Tommy Lee’s strength took him through. He shot low and hard past Keyes to score the goal he’d deserved all match.
The game ended unhappily for Tommy Lee as he was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. The Lilywhites won and, although the praise will go to the players who really showed they are much better than their lowly league position, Manager Tommy Lee also deserves an accolade for persiting with some players and signing some excellent new players like Dave Curtis, Terry Scotchmer and Jamie Dormer. I believe that if we’d have had these players at the start of the season, together with the rest of today’s team, we’d be nowhere near the bottom of the table.