10 March 2007 - League
AFC Hampton 1 v Darkside 3
Team:
Goals: / Assists: / MOTM: / MM:

Darkside FC took to the field on a crisp, sunny afternoon, to play the previously postponed away fixture against AFC Hampton, on a freshly trampled, well worn pitch. They lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, with Mayes in goal, Bansept and Wright at full backs, and Tagg and Boyd at centre backs, the midfield from right to left was Mole, Kingston, Kidwell and Gale, and Sadza and Masuku leading the line up top. The bench was made up of new boy Phil B, and Austin, who was the latest to miss out due to the manager's rotation policy.

The game was a scrappy affair, with both sides creating plenty of half chances early on. The break through came from AFC Hampton following a period of sustained pressure, mainly involving winning the ball back and playing a long ball over the Darkside defensive unit! All that was missing was the shout of “Ave it!” after each thump of the ball. Anyway…the spin of one of these long balls caught out the Darkside defence, allowing the Hampton striker to pick up the ball and run through on goal and slide the ball under the body of the onrushing keeper, into the bottom left corner. 1-0.

Let the tinkering begin….the Darkside manager made a couple of positional changes, switching Gale from left midfield with Sadza upfront, and Bansept at right-back with Tagg at centre-back.

Darkside stirred and started to apply a bit more pressure on the opposition, and the equaliser came late in the first half, when the ball broke and bounced around the box, picked up by Gale, who's deft backheal found Sadza. Sadza coolly blasted the ball into the corner and wheeled off in a “Henry-esqe” celebration! 1-1.

Half-time came and went….the Darkside players knew they could go up a couple of gears and show that they were far more capable than they had shown so far. The first 15 minutes passed quickly with little change in the tempo of the game…the manager made his 2 changes, bring on “new Phil” for Bansept at centre-back, and Austin on for Kidwell in the middle of the park.

What followed shortly afterwards possibly changed the game….the incident started when the Hampton left winger picked up a stray pass, and managed to get past Tagg at right-back. Tagg unhappy with being shown up by the young lad, decided that he was going to bring the player down from behind at all costs…..Tagg caught him 3 times…the player just carried on and wouldn't go down, until finally he lost possession of the ball, at which point he turned and punched the closest Darkside player in the face (thinking it was the player fouling him!)….who happened to be Austin. Austin went down, there was uproar at the unprovoked attack from on and off the pitch, but to Darkside manager's disgust, the offending player was merely cautioned (as the ref claimed to be unsure about what he saw!)!! Anyway…this put a little fight into the Darkside performance, and the desire and drive to win was reignited.

The next goal came shortly afterwards, following a good run down the left wing by full-back Wright, where he beat two players, and got his cross in…a defender got a foot to the cross deflecting it on to the post…and in swooped Masuku for a tap-in. 2-1.

Darkside had most of the chances from then on, but just couldn't force the ball in the net. They were given a late scare when Hampton missed a couple of chances, sending a ball over the bar from close range, and another just wide of the keeper's post.

The final goal came from a free-kick which was won as a result of another Wright charge down the left-wing, where the keeper came out and handled the ball outside the box (and wasn't booked!!!). Kingston and Gale stood over the ball, and the plan was that Gale would tee-up Kingston for a strike on goal. What actually happened (according to Gale) was that the keeper was well to the left of his goal, and the ref had told him he could take the free-kick….so sensing the opportunity he bent it around the wall into the bottom right corner. 3-1.

Not the best performance of the season by Darkside, but a good, gritty win to keep them on track for a top 3 finish and another possible promotion season.

Match report by: Neil