Match Report AA3 v Queens Park 06/04/14

1.00 Sunday 6th April saw Barnstoneworth United Kick off their season at Paine Reserve. Unusually it was a wet day, and I think we were all surprised that the game actually went ahead.

The general feeling amongst the lads is that we have a stronger squad this year, and not all of us agreed that stepping down a league was the right decision. With this in mind we should be really pushing to win the league and a win on Sunday was a must.

We started well with the majority of possession and had the first chance, a corner swung in from Dan Eales was met from a diving header from Dave Thompson which hit the bar. Five minutes later Maggie opened the scoring with some good work down the left side from Downey and Dan, Mango was put through and slid it past the keeper.

It was plain sailing from there on in, again good work down the left hand side Dan was put through on goal he lobbed the keeper with a tidy finish, 2 nil Barney.
With a few changes at the break we came out with fresh legs, the message was at half time was to get the first and then go from there, keep things tight.

Although the Queens Park manager thought they were on top the whole game and playing the better football (obviously mental), they had their best spell of the game after half time, but they never really created much. We then got the most important goal to kill the game, Iano was put through on goal and he tucked it home with a nice finish.

Queens Park then had their only chance, there left back got one on one with Ken and Ken did a good job of taking him out, stone wall peno in my opinion. Downer managed to wind the little bloke up nicely and there was a little scuffle, experience at its best from two wise heads…

The 4th and 5th soon followed, Brendan Phelan made up for his absenteeism over the previous few weeks with some good pressure on their keeper forcing an error and he tapped home. Dan Eales got a dubious second hitting from distance and it took a few deflections before it found the top corner.

Overall it was a very good team performance; we scored 5 goals and kept a clean sheet. Man of the match goes to Dan Eales, two well taken goals and a solid performance around the park. Special mention must go to Ken who kept his first clean sheet for Barney in 3 years.