Burton Joyce First 2009/2010
EMPAL, , , Burton Joyce, England

  Burton Joyce headed into their third game of 2010 in average form against a side that always fancy beating us and tend to always push us to the limit. Burton Joyce lined up with a couple of changes from the previous weeks with Robbie Mawer making his first appearance for a couple of season up top with Josh. GK.John RB.L Beatty LB.D Beatty CB.Art CB.Skip RM.Chris LM.Keith CM.Ang CM.Smith CF.Josh CF.Robbie. The pitch itself was on a slight slope however was in much better condition than previous years and should have encouraged decent football.

  Now, I missed the first 20 minutes so when I arrived BJ had taken an early lead through what I’m told was a deep cross from the left by Keith that looped over the keeper giving the away side a lead. I was also told that had it not dropped in then Smithy was coming round the back to score anyway, I’m not so sure about that, I’ve seen Martin’s finishing from close range and its worse than mine!

  The first half after the goal was pretty much all Burton Joyce with the Beatty brothers putting some fantastic balls in the channels for Keith, Josh and Robbie to chase down and cross for the attacking midfielders. BJ were definitely using the slope well first half with Smithy attacking the ball well with Ang picking any pieces up on the edge of the box, having one or two decent efforts, one that narrowly missed the outside of the post. Keith and Robbie put two or three crosses in that were half a yard from tapped in to extend the lead however the Fanzines back four defended very well preventing BJ from extending their lead.

  The second half still saw Burton Joyce creating lots of chances, many which were scrambled efforts inside the six yard box but some unbelievable last ditch challenges from the home side meant that the only real shots the keeper had to save were from distance which dealt with very well. And when BJ did get through it was from some good hold up play (or lack of pace) from Chrissy out right who threaded Liam Beatty in perfectly who struck from the right of goal and saw his effort cannon off the inside of the post and across the face of goal.

  Burton Joyce seemed to look pretty comfortable at the back with the dream pairing of Art and Skip (my two favourite players) not just clearing any ball that came close to them away but they were putting some serious pressure on the Fanzines goal regularly knocking balls over the full backs head for Keith and Robbie to chase down. Skip looked as comfortable as ever nut megging anyone who came near him.

  However a quick lapse of concentration down the BJ left and a couple of diving in challenges from the chasing back midfielders and Beatty saw the right winging have a snap shot from around 10 yards that went through a couple of players and beat John at his near post. 1:1. Within a minute of the goal a channel ball from Liam Beatty was intercepted by the little 14 in midfield and hit a screamer from around 25 yards that John could only watch as it sailed over his head into the roof of the net, 2:1 Fanzines.

  It didn’t take long for Burton Joyce to get back on track, a Martin Smith strike from the edge of the area just missed the right hand post, but it was a positive reaction from the away side. Some more patient build up play on the left once again through Skip, Keith and Robbie saw the balled played into Josh’s feet who held the ball up very well 6 yards out and a clumsy challenge more than anything saw BJ get a very generous penalty. New penalty taker D.Beatty stepped up the level the scores at 2:2 with 10 minutes to go.

  A quick change around from the gaffer lead to BJ going for the win, Andy Davies moved into midfield with Meeksy coming on at centre back for Chris. Meeksy playing out of position in a formation that BJ hadn’t played for years in a game that Fanzines had begun to stamp some dominance on, this showed a touch of desperation I think to get the victory and from that point on there was only going to be one winner and it was a missed place pace from Meeksy that lead to Fanzines getting in round the back again and a low cross was hammered in well into the roof of the net to seal a 3:2 home win making a forth consecutive league title look very slim, however we have been in this position before.

  The performance was better than previous weeks and had a couple of the attacks that BJ had gone in then it might have been different however some great finishing from the home side was the difference in the end.        

Fanzines United

Goal (70)
Goal (71)
Goal (85)

3 v 2

Burton Joyce First

Keith Bailey (15)   
Daniel Beatty (78)   

League Match played at Ruddington, Ruddington on 07/02/2010
Kick Off: 10:30, Attendance: 15
Refereed by: Unknown

Player	Goals	Assists	Cards	Rating
Andy Davies				7
Art Luetkemeier				7
John Stevenson				6
Keith Bailey	1			6
Liam Beatty				7
Joshua Croft		1		6
Martin Smith				7
Chris Stewart				6
Angelo Vallill				6
Daniel Beatty	1	1		8 MOM
Robbie Mawer				7
Richard Meeks				5