Deaconsfield travelled to Stevenage to take on Bedwell Rangers U21's in the Herts Junior Cup. Once again, having been let-down by a couple of players, Deacs took to the field with a bare 11.
The game kicked off and Deacs, having thought they might have been troubled by the pace of the younger team, soon realised that being young and quick has no bearing on whether or not you're actually any good.
Despite looking the better team and having two very good chances, both spurned by Trussler, Deacs went behind on the half-hour mark. A long ball through saw Simon Judd struggling tio see the ball as it came out of the sun and heading it back across the front of the area. Bedwell's tricky #14 was quick to pounce on the ball, but not quite as quick as Aaron Waterhouse who swiftly brought the young chap down. The resulting free-kick was smashed low into the bottom corner of the net past a 5-man wall. Down 1-0 with 30 mins gone - not an ideal start!
Luckily the deficit did not last long, with Trussler "The Bustler" using his superior strength (weight?!) to push himself through the Bedwell challenges after good work from Andy and Marco in the middle. Deano's first effort rebounded off of the keeper, but fell straight back at the feet of "The Goal Machine", who calmly tapped the ball into the vacant net. Pete Wicks could have touched it in, but refrained from doing so. 1-1, and Deacs looking by far the better team.
At half-time there was an enforced change with Ritchie having to be replaced by Rob who had turned up midway through the first half, Juddy moving across to left-back.
The second half kicked off to much mirth from both teams. First the kick-off had to be retaken for Dean being in the wrong half, swiftly followed by Wicks shouting "Hurry up ref, these boys have got school on Monday!". Who knew Pete had a wit?
It would probably be fair to say that Deaconsfield didn't settle very well in the second half, and were even under a bit of pressure for the first 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, that pressure resulted in Marco injuring his already dodgy back. While Marco was laying prone in the penalty area there ensued a frank exchange of views between Ricky and Deano, resulting in both of them calling each other "fat fucker". As usual Pete brought some calmness to the situation with his suggestion of "starting on them (Bedwell), Fuckers!". Marco left the pitch for 5 minutes, but having seen Ravenscroft make a few rather tame challenges having dropped into central midfield, came back on.
With 20 minutes played in the second half Deacs took the lead. Dean heading in a smartly taken free-kick from Ricky after Pete went clear on the right only to be brought down on the edge of the area and start having a go at the ref. Owen could have touched it in, but refrained from doing so. 2-1 Deacs!
Bedwell's younger legs and the fact that they had the temerity to turn up with more than 12 players saw them regain the upper hand resulting in a quality save from Andy at the far post after a corner - diving full length to get to the ball before the Bedwell striker after a goalmouth scramble and putting it wide of the post for a corner. At this point (I think) Deacs were down to 10 again with Ricky having left the pitch after a late challenge in which he took a kick to the top of his right foot.
Almost as soon as Ricky re-joined the fray Marco departed it, finally succumbing to chronic back-injury (possibly caused by too much preening in front of any mirror he passes).
With a familiar feel to the game (any regular follower of Deaconsfield knows that playing with 11 men on the pitch never feels totally natural!) Deacs started to use long ball tactics to apply some pressure of their own which led to another goal after 75 mins. Andy Halliwell's hoof up the pitch, wasn't dealt with it well by the Bedwell defence, the ball falling to Rob who played a superb first-time volley to Pete, who returned the ball to Rob for him to cross for Dean to slot in from 10 yards. No-one could have tapped this one in. 3-1.
All that remained was for Deacs to have a couple more chances, most notably Dean with an athletic overhead kick that was cleared off the line.
A convincing 3-1 win sees the Deacs through to the second round in the Herts Junior Cup without the aid of a bye for the first time that your erstwhile match reporter can remember. It also means it's 3 wins on the trot, which is also something that I'm struggling to remember happening!
Some questions for next week's match against Mangrove. Can Deano keep up his run of hat-tricks? Will we get to the match only to find that no-one's pulled out at the last minute? Will Ravenscroft start in central defence, meaning that he will have played in every outfield position in just 4 games!? Oh, and can Pete bring his mum along to watch?
