Venue:
Coronation Park
Admission:
£2
Referee:
Lee Clarke
Assistants:
Derek Spray and Nathan Sharpe
Kick-off: 7:48pm
Cavs
had won their first game of the season at home to Calverton MW 2-0, whilst
Eastwood went down 4-1 to AFC Dunkirk in theirs. Eastwood’s ranks have been severely dented recently, with a whole raft of players moving out, so it was going to be
interesting to see what the remaining squad members could produce. Having said
that, there were half-a-dozen first team “squad” members in their starting
eleven. Most of them aren’t first team players, but nonetheless, they are
valuable assets to the club and seemed to gel well enough in this game to give
their opposition a bit of a trying time throughout proceedings.
Entered
the ground after paying the admission fee and having the back of my hand
stamped PAID in red ink. That ink is a bitch to remove and is still visible as
I write this!
Made
my way to the top of the main stand (cracking view from there), and just after
the kick-off I was joined by Eastwood stalwarts Mick Leatherland and Steve Buttle.
For the first few minutes, the teams were very evenly matched, and it took a
special goal to break the deadlock.
With
19 played, the ball was played to CALLUM McGARRY some 25 yards from goal, and
after getting the ball under his control, he fired a powerful drive past the
despairing dive of the visitors’ keeper and into the back of the net. McGARRY added his and Eastwood’s second just
two minutes later, this time a direct free-kick
from around the 30-yard mark, that again beat the dive of the Cavs’ keeper. The
keeper had to be subbed on the half-hour – his heroic dives to try and stop the
McGarry efforts were in vain, but it appeared at no small cost to his body.
Cavaliers
stepped up their game after they’d conceded the second goal, and applied some terrific
pressure on the Eastwood back line. The pressure paid dividends on 40, KAMAR
DAVIS having the presence of mind, some 25 yards from goal, to lift the ball
over home keeper Randy Bonsu and into the empty net after he had, for some reason known only to him,
decided to race out and help his defenders clear their lines. H-T 2-1
Cavs
thought they had levelled within 5 minutes of the restart, but the “scorer” was
clearly in an offside position when he netted. Instead of being level at 2-2,
Eastwood rubbed salt in the wound a few minutes later, JAQUAM CAMPBELL-GHISLANZONI
adding the final touch to a superb passage of play to make it 3-1! If the name
Ghislanzoni seems familiar to some of the Badger’s faithful, Jaquam’s dad,
Jay, played for Notts County and Eastwood Town when Bryan Chambers was in
charge. Jay’s cousin Nick also played for Eastwood Town.
Midway
through the second period, KIERAN KNIGHT finally managed to put away one of the
many chances he’d been given and no-one was going to save this one, a rocket
shot from 12 yards that flew unerringly into the roof of the net!
One
of the Cavs players received an injury during a tackle soon after, and after
initial thoughts of a broken leg had been assuaged, and the player treated and stabilised,
Mr Clarke restarted the game. It had taken a while to ensure the player was ok
to be moved, and I sincerely hope that he suffered no serious damage.
Cavaliers
pulled a goal back on 88, DAVIS again on target, beating Bonsu from 20+ yards.
Mr Clarke added thirteen minutes at the end of the 90, but Eastwood held on and
picked up their first points of the season. F-T 4-2
