Juno United 4 - 2D&C Athletic
Sunday 27th September 2009
William Scholes Playing Field, Gatley

After the massive boost of a win the week before, D&C were looking confident as they stepped onto the pitch today. They faced a new team to the division, which on most occasions works in the favour of the established team.

With Juno being a young team, D&C aimed to use their strength and long ball game to cause problems for the young inexperienced kids. It was Juno however who took the lead in the game, after 2 minutes, pouncing on a seemingly over confident and sleepy defense as the Juno striker beat any D&C defender to the follow up of a spilled shot to round the keeper and place the ball easily into the goal.

The goal woke D&C up and they started to look slightly more dangerous. Jordan Clough won repeated free kicks on the left hand side and was duly rewarded for his troubles. Around 20 minutes into the game, Atem Eyong rose at the back post to head a Tom Owen free kick back across the 6 yard box so that Clough could poke it home for the equaliser.

D&C could have had a second identical goal moments later, but Gareth Harley was adjudged to have been in an offside position before placing the ball in the back of the net. Jake Taylor saw a snatched volley flutter by the post moments after and then left back Dean Couling saw his strong right footed volley from outside the area saved by a full stretched Juno keeper.

At 1-1, D&C looked in control and kept using their height advantage and the long ball tactic to trouble Juno. On 40 mins Adam Cummins' long goal kick from his hands found its way to Atem Eyong who was released one on one down the left hand side. Eyong, who scored an identical goal last week, saw his Henry-esque side footed effort palmed away but only as far as a switched on Jordan Clough, who reacted quicker than any Juno player to calmly side foot his second goal of the game and celebrate with a working mans flip. HT 1-2.

Despite being encouraged from taking the lead before the half time break, the side were slow to come out of the blocks for the second half. Within 5 minutes of the restart, Juno took advantage of some more confused marking and their striker managed to bobble an equaliser over Adam Cummins.

Despite this set back D&C dominated possession without really creating many chances. Atem Eyong saw most of his shots blocked or closed down and Mike Burt saw his biggest chance gobbled by an oncoming Juno keeper. It was Juno who took the lead when a mistake by Tom Owen at the back allowed the Juno striker through on goal. Adam Cummins was more than equal to the shot and the rebound but a third was too much as Juno lined up to take turns on goal.

After a flurry of substitutions, D&C went for broke as they pushed further up the pitch and had plenty of chances to draw level. The most notable effort came from substitute Nick Kiefer, as he was played through unselfishly by his strike partner for a one on one opportunity. Unfortunately Nick struggled to get a kick at the ball before the ball was eventually poked away for a corner following an excellent tackle. As they kept pushing for an equaliser, goalkeeper Adam Cummins came up for a final corner leaving an empty goal behind him. The ball broke from the corner and the Juno defence played the ball ahead to a forward player who had been waiting by the half way line in case of a breakaway.

Despite the last defensive player stepping up in an attempt to catch the Juno forward offside, the referee played on and the Juno striker made no mistake by putting the ball into the empty net to make it 4-2. The ref later admitted that he had perhaps made a mistake with the decision as he thought the striker was inside his own half even though the Juno player was at least a foot past the half way line.

D&C will be disappointed to not take at least a point from this game and they will be looking to the the return fixture at home with the idea of getting some points in the bag. Take nothing away from the new boys though, they showed grit and determination and hopefully D&C will learn from this game and move forward.

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