League

On a cold and frosty morning DC must have wished that the referee had called the game off rather than delay kick off for 15 minutes to allow the ground to thaw as they found themselves 2-0 down within the first 10 minutes. One reason for this was due to the blinding glare of the mid morning sun which was low in the sky. However this seemed to kick start DC into playing and they got their reward when the Valley goal keeper failed to claim a long free kick from Matt Bovey with Jenson heading home from close range to make it 2-1 close to half time.

DC continued to soak up the attacking threats of the wide Valley players early in the second half and created some chances of their own on the counter attack. The game started to turn in DC’s favour when a lovely first time ball back into the box from Chris Taylor was met by Simon Langthorne to make it 2-2 with a rare headed goal. DC continued to push and took the lead in bizarre fashion. Some good work up front ended up with Jenson having a shot with just the keeper to beat, although scuffing the shot wide the Valley defender hammered the ball into his own net with a finish any striker would be proud of to make it 3-2 to DC. With Valley pushing for the equaliser it meant that the DC strikers and midfielders pushing on were finding space and this paid off late on when Steve Bell got into the box, took on a Valley defender and fired the ball past the keeper only to see it come back off the post. Luckily Simon was on hand to tap the ball in for his second of the match. Simon should have got his hat trick when he headed in from close range only for it to be given offside.

Man of the match for DC this week was Kevin Pitkin who won the midfield battle and ensured DC of the win.

Berks and Bucks 3rd Rnd