Despite only 9 players turning out for
this this League Cup encounter with the leaders of the Central division, it
was a great example of teamwork. Every player took responsibility, tracked
back, encouraged and gave the opposition a run for their money. Playing a
3-4-1 formation DC held the 10 men of Mapledurham to 0-0 and only managed to
get out of their half a handful of times. Mapledurham eventually took the lead
from a corner although the Steamers continued to battle on and made a couple
of rare chances of their own. One of which produced the goal that brough DC
back into the game. Ross took control of a cleared corner and nutmegged an
opposing player before playing the ball into space for Simon to run onto. He
beat the last defender to the ball, drew the keeper from goal before slotting
home from an angle. DC's luck took a turn for the worse when Ross was forced
off the pitch with a knee injury. Down to 8 men and DC continued to defend as
if their lives depended on it. Darren was playing out of his skin in the
Steamers goal, making several decent saves to keep DC in with a shout. The
inevitable happened on 75 minutes when the home side took a 2-1 lead from
close range. DC then, against the odds, could have found themselves 4-2 ahead
as they created 3 very good chances within a 10 minute period. Pushing nearly
everyone forward, Simon put one over from close range, Kevin put a header wide
and Steve Bells long range shot curled the wrong side of the post. But the
nail was firmly thumped into DC's league cup coffin as Mapledurham hit DC on
the break and wrapped the game on 90 minutes.
A tribute has to be made to those who played as they certainly did not
embarrass themselves.
The starting lineup was: Darren Holder, Chris Taylor, Howard Cooke, Kevin
Pitkin, Richard Jordan, Steve Bell, Ross Newman, Nick Smith, Simon
Langthorne
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