Match Report

Goals scored
Jon Orme (2)

Man of the match
John Orme and Mark Hart

Landsdowne took to the field today in a jubilant mood after last weeks 4-3 win over St George. Morale was high as Landsdowne went searching for their first back to back league win since the 5-1 thrashing of Kingston Athletic II way back on November 16th 2003. A record that also stems back 39 matches.

Coincidentally in that match Tony Bush also scored a hat-rick the week before, so the omens were not looking good.

Infact you could say the odds of them achieving this feat were higher than the worlds tallest skyscraper, but Landsdowne wasn’t looking back at the past, their vision firmly focused on the present, their aim the future.

Landsdowne kicked of determined to re-write the history books and started strongly, the opposition could not keep the ball, their only outlet was to pump balls long which were kept at bay by Landsdowne’s rearguard. Wave of attack after attack rained down on Essex Royals goal only too see chance after chance spurned. The shots were high and wide and despite their hard work Landsdowne had nothing to show for it, and when they did hit the target their keeper stood tall pulling off 3 or 4 great saves.

Half time was approaching with the score 0-0 when some intricate play between Horny & Raviolli saw Horny rip the net with a quality finish leaving Essex Royals trailing 1-0 at half time.

The second half started and Landsdowne started in similar fashion seeing another couple of chances go begging and this was also not taking into account Essex Royals linesman. His arm was up and down so much I thought he was doing semaphore, I mean we all know Ravolli tends to stray offside occasionally and for some of you this may come as a surprise (yeah, right). However, this was diabolical. Every time the linesman raised his flag, peep went the whistle, frustrations were getting to Rav and after a couple off quiet words in the ref.’s ear he was finally booked , to which we were amazed but yet pleased Cha Cha Cha - Chiiiiiiiiiiiiingg. Cheers Rav for the pleasure.

But what followed was not funny. A long nothing throw came off Vega’s head to which we got a shout, well, whisper "keeper’s", only to see Bling grasp at the ball as if it was thin air, which incidentally was exactly what he grabbed - thin air. The consequence was an equaliser from 2 yards. It must be said though it was a shame as Bling had put in a quality performance up to now and was more vocal and commanding of his area.

Landsdowne kicked off in search of regaining the lead and managed this inside 10 minutes when a 40 yard Hollywood ball from Ze German put Horny through on goal with only the keeper to beat. Horny held his nerves and with a deft chip lifted the ball over the out rushing keeper and into the net, leaving the score 2-1 to Landsdowne.

Essex Royals upped the tempo and was piling forward with nothing to lose, but nothing was giving until (I know you have all heard this before but) up stepped the ref. to break Landsdowne’s hearts. All that can be said is every time their linesman raised their flag it was offside but in this case their attacking winger was 2 yards offside, 2 F*!ki*ng yards. The linesman rightly raised his flag to see the ref. dismiss it. Outrageous was the decision, however despite their efforts Landsdowne’s defence could not get back in time to correct the ref.’s error, leaving their striker a free header at goal and the final score 2-2.

Landsdowne deserved more for their efforts and to be fair should not had been in the position of one goal deciding the outcome, the positives were a great performance and a point seeing Landsdowne second in the table.

"MAN OF THE MATCH" John Orme and Mark Hart were both unavailable for comment as they were avid Arsenal fans and rushed off to get the football score. However, one was not allowed as he had not done his homework and the other, well, he was just not allowed!!!