Match Report

Goals scored
Graham Rix (2), Own goal

Man of the match
Dan Sherry

Team
Jamie Bullock, Dean Weaving, Lee Smith, Dave Rix, Chris Vicelli, Paul Munyard, Dan Trevarthen, Richard Martin, Graham Rix,
Dan Sherry, Stuart Medcraft.

Subs
John Wilson, Dariusz Szymanski.

After over a month off Landsdowne were playing yet another cup fixture. Without a league game since 30th November the Basildon league was becoming a distant memory. The opponents today however were familiar; West Laindon, a team played twice the season before although they were yet to meet in the league this season. Losing 4 games in a row should have been a wake up call.

West Laindon scored a very early goal leaving Landsdowne with a mountain to climb once again. They were however given an immediate lifeline; poor defending left Graham Rix through on goal. He did not hesitate and smashed the ball home. This should have given Landsdowne some fight however some silly fouls on the edge of the box; two in quick succession gave West Laindon a 3-1 score line.

It was only now that the home team started to play football. They created several chances before half time however could not finish them. A goal before the interval would give Landsdowne a good chance for the second halve. Some good chasing by Yard down the right caused the Laindon full back to give the ball away, he then looked to cross for Graham who was in the centre, only for the cross to be intercepted by the Laindon centre back. The ball however flew off the player and went past the keeper giving Landsdowne the goal they deserved. 3-2 at half time meant there was all to play for in the second half.

At half time the manager gave a positive team talk, Landsdowne weren’t playing great football but were battling and hopefully with the score only at 3-2 they could still get something out of the game. It was important that they started the second half better then the first.

This however was not the case, straight from the kick off West Laindon made it 4-2. The goal really hurt Landsdowne and they never recovered. Things went from bad to worse as more silly goals were conceded. Unfortunately some of the players began to argue and let themselves down again. This was more embarrassing then the score line. Graham Rix got a consolation late on, but with the final score at 7-3 it didn’t make a difference.

Another game, another poor result, but most importantly another poor performance. As a team Lansdowne’s confidence is very low, however it doesn’t help when players argue with each other. Definitely a game to forget.