Match Report

Goals scored
None

Man of the match
Dan Trevarthen

Team
Ben Tarrant, Paul Munyard, Chris Vieceli, Rich Martin, Dave Rix, Dan Trevarthen, Rob Marling, Dan Sherry, James Grieve, Graham Rix, Stuart Medcraft.

Subs
Dariusz Szymanski, Martin Burton, Nick Wallace, Lee Smith.

Landsdowne arrived at Wickford Memorial in good spirits and looking forward to a game on a pitch which had seen them seal some memorable past wins. Bad news had earlier been received though, with Dean Weaving being unavailable to play due to a back injury sustained playing the day before. The resulting reshuffle saw Farmyard move into the right back slot and Rob Marling step into the midfield with his old partner Dan Sherry. James Grieve switched to left wing with Graham Rix returning to a more familiar striking role alongside Stuart Medcraft up front. Chris Vieceli continued his comeback from injury at left back and Dan Trevarthen looked to carry on a fantastic run of form, though moving to right wing in the reshuffle.

All sounded and looked good in theory, but this soon went wrong as Landsdowne started in dismal fashion yet again. Early pressure and a penetrating long ball saw Landsdowne fall 1-0 behind straight from the kick off. As the half moved on the long balls began to look more like pinpoint passes as Reecon stepped up their domination. The first was followed quickly after by the second, third, fourth and fifth goals as Landsdowne capitulated in a storm of mistakes, cock ups, missed clearances… This is not to say though that Reecon didn’t deserve their 5-0 lead – They 100% did, no doubt about it.

Landsdowne were uncharacteristically quiet at half time as the manager laid out the facts. The first half performance was shocking and, with maybe one or two exceptions, the players were being lazy and getting embarrassed as a result. The second half was all about salvaging a bit of pride. Landsdowne admittedly looked a lot sharper in the second half and far more competitive, albeit a case of too little too late. The work rate was stepped up and the players appeared fired up. Unfortunately, Landsdowne never really looked like breaking Reecon down and as the game ran away from them a superb sixth was added through a long range strike.

Jekyll and Hyde seems a pretty good description for the new look Lansdowne side; capable of both great football and spectacular defeats. Next week’s fixture against Dunton in the cup is far from a formality on this sort of showing, and a 100% improvement is required in all departments. Well done to Dan Trevarthen, who won the man of the match award in a game where it’s fair to say there were few contenders for the votes. Dan continued to display his quality in dangerous areas and worked hard for the team throughout.