Match Report

Goals scored
Martin Bell, Tony Bush

Man of the match
Vegas

With two games to go Landsdowne need maximum points to avoid being bottom of the pile, and with 1 win in their last 5 outings things were not looking good. In a nutshell a loss today would see Landsdowne be crowned officially the worst team in Basildon, so with this in mind and the bit between their teeth they went out to try and prove this was not the case.

Landsdowne could not have asked for a better start. The opposition only had 9 men for 15 mins and sat behind the ball, despite this advantage St George started the stronger and nearly made Landsdowne pay early on with a rasping shot just past the post. Thankfully this woke up the boys and they set about their work in hardworking fashion.

By the time the lads woke up St George were up and running, it was 11 against 11, when a ball was played in to the "Vegas" by "Chas". "Vegas" turned and fed "Causer" down the right wing who crossed the ball after a mazy run, leaving "Ravioli" the task of finishing which he did without hesitation. The goal ripped the net, Raviolli was smiling, the sun was shining, what could go wrong????????

Well at this stage nothing. Landsdowne were flying, chances were being created and defending was resolute. It was only a matter of time till they scored another, a few chances went begging until a shimmy in the area saw Mel being fouled, leaving him an opportunity to score from the spot.

The team had their hearts in their mouth as up stepped Mel, the tension was high so much at stake, could Landsdowne really escape, could they avoid the jaws of hell, could they actually not be crowned the worst team in Basildon ? (although it would be nice to win something). The crowd had their heads in their hands, the photographers snapping like crazy. Could this be their moment ? Mel begun his run and finished with quality, leaving Landsdowne 2-0 to the good.

It was now half time. "Have it" gave his team talk trying to inspire the players not working hard enough, and putting his arm round those players who were. Could he succeed ? Could the team - only 45 minutes away from another miracle - escape the drop again on the last 2 games of the season ? Read on to find out.

The second half begun with Landsdowne creating more chances and defending well, they had carried on how they left off, however after some good work from St George, Landsdowne found themselves only 2-1 up after St George were given a life line with a penalty. To be fair from the ref’s angle it looked like a dead cert.

Unfortunately for Landsdowne St George equalized after another good move leaving the score 2-2. To be fair Landsdowne deserved to be winning but it’s a funny old game. With that in mind St George took another chance breaking Landsdowne hearts, the whistle went and next weeks result had no bearing. Landsdowne Rangers are officially bottom after losing 3-2 to St George.

Man of the match

"Vegas" stated that he loved the award and cherishes the club and the players and hopes the team can perform better next season. When asked what he thought of the game, it was too late. The "Vegas" had gone, he was down the pub already in tour training mode.

HAVE IT’S BIG FIVE

I'm absolutely gutted for the team. I feel that we have more potential than we show and week in week out continually let each other down. We win and lose as a team and need too talk more and encourage more.

(1) Work harder all over the pitch.
(2) Talk more, let each over know where you are.
(3) As taught pre-season, if under pressure hit the channels.
(4) I said it last week. Be mentally prepared before a game. To prove it works we played better against 11 men than 9 because everyone thought, this will be easy.
(5) Warm up properly to start of sharper.