Dragons v Braintree Hornets

Chris Walsh

· 5 December at 19:06 ·
⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️?⚽️
Sunday 5th December
Dragons 1 – 0 Braintree Hornets
Harrison
It was another cold, wet and windy morning at The Den as Dragons faced their first competitor following the reshuffle. Having already won all 11 games during their time in the lower league, the team were ready for the challenge but also sustain their run.
The first five minutes featured a lot of back-and-forth movement as both teams gauged the other and found their feet. Gus and Harrison each had hesitant shots at the goal in the first few minutes but not enough to challenge the Hornet keeper. Ryan, as captain, along with Jenson, handled midfield backed up by SB, Gus and Piercy further back. As usual, Roo kept the goal safe whilst Harrison took the forward position.
The Hornets reminded the Dragons what to expect in this league by nearly scoring a goal which Gus missed in defence and Roo fumbled giving everyone a jump. Fortunately, Roo got his hands on it and cleared it away to safety before any real damage could be done. Just a minute later and Harrison was taking another shot which again missed its mark.
As the first half progressed, team play improved for the Dragons but it was often hard to get through the Hornets’ Nest and find the right passes. Still, there were some fantastic flashes of inspired play. At substitution time, Zach and Logan replaced Harrison and Pitbull and Walshy replaced Piercey.
Harrison scored the one and only goal which was dampened a bit by how it came about. A close quarters tackle near the goal and the Hornets keeper was on the ground and the ball behind both keeper and Harrison. After a moments hesitation of whether the keeper was okay, he was able to turn and edge the ball into the goal. A bit of a shock and disappointment for the Hornet’s keeper but luckily, he was okay.
After conceding a foul near Roo’s goal, the Dragons put up a 4-man wall (Ryan, asked by teammates, laid down to block any low kicks which raised a laugh as he faced the wet ground!). The wall blocked both kick and rebound kick keeping the score 1-0.
The second half continued to be a battle for the Dragons. Despite some great defensive work from SB, Piercey, Gus and Walshy there were a couple of occasions where one or two Hornets broke through the ranks and Roo was called on to keep the scoresheet clean (which turns out to be his third in a row). One long shot from Roo went straight to Harrison at the other end of the pitch but sadly had a little too much momentum for him to pick in time before it went for a goal kick.
Today’s game has been a reminder of what coming back to this league is like. It was a hard 50 minutes for both teams, not helped by poor weather. Dragons come away with a win but that singular goal was reflective of closely played match. We need to keep working on player positioning and finding empty spaces which are not out of reach to be passed to.
Dragon of the week was Gus, who, as always, can play both ends of the field almost simultaneously!