Post by slush on Oct 17, 2006 11:21:15 GMT
Break can’t come soon enough for embarrassed Easington
ERCFA Senior Cup Round 1
Sculcoates Amateurs 7 – 2 Easington United
IT’S becoming increasingly hard to know where to start with the weekly first team report from Low Farm. In the space of four weeks, Dave Mack’s side have gone from looking a solid, compact unit capable of sustaining a serious HPL title challenge to a disorganised-looking rabble that ships goals at an alarming rate.
Little wonder then that the boss allowed asst-mgr Dave Walmsley to take the lead in the latest post-match inquest, for the Mack himself is at a loss to explain the reasons why.
Following the second embarrassing reversal in successive weeks, he said: “We just aren’t with it at the moment. I admit to making my fair share of mistakes and the system I tried on Saturday obviously didn’t work. But we’ll keep working hard to try and sort things out; we have not suddenly become a bad team.”
Admittedly the locals’ cause hasn’t been helped by the loss of key players in recent weeks. Most significant of all has been the absence of a regular goalkeeper, although neither Chris Walmsley nor Saturday’s stand-in, veteran Steve Eldon, could be held to blame for many of the 13 goals conceded in the past two weeks.
The absence of Phil Jackman has been sorely felt, while Tony Hunt and Saturday’s latest absentee, Mike Nicholson, are both influential players on their day.
But this is a strong Easington squad and at Sculcoates, bolstered by a first appearance of the season for JP Johnson, it was packed with HPL experience; not that this was evident in a horrendous opening half-hour.
Scully were given the perfect start when Eldon was harshly adjudged to have brought down Dave Gowans. Lee Benham struck home the penalty.
That came in the second minute. Two minutes later it was 2-0, Ollie Musgrove allowing Benham to break clear down the right and put the ball on a plate for Ricky Field.
Having opted for a 3-4-1-2 formation (ironically, to offer the much needed creativity that had been missing against Reckitts), the Mack now switched back to 4-4-2 to try and establish some stability.
But if players aren’t going to track runners, you can employ any system you like to no avail. Dave White was allowed to run 50 yards from left back before feeding Field who in turn set Drayton up for a third goal on 18mins.
Ten minutes later Easington were staring down the barrel; Drayton’s exquisite flick putting Gowans clear and he rounded Eldon for the fourth.
Up to this point, apart from a speculative Thurkettle volley and a couple of Steve Harrod-created openings, Easington had offered little by way of reply.
That all changed suddenly on the stroke of half-time. On 43mins, Harrod’s angled free kick was met perfectly by Ian Barrow and, a minute later, goalkeeper John Sowerby could only fumble Harrod’s corner into his own net; 4-2, game on.
For fifteen minutes that was. Despite a spirited start to the second half, the Eastenders never really created any clear-cut chances and when Gowans seized on a slip by Kevin Milner to tee up Benham for Scully’s fifth on the hour mark, the tie was lost.
Andy Graham clipped the home bar and there were a few moments of encouragement for the visitors in the remaining half-hour. But, more alarming for the management were the moments of complete farce in the Eastenders’ defence, two of which allowed sub Mark Smith to bag a late brace.
An inability to deal with a straightforward aerial “punt” gifted him goals in the 80th and 90th minutes and left The Mack to contemplate further on just how he’s going to turn things round.
Sculcoates: J Sowerby, S Irwin (T Scruton, 60), D White, S Fisher, M Lever, D Ingram, D Parker, R Field (S Hyde, 73), D Gowans, D Drayton (M Smith, 60), L Benham
Easington: S Eldon, J Batch (C Smalley, 71), S Campbell, D Potts (JP Johnson, 57), K Milner, A Graham, I Barrow, S Harrod (D Medforth, 61), D Walmsley, G Thurkettle, O Musgrove
Referee: Mr. M Elliott (Hull)
Att: 44
ERCFA Senior Cup Round 1
Sculcoates Amateurs 7 – 2 Easington United
IT’S becoming increasingly hard to know where to start with the weekly first team report from Low Farm. In the space of four weeks, Dave Mack’s side have gone from looking a solid, compact unit capable of sustaining a serious HPL title challenge to a disorganised-looking rabble that ships goals at an alarming rate.
Little wonder then that the boss allowed asst-mgr Dave Walmsley to take the lead in the latest post-match inquest, for the Mack himself is at a loss to explain the reasons why.
Following the second embarrassing reversal in successive weeks, he said: “We just aren’t with it at the moment. I admit to making my fair share of mistakes and the system I tried on Saturday obviously didn’t work. But we’ll keep working hard to try and sort things out; we have not suddenly become a bad team.”
Admittedly the locals’ cause hasn’t been helped by the loss of key players in recent weeks. Most significant of all has been the absence of a regular goalkeeper, although neither Chris Walmsley nor Saturday’s stand-in, veteran Steve Eldon, could be held to blame for many of the 13 goals conceded in the past two weeks.
The absence of Phil Jackman has been sorely felt, while Tony Hunt and Saturday’s latest absentee, Mike Nicholson, are both influential players on their day.
But this is a strong Easington squad and at Sculcoates, bolstered by a first appearance of the season for JP Johnson, it was packed with HPL experience; not that this was evident in a horrendous opening half-hour.
Scully were given the perfect start when Eldon was harshly adjudged to have brought down Dave Gowans. Lee Benham struck home the penalty.
That came in the second minute. Two minutes later it was 2-0, Ollie Musgrove allowing Benham to break clear down the right and put the ball on a plate for Ricky Field.
Having opted for a 3-4-1-2 formation (ironically, to offer the much needed creativity that had been missing against Reckitts), the Mack now switched back to 4-4-2 to try and establish some stability.
But if players aren’t going to track runners, you can employ any system you like to no avail. Dave White was allowed to run 50 yards from left back before feeding Field who in turn set Drayton up for a third goal on 18mins.
Ten minutes later Easington were staring down the barrel; Drayton’s exquisite flick putting Gowans clear and he rounded Eldon for the fourth.
Up to this point, apart from a speculative Thurkettle volley and a couple of Steve Harrod-created openings, Easington had offered little by way of reply.
That all changed suddenly on the stroke of half-time. On 43mins, Harrod’s angled free kick was met perfectly by Ian Barrow and, a minute later, goalkeeper John Sowerby could only fumble Harrod’s corner into his own net; 4-2, game on.
For fifteen minutes that was. Despite a spirited start to the second half, the Eastenders never really created any clear-cut chances and when Gowans seized on a slip by Kevin Milner to tee up Benham for Scully’s fifth on the hour mark, the tie was lost.
Andy Graham clipped the home bar and there were a few moments of encouragement for the visitors in the remaining half-hour. But, more alarming for the management were the moments of complete farce in the Eastenders’ defence, two of which allowed sub Mark Smith to bag a late brace.
An inability to deal with a straightforward aerial “punt” gifted him goals in the 80th and 90th minutes and left The Mack to contemplate further on just how he’s going to turn things round.
Sculcoates: J Sowerby, S Irwin (T Scruton, 60), D White, S Fisher, M Lever, D Ingram, D Parker, R Field (S Hyde, 73), D Gowans, D Drayton (M Smith, 60), L Benham
Easington: S Eldon, J Batch (C Smalley, 71), S Campbell, D Potts (JP Johnson, 57), K Milner, A Graham, I Barrow, S Harrod (D Medforth, 61), D Walmsley, G Thurkettle, O Musgrove
Referee: Mr. M Elliott (Hull)
Att: 44