First half

Unfortunately, Jake our keeper was injured during the pre match warm up, and was unable to take part in today’s game. Well done to Matthew Sheppard for stepping up and pulling on the goalkeeper’s jersey today. It’s not an easy job for any player to come in as a substitute keeper, so well done Matt. East Leake got off to a very good start, scoring 3 early goals, however, we had many chances of our own in the first half. Johnny Commins and Keenan Berry hit some powerful shots on target, only to be denied by some excellent goalkeeping. East Leake scored 3 more goals in the first half, mainly down to some poor defending, and a couple of deflected shots. Cotgrave always kept their heads up, and kept attacking, but the woodwork managed to keep the ball out the back of the East Leake net, on at least 4 occasions. The score could have easily been 3-5 at half time, and I can’t really say we played badly.

Half time Cotgrave 0 – 6 East Leake

Second half

Cotgrave continued to push forward for their first goal with some good passing, but East Leake managed to catch us out with a quick counter attack, and scored their 7 th goal. Keaton battled well in midfield, and kept knocking the ball forward for Johnny and Keenan, but again the East Leake keeper made some excellent saves. East Leakes substitute ran on to a bouncing ball in the Cotgrave area, and managed to slot the ball in the back of the net with his first touch of the game. Luke Williams fired the ball from inside his own half with about 10 minutes to go, but the keeper managed to push it out for a corner. Cotgrave soon got their goal, with a fine individual effort from Johnny Commins. East Leake scored the last goal of the match in the final minute.

Final Score Cotgrave 1 – 9 East Leake

Summary

Despite today’s score line, we weren’t beaten badly. We had a bit of bad luck during the warm up, but these things happen. Every player played well today, and it was good to see us battle right up to the final whistle. Once again, we made a few mistake in defence, so we will have to work on a few things in training. The midfield and forwards worked better this week, but often tried to keep the ball a little too long. Many of East Leakes goals were on the counter attack, and were easy tap ins, many of which I think could have been prevented. Today was a big improvement on last week’s performance, and if we keep playing in the same manner, it won’t be long before we get our first win of the season.

Well done to East Leake, and good luck for the rest of the season.