Venue : Common Edge

Excelsior took on Marton looking to cement 2nd place and close the gap on leaders Fleetwood CC.

Usual warm up consisted of the usual’s putting the net up, the rest blasting the ball as hard as they can into the ‘half up’ net, getting bonus points for hitting the mugs trying to erect it. There was an added bit of excitement today as we were shooting towards Collins Park which has recently had a significant investment in spikey fencing making it fortress like, so a new competition was invented to see how many balls we could lose before kick-off into Collins Park.

Team was announced, same as last week against Marshall Court, Ross, Nico, Per, Greeny, Smudge, Fiss, Truby, Hopes, Wozza, Sean. Bench too many to name.

I missed kick-off as I was getting a sausage barm from the ever present catering facility but heard the roar on my way back that indicated Truby had opening the scoring early on For Excelsior. It was all one way traffic against a very poor side, Marton couldn’t get out of their own half with a combination of the Common Edge wind and constant pressure from Excelsior. It was no surprise when Wozza made it 2, it was a surprise that is was with his head. Chances came and went before Fiss made it 3 with a low drive from 15 yards on the angle, Wozza claimed a sly touch but there was no way he was taking the goal from Fiss. Half time and Excelsior were coasting, the only hope Marton had was they had the wind at their back second half.

First blood went to Marton second half and the wind had a major part, Marton had a free kick 40-50 yards out, the guy tried his luck, struck it sweetly and made Ross look a mug, 3-1. This was as good as it got for Marton though and the first half Excelsior dominance continued. The next goal was the best of the game, Greeny marauding down the right wing like Sean Tully on speed linked up nicely with Smudge, Greeny pulled the ball back to Smudge who on the volley put it past the Marton keeper who was disappointed to get his leggings dirty.

Lizzy and Dezzy replaced Smudge and Truby with around 15 left, Lizzies first contribution was to be dumped on the floor by a Marton defender in the penalty box, Wozza scuffed the penalty in the corner 5-1. There was time for John Evans to make his first appearance after Gaz Jakins sportingly volunteered to come off saving Steve from having to make a decision. Sean wrapped the win up with a sixth, sorry I missed it Sean as I was watching the game on the next pitch but I believe it was a good goal.

You can only beat was is put in front of you and that is what we did today quite comfortably, nothing out of the ordinary a good solid performance against a rubbish team.
What is more noticeable when on the touchline is the subs, Steve you need to give people more than 10 or 15 minutes especially when we are stuffing teams and maybe use a bit more imagination, it seems to be the same people/positions every week.Today Dezzy must have touched the ball twice, John touched it once I think.

The 4-5-1 formation seems to work well and accommodates people, the ball needs to get to Wozza’s feet more though as he is the one who will rip teams to shreds. In my opinion the 4-5-1 should be used against the better teams as it gives us a more solid look providing someone sits, and against the shit teams go either 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.