Dalston AZZ 4 - 1 Mugs Away
August 21st, 2008two games, two wins. so far, so good for dalston - but against a mugs away team who’ve only lost one game in the previous two seasons the winning streak was under serious threat. and what’s more, a bad result could effectively write off any challenge from the jazz for the top couple of spots. no pressure then…
fortuitously for us, mugs away were undermanned at this 6:30pm fixture (perhaps they too have trouble getting away from work): missing their regular striker, they were forced to play with five men. not that that was much of a disadvantage for this extremely well-drilled side. dalston were also scraping around for a starting VI - consisting as it did of 5 regulars and an emergency extra (tyreman) - who started cagily as they attempted to break up mugs away’s fluid passing game.
mugs away more than made up for their missing player, running their socks off and challenging for the ball all over the pitch, leaving the jazz looking a little disconcerted. they took advantage of this after only a few minutes, when we lost possession in midfield and they quickly rifled a shot past jappie into the corner. curses. after that little débacle, jazz came into the match with aplomb - tyreman scrapping away in the middle while elstob and eaton worked a couple of shots for themselves up front. mugs away didn’t shy away though, and despite the onslaught they kept dalston at bay fairly effectively until half time.
the second half, however, was a different story. with jappie coming out on the field to join the defence, hamilton pushed up to midfield and the jazz began to stroke the ball around confidently, seeking an equaliser. it wasn’t long in coming, the two aforementioned players combining to get the ball to eaton, who fought off a hefty challenge before getting barged off the ball by an onrushing ballard. a textbook toe-poke finally snuck past their as-yet unbeaten keeper, and we were level. the impressive work rate continued, with jappie in particular reading the play like a children’s book and breaking up many a mugs away counter-attack. this gave dalston a platform on which to build their attacks, and soon enough we took the lead thanks to some more fine work from hamilton & eaton and an excellent finish from recently-back-from-mexico elstob.
cue some argy-bargy from one or two of the more competitive opposition, they certainly didn’t like it up ‘em(tm) - ever strong in the challenge, they increased the brashness - and it would have paid dividends had tyreman, volunteering in goal, not made two majestic saves to deny an equaliser. but that extra man was starting to tell for dalston, and soon enough eaton had increased our lead with a fine turn-and-finish from a powerful ballard through-ball. mugs away were coming apart at the seams, arguments erupted as elstob took advantage of their exasperation to apply a class first-time finish to a free kick played across the area. at the final whistle, the jazz had run out as 4-1 victors.
the run continues.. sterling performances from all six men, once again marking and ball-winning were top notch.
man-of-the-match: elstob bagged a brace and got the official nod, but as per usual i’m choosing someone different, this week my vote is for jappie, who hardly put a foot wrong in goal in the first half, then was imperious in defence in the second.
