DEADLY DONALDO DESTROYS SWAN

Harefield was the destination for Rangers this week. The Swan are a very physical side and Headstone have struggled to beat them away from home. However, their lineup suggested that they had a few players missing from previous years, could the men in blue capitalize?

Manager Geoff Wheeler had made three changes from the previous game. Jamie Larner has shrugged off his injury and was back into centre midfield, Mark Liggins started a game for the first time at right back. Simon Reynolds was relegated to the bench along with Nick Wale who made a rare substitute appearance. Player Secretary James Wheeler was also available on the bench. The major change was no goalkeeper to choose from, so backup Olly Cotton returned to the side but between the sticks instead.

The game started with both teams exchanging early half chances. It was apparent that the missing personnel didn’t affect The Swan as they forced a number of free kicks inside Ranger’s half. Their left winger, No. 11, started to give Liggins a torrid time, cutting inside him a couple of times and forcing desperate defending by Alan Hunter and the rest of Ranger’s defence. All these attacks amounted to nothing, but stand-in keeper Cotton had to deal with three crosses early on whilst under pressure. Headstone started to play some better football and forced a couple of corners. Striker Don Ellam was showing good touches and had a long range effort sail past the goal. The ball down the channels was working and from a resulting move Carl Grayson got free and shot hard from an angle. The Swan keeper made a good save with his legs, Larner and Matt Rogers had a chance to put the ball away but both attempts were blocked by some good defending. The Swan No. 8 was started to win the midfield battle, his play earned a free kick inside the Ranger’s half. The resulting kick produced a clash of heads between Rogers and centre back Paul Jarvis. Jarvis came off worse, leaving the field with a small gash to the head. A forced sub was made, Wale coming into the fray on the left and Rogers replacing Jarvis at the back. Soon disaster, a Liggins throw produced a poor clearance from Cotton which went straight to an opposition player 40+ yards out. His immediate shot sailed perfectly over Cotton’s head and The Swan were leading with a spectacular effort. 1-0. James Chandler had a chance to equal the scores after a good move down the left, but running onto the cross his drive ballooned over from 10 yards out. Half time.

The second half was totally different. Captain Richard Clarke and Larner in midfield were dominating the game, Chandler was clipping some lovely balls into the channel and Wale was pushing up on the left hand side causing all sorts of problems. Rogers and Hunter were controlling the defence with Phil Crowcroft and Liggins looking comfortable as full backs. Their No. 11 still caused all sorts of problems, but his supply was getting cut off and he couldn’t prevent the inevitable. A throw on from the left ended with spectacular overhead kick from Ellam, which crashed in from 8 yards. 1-1. Rangers started to look for the win, The Swan couldn’t maintain their form and resorting to some poor fouls. Crowcroft took a knock to the head, thankfully it wasn’t serious, so the referee wanted the wound to be covered before he continued. There were no small plasters in the first aid bag, so he ended up with an elaborate Terry Butcher bandage for a small cut over his eye! The Swan had not yet thrown in the towel and could see their luck growing as Ellam, Grayson, Larner and Wale couldn’t find the net from good chances.

It looked like it was going to be a poor draw for Rangers until Elam stepped it up a gear. He eventually added his second with a tap in. 1-2. One of Wale’s probing runs got him upended in the penalty area. Penalty! The usual candidates stepped aside to allow Ellam to complete his hat-trick with a calmly struck penalty. 1-3. Right near the end a nice ball from Chandler saw Ellam beat the defender fro pace and slide the ball pas the onrushing goalkeeper for his fourth. Barring the finishing, it was a faultless second half display for Clarke and his men.

Unsurprisingly Ellam won Man of the Match, although Rogers performed excellently at the back. TOTM went to Crowcroft himself for his poor choice of bandaging.

Team: 4-4-2.

O.Cotton; M.Liggins, A.Hunter, Paul Jarvis, P.Crowcroft; J.Chandler, R.Clarke, J.Larner, M.Rogers; D.Ellam, C.Grayson.

Subs:             N.Wale replaced P.Jarvis (30 mins)

                        A.Carr replaced C.Grayson (65 mins)

Subs Not Used: J.Wheeler, S.Reynolds & B.Aitken (GK).

Referee:       D.Roberts

Team Milestones

Paul Jarvis played his 146^th game becoming 5^th in all time appearances

Don Elam is only the 3^rd player to score four goals in a game

Article by Paul Jarvis (website writer)

jarvo69@hotmail.com

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