Match Report

Derby Ams (2) v Eaton Hall College (0)

	Player	Rating
1	kirt smith	8
2	James Derbyshire	8
3	Darren Hanstock	8
4	Robin Smith	8
5	Elliot Clay	8
6	paul kearton	8
7	Mark Hosker	6
8	Aiden Meyrick	8
9	Edward Macmillan	8
10	Ashley Bravo	7
11	Simon Prytherch	8
12	Duncan Yarnall	8
13	Brad Scard	8
14	Ben Perry	7

Date: 13/03/10
Team: 2nds
Match Type: League
Venue: Home
Opposition: Eaton Hall College

Today’s fixture was a home game Vs Eaton Hall College who were bottom of the league with ourselves just a place above, as a mark of respect each home player wore a black arm band as Mark Hosker’s granddad passed away in the week. After last week’s poor first half a good team performance was needed, Derby set up 4-4-2 and looking to take all three valuable points.
Losing the toss meant we played into the wind into the first half which caused a few problems and Eaton Hall hoped to take full advantage of the long ball their keeper was producing, their passing game through the middle of the park was getting them into some positions but the Ams back four held firm. Derby made inroads into our opponents half with Prytherch holding the ball up well, with Bravo chasing through balls and Meyrick running their right back ragged but no end product seemed forth coming.
With the score at nil-nil the half time team talk was straight forward, the game was there for the taking but we had to move up a couple of gears. One substitution saw Hosker replaced by Yarnall, Eaton kicked off the second half and came out of the blocks with an attack that found them in front of goal but the shot went wide, this seemed to wake Derby up as the midfield found the ball more using Kearton and Macmillan on the flanks to good effect.
With Yarnall holding in midfield this gave Meyrick more licence to get forward and with an hour gone Kearton made his way down the right and found Meyrick on the edge of the area who turned and fired a shot with pace into the back of the net giving the keeper no chance 1-0. The second half wasn’t all one way as on more than one occasion they made good use of the ball in the final third which called upon Derbyshire, Hanstock, R. Smith and Clay to be at their best to keep the score at 1-0.
Another substitution saw Scard replace Bravo and he slotted in up front and gave Derby another good outlet, keeper K. Smith was vocal throughout as he commanded from the back and was called upon time and again to pull of some fine saves. With 15 minutes left to play Derby were attacking when a cracking ball through the middle saw Scard chest it into his path and fire his shot beyond the keeper to put the Ams 2-0 up.
The last substitution saw Perry replace clay and this seemed to give more attacking options as Derby looked for a third goal and were unlucky not to get it as Eaton pulled out last ditch challenges to deny further attacks and with Yarnall hitting the bar almost with the last kick of the game. A well deserved win that saw us push up the table so lets take this into the next game at Emtec and press the teams above us.