Match Report

Derby Ams (2) v Acorn Athletic (3)

Date: 29/09/07
Team: 2nds
Match Type: League
Venue: Home
Opposition: Acorn Athletic

An exciting Derby line up arrived for their first home game of the season against Cotmanhay’s finest Acorn FC. The concrete pitch looked like it was designed for free flowing football as John flicked some dog doo onto the sidelines with a child’s hockey stick.

The whole Derby side were pleased to welcome back the eloquent Acorn number eight after enjoying his sardonic wit for the first game of the season.

Derby started as the quieter team (literally) and didn’t get into the game for the first 15 minutes. The only real highlights being when Grant cowardly impeded the big Acorn number eight by allowing him to rip a ‘V’ neck in his shirt or when David Hart picked an inch perfect pass down the line which sailed over the fence to the side of the pitch.

Due to Derby’s start it was no surprise to see a low corner from Acorn bounce past the first man at the near post to be slotted past John in the Derby goal by the Acorn attacker.

After the first goal we still struggled to get a foothold in the game and although the passing improved we gave away a poor throw in. From the subsequent set piece slack marking allowed the Acorn number 6 to create some space for a low shot. The bizarre shin roller he produced from the edge of the area skewed right inside Johns post and left him with an impossible save that gave Acorn a 2 goal cushion.

To read the above you would assume the game was one way traffic, but Derby were using set pieces to their advantage. Grum tested the Acorn keeper with a well taken free kick that was pushed out for a corner and Grant put a tough header narrowly wide.

Derby managed to hold the game to 2-0 (thanks to some heroics in goal from John) and came in at half time for a much needed team talk from Grum sporting his now familiar Grandad pants.

After a motivational talk Derby started the second half stronger with more desire to win the ball and contest in all areas.

Ten minutes in Jebbett brought the ball down and put a pass behind the Acorn right back for Ben to run on too. Ben attacked hard and won his team a throw in. The throw in was quickly taken to Jack who megged the right back before crossing the ball deep. Michael Butler latched onto the ball and put across a lofted cross which Grant headed past the stranded Acorn keeper.

Derby’s dominance unfortunately didn’t last for long as Acorn started to get back into the game. They again scored from a low corner which evaded the first man and bounced nicely for the attacker to slot past four Derby men on the line.

At 3-1 Grum elected to make his last managerial throw of the dice and replaced Bravo with an elegant YTS striker. After some confusion surrounding exactly where a striker should stand on the pitch he pounced to play a long ball for Jack to run on too. Jack controlled the ball well and struck from the edge of the area with a quick shot. For some unknown reason the Acorn keeper was caught at his near post admiring his nail varnish and his desperate scramble was too late to avoid a goal.

At 3-2 hopes were high that Derby would push on for an equaliser, but it was never to be. The game then ran its course and the Acorn players looked genuinely relieved to hear the final whistle.

Article by Mark Jebbett