Saturday
7th February 1998 Ryman Prem.
Daggers
2 Basingstoke 1
Early pressure from the
Daggers culminated in Warren Oakley failing to clear the ball from our
penalty area during Basingstoke's first attack and the ball ending up in
the back of the net. 1-0 down after 4 minutes. Warren did have the
chance to redeem his mistake a minute or so later but completely
miss-timed his shot and made no contact with the ball whatsoever.
Some good work between Cobb and Shipp produced a couple of good chances,
Cobb holding the ball and waiting for Danny to get into the best position
before putting an inch perfect ball to him, the ball was buried in the
back of the net only to be disallowed for what I believe was handball.
It wasn't all one way traffic though and in the 21st minute Basingstoke
made a superb move towards and around our penalty area which ended with a
shot rocketing into the side netting. On the 30th minute the ever
prowling Cobb picked up on a bad backpass in the penalty area and took a
shot at goal, the 'keeper quickly reacted and was able to stop the shot
but only pushed the ball into Shipp's path and he made no mistake. In time
added on (in fact the 49th minute) Pratt picked up the ball on the right
and laid it to Cobb who once again held the ball well with his back to
goal, Pratt then ran past and Cobb released another inch perfect ball for
Pratt to run onto, he then took it towards the goal and placed it well
past the 'keeper from a very tight angle. Steve Conner was lucky not
to be sent off for pulling a player back who was heading towards our goal
but got away with a yellow card.
In the second half the game carried on in much the same way, the ball was
being move from end to end and both teams played some good one touch
football, Gothard made an excellent save from a good Basingstoke move and
got down well to his right from a powerful low shot. Basingstoke
made some good approach work but with their diminutive attack they were
not able to finish off the job. In the 74th minute Paul Nicholson
was sent off, this must have been for dissent as he hadn't been involved
in any situation during play. Cobb was also booked towards the end.
The home side also missed some opportunities but at the end of the day, we
had the well earned points.
Gothard, Culverhouse(Howard), Pratt1, Parratt, Conner, Matthews,
Nicholson, Cobb, Shipp1, Cole, Oakley
Saturday
21st February 1998 Ryman Prem.
Daggers
2 Kingstonian 2
A
cold winters day welcomed 1,076 supporters to what promised to be
an exciting game. They were not disappointed, After 1 minute and 30
seconds and with Kingstonian's first attack, there was a mix up in the
Daggers 6 yard box, Gothard manages to push the 1st shot away but the
striker made no mistake when given a second chance, 30 seconds later
another chance was created from the left wing with a superb run and low
cross, it should have been 2. On the 16th minute Cobb working well
down the left flank managed to drive the ball across the face of the goal
but Shipp lacked the half a yard needed to reach it. Kingstonian
took control for most of what was left of the first half and the Daggers
seemed lethargic in their approach play. The score at the break
remaining at 1-0 so there was light at the end of the tunnel.
An attitude change from the home side early in the second half saw David
Pratt's confidence return and Kingstonian's number 2 didn't have any
answers to his darting runs. On the 68th minute a corner was won and
Pratt placed the ball too close the the goalkeeper, but he wasn't able to
hold on to it and Danny Shipp put the ball in the back of the net from
close range. It was now the visitors turn to up the pace and within
2 minutes were back in the lead, Steve Conners calmness in defence being
missed (he wasn't playing) as the ball bobbed around the 6 yard box, an
overhead kick first being cleared from the line, but another goal scored
from close range. Within a minute Pratt and Cobb combined again down the
left and another hard low cross couldn't be converted by Shipp. The
Daggers equaliser took me back to November, a crossfield ball from deep
inside our half from Tolo Mas to Pratt caught the visitors midfield
unawares, the ball was then pushed past Kingstonian's No 2 for Gary Howard
to pick up just outside the penalty area, he was quickly closed down by 2
defenders but managed to thread the ball to Cobb who once again put a hard
low cross in for Shipp (or Matty Bird, my son and I disagree on who scored
so let me know) to finish from close range.
A good exciting game and a fair result!
Gothard, Cole, Pratt, Howard,Creaser,Matthews,Parratt, Cobb, Shipp2,
Bird, Mas