Match Report - The Old Shepherd vs Gadeside Rangers - 02/09/2007
| Sunday 2 September 2007 - Olympian Sunday Football League | |
| The Old Shepherd | 0 |
| Gadeside Rangers | 2 |
| Wilkins, T Shurville | |
| at Baldwins Lane | |
| Gadeside Rangers got their season off to a winning start with a very professional performance to eventually see off a determined Old Shepherd side at Baldwins Lane. Second half goals from John Wilkins and Tom Shurville were the rewards for Gadeside's dominance throughout but it was the manner of the victory and the defensive solidarity which left player/manager Adam Hills delighted. |
| The early exchanges saw some frenetic football in the middle and some strong challenges being made but the visitors had the first chance when Adam Hills fired over from 10 yards after Ivanz Mani's knockdown. Gadeside were dealt a blow on 20 minutes when debutant keeper Sam Green was left severely winded after falling awkwardly when claiming a cross and he unable to continue leaving Tom Oliver to take over in goal. As the half wore on, Gadeside's dominance was evident as they attacked at will but were unable to test the home keeper. |
| Ivanz Mani saw a close range effort cleared off the line, Tom Shurville fired wide and Daniel Brooks saw his fierce, goalbound effort blocked but the best chance of the half came at the death when good play between Shurville and Hills saw Jay Evans cut in and fire a rasping drive which was superbly turned over by The Old Shep keeper. At the interval, Hills told his players to keep doing the same things and the goal would come. It should have been just after half time when Tariq Khan was put clean through by Hills but his deft lob spun the wrong side of the post. At the other end, the hosts enjoyed some pressure with O'Malley looking dangerous down the left hand side but they never tested Oliver in the Gadeside goal. |
| The deadlock was finally broken on 70 minutes when Ivanz Mani sent a pinpoint cross onto the head of Toby Zhou. His downward header was superbly saved but John Wilkins reacted first to prod home from close range. This seemed to wake the hosts and they began to ask questions of the Gadeside defence but resilience from the impressive Matt Evans and Ed Shurville kept the Old Shep at bay. The game was finally clinched with 5 minutes to go when Tom Shurville fired home through a crowded box after a good lay off by Matt Evans. |
| Adam Hills commented after the game: "That result has come from 6 weeks of hard work in pre-season. We identified where we needed to improve and we have worked hard to put those things right. Defensively we were superb. Last season we would have conceded but I am delighted we kept a clean sheet. Going forward we did well and it was important we didn’t try to force the game. It's easy to get desperate when you have so much of the game without reward but we kept doing the right things." |
| Sam Green (Tom Oliver), Ian Freeman, Justyn Walcott (Toby Zhou), Matt Evans, Ed Shurville, Daniel Brooks, Ivanz Mani, Tom Shurville, Adam Hills, Tariq Khan, Jay Evans (John Wilkins) |