Dagenham Utd Whites vs Gatcliffe Whites
⚽️Match report from Bradley Challis⚽️
After a night of down-pour today’s match was on the brink of being cancelled. A team of familiar faces, and a venue that we once called home, were the settings for today’s match. With a friendly atmosphere amongst the boys we would still need to ensure that once the whistle went it was two teams going into battle.
The boys kicked off and with a different set-up they managed to settle nicely, pushing and pressing, maintaining pressure, which was working a treat. Two great consecutive saves within the first 5 minutes from the Dagenham keeper gave the opposition a lift, and they soon started to settle themselves. Gatcliffe upped the pace and started to pepper the goal with all attempts dealt with comfortably by the keeper. Gatcliffe eventually put one away with a nice text-box goal from a ball into the box finished off with a simple shot just off the 6 yard box.
Gatcliffe now with the advantage took no time in knocking in another, a powerful snap shot on the half volley into the bottom corner brought a smile from ear to ear of the surprised goalscorer. The Dagenham striker was sat on the halfway line waiting for the break which when it got through was handled well by the two Gatcliffe centre backs. Gatcliffe’s number three soon followed unexpectedly, some great footwork and keeping of the ball led to a simple pass which just needed to be driven home, which it was.
The opposition were struggling to get the ball out of their own half with Gatcliffe constantly attacking. The Dagenham goalie was single-handily keeping the opposition in the game with great save after great save. A foul inside the box gave the Gatcliffe boys a chance to hit number four after a penalty was rightfully given. The taker would be none other than the Gatcliffe goalkeeper as up until now had had very little to do in a half where we were so dominant. Goalie vs Goalie and two friends of old against each other was quite funny to watch. The Gatcliffe keeper opted for power but the Dagenham goalie stood firm and the save was made. The whistle blew and it was halftime. The boys gathered around in the technical area and the plan was to continue at a high pace and keep up the attack.
As the Gatcliffe boys took to the pitch the game seemed to change, exactly like last week we seemed to run out of steam. Dagenham now taking control began to create their own chances. A long range free kick split through the Gatcliffe defence and just glanced the outside of the post. Second to this a long range effort ricocheting off the crossbar gave us something to think about. Gatcliffe managed to create a couple more efforts of our own again all met by the on-form Dagenham keeper. Dagenham would finally find a goal towards the end of the match, a misunderstanding between the centre back and the goalie left the Dagenham attacker little to do knocking the ball passed both into the back of the net.
But another Gatcliffe win, and still top of the league.
Ronnie⚽️ Alfie⚽️ Tyrell⚽️
Man of the match – Alfie