Convincing victory for the super blues!

After a two week break from competitve football, Long Eaton played host to third place Attenborough this Saturday. It was a much awaited tie, a top of the table clash, second plays third.
The conditions were perfect at Grange Park. The sun shone, the wind had settled, and, despite a night of heavy rain, the playing surface was carpet like. Hats off to the ground staff!

During their warm-up, the blues were up beat, confident, focussed, "up for it!" It was obvious for all to see that Long Eaton knew precisely how important this fixture was, and it seemed as if they couldn't wait for the whistle. Chomping at the bit.

And then the whistle did blow. Tostoa rolled the ball to Rivelino, Rivelino back to Carlos Alberto. Alberto measured a pass into the feet of Jairzinho on the left. A clever pass inside to Gerson was returned with equal class for Jairzinho to take up the reigns again. He swung a ball in to path of Pele who struck just wide. What a start. No, this wasn't the Brazil side of 1970, but you could sure as hell be forgiven for making that mistake.

Attenborough, who had been on the crest of a recent wave, were utterly shell shocked. Several yellow shirts crouched down just to check that stones had not been slipped into their boots.

From that moment, the young gladiators in blue provided an exhibition of pure class: genius in fact.

Olly played as if he was conducting an orchestra in the middle of the park. Bringing the training ground to the party, time and time again he killed the ball with a first touch, had a glance and picked the perfect pass. Sky sports Stats had his pass completion rate at 99.9% come the end of the day.

It was difficult to keep pace with Long eaton's passing game in that first period. Harry into George, back to Harry who switched the play to Ed on the left. Ed fed Keelan as if he'd not eaten for 6 weeks, and Keelan just gobbled it up. Dancing and skipping his way down the wing, the poor Attenborough right back wished he'd had that Saturday lie in. He should think himslef lucky: This was keelan feeling a bit under the weather.

George was equally piercing on the right. Push and go. Push and go. The left back got a bit of a roasting too.

Chance after chance came, but still no creme for the cake. Was it going to be one of those games? When Attenborough snicked a goal in somewhat bizarre circumstances, one might have thought so. How would Long eaton respond? Answer: as if it had never happened. A minor hickup. Not part of the plan, but a response that almost said: "is that all you've got?"

It was no great suprise that Long Eaton levelled things up before half time. It was no suprise either who grabbed the goal. Justin, with his 17th of the season. A trademark Long eaton passing move converted by Justin's right instep.

1-1 at the break. There was really nothing to say in the team talk, other than, "keep it up."

And so they did.

Harry, who was majestic all morning, kept demanding the ball from Matt, desperate to keep the team playing football. With Ed as his minder, Harry was allowed some space to play, making expert use of the ball on almost evry occasion. Matt played a big part in this too, commanding his box, playing short when it was on, being sensible when it wasn't. Several times he made good use of the "half kick" that he has developed in recent weeks. And it was from one of these that the inevitable second goal came.

A cushioned kick from Matt out to George, who set about his business without hesitation. A measured pass found Justin's feet, who held it up well, waiting for support. Sadly for Attenborough, that support came in the form of Keelan, aka Hamish Hot shot. Bang. A net buster. 2-1 up.

And it was Keelan who put things out of reach for Attenborough. Another classy move down the right, with Harry, Ed, Olly and George combining well, eventually delievering the ball into Keelans feet. A little floated lob was the order of the day on this occasion. Top left corner 3-1 up.

Justin made a final contribution to take Long eaton to 4-1, and then gave way for Luke. Keelan, boots still smoking, made way for Matt.

These two were clearly in the mood as well. Matt took Keelan's baton and continued to run riot down the left. Luke seemed tireless up front. It was from his tenacity that the 5th goal came. Dancing past 2 defenders, a last ditch tackle saw the ball roll to George. "Left foot, top corner." He called it. 5-1.

The final whistle couldn't have come early enough for Attenborough. Their manager can shout and bellow all he likes. Long eaton were simply to good.

Lets hope Olly has not worn those conducting sticks out just yet. Ed and Harry need to make sure they've taken those centre forwards out of their shorts pockets. There is lot of hard graft still to do. Saying that, sitting pretty in second spot is a nice feeling!

Next up - Burton Joyce in the cup.

MoM - Olly/Harry (shared)