Woodbridge Town 7 Needham Market Phoenix 4

Sunday 11th November 2007

Team: Elsom; Wickson; Abdel-Aziz; Hopkins (captain); Archer; Tripp; Read; Thurlow; Dimuccio; Christie; Portaluri. Subs: Aveston; Kekwick. Half-time: 5-1 Full-time: 7-4 Goal scorers: Thurlow (3); Christie (2); Portaluri; Own Goal Having dropped their first points of the season with a draw at Honington last week, the boys got back to winning ways with a 7-4 victory at home to Needham Market Phoenix, a team relegated from the first division last season. However while this was an important three points to keep the team top of the league, it was not the most convincing of performances with the boys struggling to overcome a packed midfield. Availability was also an issue today and with Harry Hayward absent through illness there were only thirteen of the 22 in the squad available. After a minutes silence to mark Remembrance Sunday the boys were slow to get started and some sloppy defending early on and missed tackles in midfield put the team under some early pressure and goalkeeper Joe Elsom was forced into an excellent save to his right to deal with a well struck shot that came through a crowd of players. Gradually the boys settled and on occasions started to play with a little more composure, particularly when Sam Tripp and Ewan Wickson combined down the right-hand side of midfield. However as with last week the ball was not being moved wide to spread play and despite taking up some excellent positions Giorgio Dimuccio was not seeing enough of the ball on the left. However it was Giorgio who finally broke the deadlock when his cross come shot was diverted into the goal by one of the opposition centre-backs.  Once the first goal went in the boys started to play with more belief and Aaron Thurlow soon added a second breaking from midfield. However just when it looked as though Woodbridge would run away with it Needham struck back when some in decision at the heart of the defence allowed an opponent to nip in and tuck the ball by Joe to set up a potentially nervy end to the half. A tactical switch, which saw Jonathan Aveston come on and allow Giorgio to switch flanks so that Sam Tripp could move into the centre, as well as Needham beginning to move forward looking for the equaliser provided more space. Woodbridge rattled in three goals in quick succession. Aaron Thurlow scored twice with his usual power and Jack Christie in his comeback finished well when put through one-on-one with the keeper. Another player to get some more playing time after a long lay off in this game was Matthew Read. The half-time team talk was made easier now the team was four goals clear and this allowed captain Ben Hopkins to have a breather. This change saw Ashley Archer move to central defence, alongside Khaled Abdel-Aziz, and allow Miles Kekwick to come on at left-back. The decision to rest Ben was always going to be risky, as he reads the game so well and organises those around him and while the new back line was bedding in Needham struck down the right and scored a well taken goal to give them hope. However Laurence Portaluri soon scored his eighteenth league goal of the season with a well taken goal when put through one-on-one by Giorgio. However it was goalie Joe Elsom’s vision to kick rather than pick up the ball that turned defence into attack. Needham were still threatening particularly down their right-wing and again some sloppy defending resulted in another goal to reduce the deficit to three goals again. At this point Ben Hopkins was returned to steady the defence and again Woodbridge came back and Jack Christie added his second with another composed finish, but again too many passes were going astray or not being delivered with their usual accuracy. There was still time for Needham to add a fourth when Woodbridge’s fullbacks had not moved up quick enough to spring the offside trap. The team will not want to dwell on today’s performance, but importantly it was another three points in the bag and the team has now equalled the 22 points gained in the whole of last season. One point to note is that we have played our best football away from home, whether this is to do with the opposition and different styles of play or whether this is to do with playing on pitches that don’t have such a slope as Melton the jury is still out. Playing at Melton will provide some preparation for the Somersham slope that the team will soon encounter!