Easton Monday 2 v 2 Yate Vets

17th September, 2023 Clifton College Sports Ground

TEAM: - Josh, Simon, Andy M, Craig, Manny, Jason Hughes, Jason Llama, James Pilling, Arron, Simon R, Guy SUBS: Jon C, Morgs, Draner

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When the fixtures came out in the summer, we didn't have Yate scheduled as our first fixture. But then when Cowboys changed the fixture date early doors, Yate become game #1! Quite a challenging start to any season. But especially challenging when pre-season hadn't been quite what we had hoped. Monday had 4 pre-season friendlies planned but only 1 got played, and that was a loss!

In the lead up to the game - Yate had contacted to say that they were struggling for a team. It was too late to change the fixture and we just hoped that they could field a team, even if it meant playing against Jermaine Defoe! Our thoughts were realised when Yate turned up with a large squad and only the 2 ex Bristol City players! The anxiousness was also evident given that there were a couple of new faces in the team, in important positions!

Yate were looking strong in the warm up and there were lots of recognisable faces. But the Monday squad was looking very strong also. Monday didn't have their usual ref and the student ref that turned up, did so at 10:29am, one minute before kick off. His whistle didn't work and he didn't have a watch - not a great start for him!

The game got off to a flying start with the returning squad member, Guy, beating his man and striking the post from just inside the box. Yate were rattled and it definitely woke them up!

Yate proved their readiness for the fixture when about 3 minutes into the game, with their first venture forward into the Monday half. Monday were caught ball watching and left one of the ex City players free inside the box and he wrong footed Josh to slot past him. 0-1

The problem for Yate after that, was that that goal woke Monday up! The rest of the half was all Monday and Yate had very little else to offer in the whole of the half.

Si R and Guy were finding lots of joy down the flanks and were permanently beating their men. One of these runs down the right, led to the ball being played back to Pillsy who crossed/chipped the keeper into the top left corner. Great/lucky finish. 1-1

Guy was getting closer with his efforts and Jason H had a great chance only to fluff his lines a little. Jason also hit the crossbar and there were some questionable offside calls happening, most notably Pillsy's long cross field ball to Arron (who seemed on side) and would have been one on one with the keeper.

Half time

The half time team talk was very much 'more of the same'. We had 3 strong subs on the bench and we were feeling on top and also fit.

Yate came out strongly in the second half and pushed more men forward. The Monday back four were coming under more and more pressure.

Despite this extra pressure, Monday scored again when Guy had one of his shots find the back of the net. A neat finish with his left past a very good Yate keeper. Perfect placement. He'd finally 'got his eye in'. 2-1

Shortly after that, Monday should have been 3-1 up when Guy laid the ball back to Arron, who found the target but his shot was excellently saved by the brilliant Yate keeper.

Yate were finding their rhythm and Monday were starting to tire. Yate found themselves back in the game when the Monday defence found themselves having one attack too many. 2-2

Both teams were having long range efforts go wide or over and both teams had difficult chances to win it.

Late on in the game, Yate were awarded a pen when Si F brought down their 'other' ex City player. Si F said that as he stars in Channel 4s 'Gogglebox' - he must be good at acting! Josh came the the rescue with an excellent save when his flailing foot saved their attempted shot down the middle.

The game ended in a draw and the feelings were mixed. Drawing when being in front is never the best feeling in the world but as time passed, it is sometimes easy to forget how far this Monday team have come. Just a couple of years ago, Monday were losing 5-0 at half time to Yate and since that fixture, Monday have turned things around against the strongest Vets team in Bristol. Draws have become common place and our only losses since that time have been in a penalty shootout, a 5-2 loss in the cup where Yate had to bring out the pros and the youngsters, and we have even smashed them 6-1! In retrospect 2-2 seemed like a fair result and a great start to the season.

Yate played a really fair game with no nastiness and even the stand in ref seemed to have a good game

MOM - James Pilling. Pillsy was excellent from start to finish and made the Yate midfielders look average at times. Got his goal and was constantly creative