Easton Monday 6 v 2 Yate Town Vets

March 5th, 2023 Clifton College Sports Ground

TEAM: Josh, Terry, Andy, Si, Craig, Lee, Jon, Jamie, Arron, Julian, Dan SUBS: Manny, Callum

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Slightly less of a scramble for players this week than the last outing against Lyde Green. The Monday had 15 players available but that quickly went down to 13 including two 'ringers' given the midweek game in the cup with injuries to Sam and Si R ruling them out for this Yate fixture and Morgs already being committed to the O50s.

There was a lot of talk before the game about how the Blues would line up and what formation to use. Manny decided that 4-4-2 was the best option for potentially a day of soaking up Yate's quality. The last few outings against Yate have resulted in the Blues conceding 11 goals over 3 games so they knew it wouldn't be an easy day at the office.

Yate haven't lost for a long time. Tension (and probably nerves too) were high, especially with the added pressure of the O50s being on the neighbouring pitch.

Monday lined up as a 4-4-2 with Josh in goal, a string back four of Si F and Andy M starting centre back and Terry and Craig on the flanks. Jon C and Jamie sat in the middle of the park with Lee and Arron outside of them on the wings. Dan and 'first ringer', Julian, started up front.

The game got off to a flying start to say the least!

Great pressure from the team collectively allowed to ball to fall for Jon who played through an onrushing Jamie. He then played in Julian who showed great composure to take it round two Yate players and square it to Dan who had a left foot drive across the keeper. Great finish. 1-0.

Yate never had a chance to get back into it before another fine Monday move lead to the second.

With pressure from Craig and Lee down the left, the ball landed at Jamie's feet who played it through to Jon who beat the offside trap and buried it with his left past the onrushing keeper. 2-0.

Once again, Yate had no time to respond, and Monday were relentless in the press once again. Yate were dropping deeper and deeper and their only seeming outlet (their HUGE striker) was having to come back to the halfway line to try and collect without with much joy!

The ball found its way to Jon who played it over the top once again to Julian who once again showed great composure to square it to Dan who finished easily into an empty net. 3-0.

Yate were still overloading their midfield. They didn't have any outlet up top, and they were still playing a high line. Very strange given the joy that the Blues were finding! A ball over the top from Arron found Dan who managed to tap it over the onrushing keeper and then calmly slotted home for his first half hat trick. 4-0.

Another chance came shortly after with Arron finding joy down the right and beating two men, (through sheer determination rather than skill) before narrowly blasting wide with the angles against him. Yate made some substitutions bringing on another striker and also a huge centre back.

Monday were unlucky not to go into half time 4-0 up as Yate managed to luckily claw one back.

It was probably their first venture into the box. Monday were doing everything right but a nasty deflection off Josh and then Craig, resulted in it landing on the edge of the box and the Yate central midfielder neatly slotted home leaving Josh fuming. 4-1 at half time

The second half didn't start the way Monday wanted it to as Yate scored early. They were getting more joy on the ball and had more possession than Monday in the first 5-10 minutes.

The Blues were being pushed back and slightly forced into long balls. Yate were also utilising their wide players more and more. A ball played across found its way to a Yate forward who dummied and dummied again before taking a shot. It was another unlucky deflection and a good save from Josh before finding its way to their striker on the back post for an easy finish. 4-2 with the momentum very much with Yate.

Monday took off Lee who was struggling with his chest a little and on came Manny. The Blues knew that if they weren't careful then Yate could turn this game properly around and never was there a better opportunity to finally get the result that Monday deserved against Yate!

Yate were starting to throw more and more men forward, either that or their midfield were tiring and weren't tracking back.

But Monday were showing no signs of slowing up. That all worked in the Blues favour as the tide was starting to turn in the game. Great interplay from the midfield and forwards saw a cut back from Dan to Arron on the edge of the box. Arron's shot likely went over the line, but it wasn't given. Dan Sims described the incident as 'Frank Lampard-esque'. All was not lost - in the same passage of play, Dan got the ball once again who played it to Jamie and after a neat megs, Jamie crossed in and their centre back knee'd it into his own net. No arguments this time (except from Arron who is still looking for his first goal of the season). 5-2.

Lee didn't have much time to rest as both Craig and Jamie needed to come off. Lee went to left back and The Blues' 'second ringer' Callum came onto the left wing. Callum showed great composure right until the end and was excellent on the ball and always found the right pass. The Yate centre half almost had a second own goal when he weirdly tried to curl it round his own keeper from just inside his own box. A weird incident that left both teams silent.

Yate were relying more and more on set pieces, and they can't be blamed given their size.

Andy was a mountain at the back all day long and won nearly all of his headers against their man mountain, apparently it's not the first time he's dealt with a big bloke for 90 minutes solid!

Even Manny won a header against him! That really did show that they had given up the ghost and they were starting to get a little bit annoyed with themselves. Also Josh's save from their free kick was excellent!

Arron was finding more and more joy too but none of his shots were quite coming off including hitting the bar!

The day was capped off excellently with another piece of managerial magic from Manny. Arron went over to take another corner and Manny told him to smash it low and hard to the front post.

Whether he had given Julian this instruction or not is unsure, but Julian got in front of his man and slotted home using just the pace of the ball to beat the keeper. Jon Cohen described it as being a bit like Trent and Origi against Barca! Julian was ecstatic with his thoroughly deserved goal having worked so selflessly and tirelessly all game. A more deserved goal you will not find! L'Equippe are giving the whole team 10/10!

The goal was made even funnier by the fact that Julian already thought that the score was 6-2 and Dam said to him 'non...cinq'.

It's nearly impossible to give anyone the MOM given how well the whole team played. Literally amazing right across the whole team. The defence, including Josh - all worked together as one unit and never let them get a foothold in the game. The midfield never stopped running, never gave Yate an inch, and were a great transition all day long to the front two. Julian and Dan up top looked like they had played together their whole lives and made a decent Yate defence look bang average.

But it's very difficult not to give this award to Dan who worked tirelessly, tracked back for set pieces and also got a first half hat trick! Amazing effort. Onwards to the next lads.