Parkdale Rovers F.C.

George and Dragon Colts - 3 points deducted

copied by kind permission http://kiddyleague.co.uk/2006-2007%20Tables/satonetable.htm

Tenbury United 1  Parkdale Rovers  3

In the final match of the season, Parkdale Rovers made the long trek all the way over to Tenbury to play out a final, virtually meaningless, fixture. With both sides already guaranteed to finish 8th and 15th respectively there was little else for either side to really play for other than personal pride.

Parkdale started brightly and within 5 minutes had established an early lead. Tenbury conceded a somewhat cynical free kick some 30 yards from goal, midway in from the right wing. Central midfielder, Andy Fox delivered a beautifully measured cross, deep to the back post for his younger brother Chris 'Lil' Fox to rise and head home from close range. 1-0. Parkdale looked the superior side for most of the game, but a moment of madness in defence in the 17th minute, saw a comedy of errors allow the home side in for what had looked like an unlikely equaliser. 1-1. Parkdale continued to press for another goal as the home side dug in with 10 men (and sometimes 11) behind the ball for most of the match, making it difficult to break them down. A glorious chance to restore the lead fell to Chris Fox in the 25th minute. A fine ball over the top allowed him to spring the offside trap and, with the ball at his feet inside the penalty area and only the keeper to beat (an ageing midfielder [sorry Pee Wee] - now playing out his final days in goal!) he somehow managed to shoot wide of the mark when, with a little more composure, he could easily have taken it round the keeper and walked it in the net. Then on 32 minutes, one of the best moves of the match. A throw in down the line by Blaine O'Reilly was flicked on by Dave Collett on the left wing to 'Lil' Fox who turned his man and slid a clever pass inside the centre-half to almost return the compliment for his brother Andy Fox who broke past the last defender towards goal. Typical of this lad's luck this season, he managed to drag his shot just wide of the far post. 1-1 HT.

Parkdale began the 2nd half again on the offensive, but were making hard work of things with players lacking composure and rushing their final ball or misplacing their passes. On 60 minutes, however, the 'Ginja Ninja' (Ed Uff) swept a fine first time shot past the keeper following some good wing play between Collet and Foxy down the left. Foxy's cross into the middle still left Uff plenty to do and, while most other players might have been tempted to take a touch and make sure, Uff's decision to take the cross first time, on the half volley, meant it had flashed past the keeper even before he had time to set himself. 2-1. Parkdale visibly relaxed and Tenbury seemed to drop their heads a little as they anticipated the inevitable. Parkdale should have extended their lead on a couple of occasions. Perhaps the clearest one was on 80 minutes when Uff was again sent clear and having knocked the ball past the keeper, was cynically blocked off for what should have been a clear penalty as he attempted to round him.  Not given! Two minutes later and a great run by Uff down the left, saw him shoot just wide of the far post when a simple square ball into the middle would surely have seen Michael Jewkes convert with a simple tap in from about 8 yards, following a great supporting run from the right wing. Uff however, was not to be denied. In the final couple of minutes, Uff once again latched onto a great ball over the top and (although clearly tiring following his two week holiday!) still managed to easily out pace the home side defence. He once again elected to round the keeper but this time made sure he avoided Pee Wee's feeble attempts to kick him as he easily evaded him and slotted the ball home to make it a comfortable 3-1 win to finish off the season.

This last minute brace moves Uff on to 10 goals for the season which puts him level with Dean Kavanagh. As stated at the beginning of the season, in the event of the need for a tie-break, goals scored in pre-season friendlies would then be counted and, on the basis of his additional 3 goals scored in pre-season friendlies compared to Dean's single goal, this makes him the clubs 2nd highest scorer and pips Dean into 3rd place with almost the final kick of the season! Pride of place, however, goes to Dave Louden who despite missing loads of games through injury (including this one!!!) and playing a load of games whilst still carrying injuries - still managed to bang in 24 goals, once again finishing as top scorer and carrying off the 'Golden Boot' award for this season. All the votes are now in for the other awards but I'm giving nothing away until the Presentation night when all will be revealed! Also it's time to check your Championship entry slips and see if you think you might have won the cash! A date for the Presentation night is still to be set and we'll try and agree the best date that suits most people at Monday night football (which is also now open to other non-squad players). As there are no more matches (or match subs), can everyone please bring £2 if you want to play Monday night football;-)

TEAM:

Dan Lacey (GK), Rhian O'Reilly, Steve Westwood, Ant Derrer, Blaine O'Reilly

Michael Jewkes, Andy Fox, Adrian Hingley, (Martin Louden), Dave Collett, (Nigel Mayes),

Chris Fox, (1), Ed Uff (2)

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ed Uff

Wednesday 9th May 2007 (k.o. 6:30)

Parkdale Rovers  1  Dog & Pheasant  2   

Unfortunately this match report is all too brief as I was not there! From all accounts this was a great performance by a Parkdale side who showed something of their true potential against what looks to be the champions elect, Dog & Pheasant.

Despite conceding two goals to the top side in this division, Parkdale did manage to reduce the deficit with another well taken goal from this seasons top scorer, Dave Louden. With the fading light in question and only 35 minutes per half, Parkdale rallied in the second half, finishing the match with a determined effort and were a little unlucky not to have earned a draw for their valiant efforts.

Congratulations to Dog & Pheasant who - provided they don't chuck it all away in their last match of the season (away to lowly Rising Sun) will be finish off the season as Division One champions. Parkdale have their final match this Saturday away to Tenbury United and will hope to show some of the spirit and form from recent games to try and finish their season on a high.

TEAM:

Dan Lacey, Rhian O'Reilly, Steve Westwood, Ant Derrer, Blaine O'Reilly, Michael Jewkes, (Sean Wright), Adrian Hingley, (Nigel Mayes), Andy Fox, Dave Collett, Dave Louden, (1), Chris Fox

28th April 2007

Parkdale Rovers 1  Birch Coppice 0

A fine Parkdale performance today with an almost full strength side out against title pretenders Birch Coppice, saw a victory to the home side by the narrowest of margins. Against a side which put them out of two cup competitions and also thrashed a (much weakened) Parkdale side earlier in the season, this time Parkdale gained some revenge by not only taking all 3 points but also by putting the final nail in any title hopes they may have had this season.

A highly competitive game, with much of the game dominated in a closely contested midfield battle, chances for either side were always going to be limited - especially against a Birch Coppice side which can still boast the best defensive record in this league with only 30 goals conceded in 27 matches so far this season. The fact that this finished with a 1-0 scoreline was due in part to two very fine defensive displays on the day by both teams, and this week my man of the match goes to Ant Derrer for an almost faultless display at centre-half. Coppice created the first real chance on 8 minutes. A good ball, zipped into the feet of their striker on the edge of the area, was immediately layed off into the path of the incoming midfielder who struck a lovely right footed curler. Whether it was going wide or whether it might have curled sufficiently to hit the target is hard to say. Goalkeeper, Dan Lacey was taking no chances and leapt to his left to make a fine fingertip parry away for a corner. Parkdale also had a couple of decent half chances, when a little more care with the final ball might well have led to one or two goals. Perhaps the best chance of the half fell to young striker Chris Fox when a loose clearance from the keeper from the edge of his area fell to his feet. With a little more composure and experience, young Fox might easily have finished with a simple lob over the stranded keeper into an empty net. However, he rather unselfishly opted to square the ball to his strike partner, Ed Uff, but the pass was slightly under-weighted and by the time it arrived, the Coppice defenders had managed to get back and snuff out the threat. Both sides had one or two other half chances but without really troubling either keeper. 0-0 at half-time.

Parkdale made one or two tactical switches with top goalscorer, Dave Louden, moving up from centre midfield to centre forward and Ed Uff coming back into midfield. With right full-back Rhian O'Reilly having to come off soon after the restart with suspected ligament damage to his right ankle, Nigel Mayes shuffled across from left back to right back while Dave Collett came on to fill the left back position. Collett got straight into the game quickly and added a further threat with some very useful long throws down the line or when level with the box. On 54 minutes, one such long throw from Collett was headed on by Louden at the near post and looked to be dropping in. Central midfielder, Andy Fox, appeared to have a chance to make sure of it from about 6" out but seemed to hesitate and a glorious chance to open his account for the season went begging. Again on 60 minutes a superb long kick from keeper Lacey took the Coppice defence a little by surpise as it landed some 30 yards from their goal. Striker Louden gave chase and has the ball came down again, smashed a great right footed volley which seemed destined for the top right hand corner. However, a quite brilliant finger tip save from the Birch Coppice keeper saw the ball turned away for another corner. Parkdale finally made the breakthrough on 80 minutes. For one of the few times this season, Parkdale enjoyed a little bit of good fortune going their way for a change. A deep cross into the box was misjudged by their keeper (his only mistake all afternoon!) who only managed fingertips on the ball which deflected it over his own head and down perilously close to his own goal line. Even so, the defenders still looked odds-on favourites to clear it off the line...until "Lil Fox", with little thought for his own personal safety, produced a brave diving header to beat the defenders boots to the ball and clinch the all important goal.  1-0 and Parkdale were in sight of all 3 points with only 10 minutes to go. Parkdale played it safe and showed a bit of the experience they have learnt this season the hard way; determined not to let yet another 1-0 lead slip away, they cleverly started to play keep-ball and run down the clock in the corners. Parkdale might well have added a second goal in the closing phase with a find team. Uff led the charge down the left before passing into Louden who in turn led it off to match winner Fox. Unfortunately this time his attempted finish was rather less impressive than the build up with the young striker snatching at his shot and dragging it wide of the mark at the near post. Incredibly the referee somehow managed to play over 6 minutes of stoppage time at the end (which only seemed like another 60 minutes on the sidelines!), but Parkdale held on and finished the match worthy winners in the end.

No game this week but we will have a midweek match against league leaders, Dog & Pheasant next Wednesday followed by a trip to Tenbury the following Saturday for our final league game.

TEAM: Dan Lacey, Rhian O'Reilly, (Dave Collett), Steve Westwood, Ant Derrer, Nigel Mayes

Michael Jewkes,(Satnam Khera),  Dave Louden, Andy Fox, Adrian Hingley, (Rian Russell),

Ed Uff, Chris Fox, (1)

SUBS not used:Tubbs Pugh,

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ant Derrer

21st April 2007

Ounsdale 5 Parkdale Rovers 0

This is a match which is barely worth the effort reporting. We were second best and second to the ball all over the park, all game.

It only took 8 minutes for Ounsdale to open the scoring. A ball over the top caught the Parkdale defence trying to push up for offside instead of attacking the ball. The right winger got goal side of leftback Blaine O'Reilly and, in his desperate attempts to recover his position, only managed to push his man in the back and concede a needless penalty. 1-0. On 20 minutes, another long ball over the top set up a straight race between centre-half Ant Derrer and their right winger. Derrer failed to clear the danger and their player finished off the move with a great strike across the keeper into the far bottom corner. 2-0. Ten minutes later and the 'match' was effectively all over. Following a corner, goalkeeper Lacey went to claim the ball but the striker timed his leap to perfection to nick in front of him and score with a fine header. On 44 minutes, Parkdale almost reduced the deficit with a good effort from Nigel Mayes who was unlucky to see his shot hit the far post before being cleared by their right full-back.

In the second half, Parkdale rallied a little but the quality of control and passing was almost non existent today, with players taking far too many touches to bring the ball under control and passing was almost always rushed and inaccurate. In short, our first touch was simply awful today and we gave the ball away far too cheaply! Apart from a few flashes from Ed uff, no-one else looked comfortable on the ball. On 60 minutes, Parkdale had another near miss from Adrian Hingley. Breaking down the left, he managed to get his shot off early before the keeper could close him down. Unfortunately for Hingley, the keeper did manage to get something on it, which sent the ball looping over his own head and just as it looked to be dropping into an unguarded net, the Ounsdale backs managed to get back to clear it off the goal line. On 80 minutes another long ball caught the back line for pace and another great finish in the bottom corner made it 4-0 to the home side.Within two minutes and Ounsdale had made it 5-0. A poor clearance from goalkeeper Lacey was headed back over the top of the defence and once again another clinical finish from the Ounsdale player gave keeper Lacey no chance.

I think this is only the second time this season when I feel the performance today was so far below our normal levels that I am unable to name a 'man of the match' award. None of us who took the field today played anywhere near their best and I can only hope that next week we see a much improved performance as we take on Birch Coppice. Let's have a good turnout to training on Monday night and put this game behind us!

TEAM: Dan Lacey, Rhian O'Reilly, Steve Westwood, Ant Derrer, Blaine O'Reilly

Tubz Pugh, (Satnam Khera),  Adrian Hingley, Nigel Mayes, (Rian Russell), Michael Jewkes

Ed Uff, Chris Fox, (Martin Louden)

14th April 2007

Parkdale Rovers 1  GDIS  2

A closely contested match between these two mid-table sides saw a plucky GDIS side once again come away with all three points due largely to some dogged defending and some fortunate breaks up front which typ