UNDER 15 MATCH REPORT: Toton Tigers 1 - 6 LEFC

Emmanuel put the recent run of poor form behind them with an emphatic victory against Toton Tigers and put themselves back in contention to grab 5th spot.

Things started badly before the game with a blown out tyre holding up several squad members. But with myself, Rik Barrow, Patryk Trebski and Jack Ball getting the job done, while Noraddin Tourki, Taku Karemba and Jubed Rahman watched it was like working for the council. Although in fairness the work to watch ratio is usually 1/3 in such situations with the council.

Once we arrived at Toton the match started badly aswell with a goal conceded after 5 minutes and The Mighty Giersh coming off with a broken nail. Could it be another shocker? NOPE. After that small setback Emmanuel began to play, and play superbly. The equaliser came fairly quickly with Berbajohn winning a penalty after being impeded in the area whilst trying to turn and straighten his hair. The referee adjudged the Toton player to have restricted John's grooming movement and pointed to the spot. Up stepped Captain Timson and dispatched the ball into the net, 1-1. It was soon 1-2 with Emmanuel's constant pressing forcing a corner. The ball found it's way to the feet of Super Jabed who dancing round the defender like Lionel Messi in fishing waders and slammed the ball into the roof of the net. Get in Jabz! Emmanuel pressed again from the retake, winning tackle after tackle and forcing Toton back, and soon Trebski added a 3rd after some good working from Ball down the right who found his effort blocked. Trebski latched onto the rebound and smashed the ball home then posed for a while and tried not to smile. The confidence had now returned and Emmanuel had remembered how to score goals.

At half time we reminded ourselves that the job was not done and that we must keep the pressure up and get the next goal. This was vital as Toton are a very good team. Emmanuel were playing well but had performed poorly in the 2nd half of matches recently and this was not a lead or 3 points that we wanted to throw away.

The second half was superb. The passing, movement and combination play through midfield and upfront was fantastic. And the hard work and pressure applied across the pitch when we didn't have the ball was just what I have been asking for from the team. We closed down space, made the pitch smaller and forced Toton into mistakes. The defence was solid with Conneally, Barrow, Al-Zubayel and Rahman putting in superb displays. The most impressive display however was Dancing Dan Callan who set aside his spandex and donned his midfield enforcer role making most of Patrick Vieira's career look a bit girly. Anyway...erm...goals. Yeah we scored three more, with Berbajohn, Captain Isaac and Jack Ball all finding the net. Jack's goal puts him on 10 for the season so well done Jack. Isaac could've had a hat-trick but he missed a sitter from 30 yards when a near perfectly stuck effort clipped the outside of the post. An excellent display from Keezy on the left was also worthy of a goal but the crossbar stopped him getting his reward. Final score 1-6. If you're gonna turn things around, do it in style.

So, an exellent result and some fine performances from everybody. Vishal was a rock in goal with some fine handling and one moment when he came out with the ball after a crunching 1 v1 . Vishal Maini BIG MAN! The back four, superb, looked like a unit, worked hard and talked to each other, see, it works. The midfield of Dan, Patryk and Isaac were outstanding and backed each other up through the whole game, it was a joy to watch. We had an outlet in the centre all the time and had a man over, all the time. The forwards were great, Berbajohn leading the line, Keezy and Jack offering the width and pace in behind. Blinding. Most importantly I think we're starting to get to grips with playing 4-3-3 and our roles and responsibilities within the formation. When we get it right, it gives us fantastic variety in attack and the ability to overload the opposition from midfield. Defensively it offers us numerical advantage in the central areas and the ability to press the opposition high up the pitch and force them to make mistakes. We did this superbly last night. Well done.

We have one more match. Win it and we finish in 5th spot which is pretty good considering the standard of the 3 teams that the league introduced to our division at the start of the season. We have given Heanor, Denby and Donington a really good fight this season but not performed as well against some of the teams we should be beating. However, we have now given ourselves the chance to take 5th spot and with 2 victories over Mickleover already we must be confident that we can repeat the job. However, Mickleover will not want to lose at home on the final day and always represent a strong challenge. We must not get carried away with yesterdays result and apply the same focus and energy into Saturdays performance. But, for now, well done lads.

Goals: Timson 2, Parton, Trebski, Ball, Al-Zubayel.
Man of the Match: Dancing Dan Callan.

Squad: Maini, Giersh, Barrow, Rahman, Al-Zubayel, Trebski, Callan, Timson, Baldock, Parton, Ball, Conneally, Carter, Karemba, Paul, Tourki