All five 'regular' Alltraders team were available tonight for the first time in five weeks. Kevin Burton finally made his long-awaited return to five-a-side football in an attempt to regain some strength up front. The only drawback, however, was that he hadn't touched a ball since his injury sustained in the second game.
Caledonian old boys sat proudly at the top of the league before the start of the game, but needed a good win to improve their chances of qualification. Alltraders and Caledonian have played each other many times in the past with the honours equally split. Even though they sat seven places above Alltraders in this league, their was still a certain respect for the Alltraders team, highlighted by them fielding their strongest team and spending several minutes before the game limbering up on the sidelines.
Alltraders game-plan for tonight was to defend in numbers and attempt a break on the counter-attack. In the past this has worked for Alltraders against the better teams, however tonight they went one goal down in under twenty seconds when a hurried Barry Needham pass was cut out by the covering attacker who smashed the ball into the net under Warren Fiveash who didn't even see the ball until it was too late.
This early goal completely ruined the game plan. It was now time for Alltraders to attack and run the risk of being caught themselves. Surprisingly this caught Caledonian out and they found themselves under a period of sustained pressure from a more lively looking Alltraders team. The best move of the half saw a quick interchange of passing out of the Alltraders defence to Tim Leader who cut the ball perfectly in the path of Kevin Burton whose shot skimmed off the outside of the near post and out for a goal kick.
With about a minute of the half, tragedy struck for poor Warren Fiveash in goal. As Alltraders covered another Caledonian attack, a hurried shot trickled toward the Alltraders 'keeper who seemed to take his eye off the ball temporarily as it slipped under his body and rolled agonisingly slowly over the line for Caledonians second goal.
When your luck's out, it certainly is out in Alltraders case.
The second half saw a more confident Caledonian casually dismantle the Alltraders defence as they broke free time and time again. Warren, eager to make up for his first half error, made several excellent stops to keep Alltraders in the game. However, he could do nothing to stop three further superb goals from Caledonian that consolidated their position at the top of the league and highlighted that they are still a class above the rest of teams in this competition. The only promising move of the half from an Alltraders perspective was another fine one-touch move putting Tim Leader clear on goal, his shot missing the goal by a hairs-breadth...
Another crushing defeat for Alltraders. A shake-up of the team is planned for the Winter competion with confirmation that Jamie Fiveash will return. It's now a case of seeing out this competition and learning from the many mistakes that have seen them have the worst run in their history. The ability is still there, the balance and understanding between the players is still sadly lacking.
Final Score
Alltraders 0 (0) - (2) 5
Man of the Match: Paul Burton - Solid at the back- just like the old days!