This was always going to be a tough game. Caledonian are the undisputed governers of five-a-side football in the Crawley area, consistently reaching the final of all competitions. Surprise surprise, they had comfortably won their first two games to Alltraders draw and defeat.
The game started with a Caledonian kick, Alltraders attacking the railway end first half. As the game settled down, it became apparent that Alltraders were matching Caledonian attack for attack. Warren Fiveash was having one of his best games ever, making several excellent saves in the first few minutes. Not only that, the rebounds were falling kindly to the feet of the Alltraders players catching Caledonian on the break.
Caledonian actually started to look a bit disorganised - Jamie Fiveash and Kevin Burton causing the opposition defence major headaches as the shots rained in on the Caledonian goal. As usual, the Caledonian 'keeper embiggened his role with a perfectly cromulant performance underlining why he is considered the best goalkeeper in the league.
The half-time whistle blew with the teams level.
The pace of the second half lifted slightly as Caledonian started to push harder on the Alltraders goal. Time and again the Alltraders defence was caught napping as opposition attackers overlapped into goal scoring positions. The difference between this Alltraders performance and the Summer league meeting was that this time the shots were superbly saved by Warren Fiveash.
Just when it looked like time was going to run out for Alltraders, Jamie Fiveash robbed a Caledonian attacker and pushed forward on goal. A strangely rare lack of concentration by the Caledonian defence failed to notice Tim Leader running into an unmarked position. Jamie's gentle side-foot pass was brought under control and hit with such pace the 'keeper was unable to reach it as it slammed against the back of the net.
One-nil up with five minutes left - Caledonian were looking like the game was slipping away from them, and became guilty of the old Alltraders trick of pushing too far forward. As before, Pauls solid defending won the ball from an opposition player and instantly threaded the ball to his brother Kevin. With all four Caledonian players upfield, Tim Leader had yet again run unmarked into striking distance of the goal. Kevin cooly placed the ball into Tim's path who by now had found himself in front of goal with time to gather his composure, look up and dummy his shot. As the 'keeper fell to the ground he simply lobbed it over him to score one of the coolest goals of his career!
This was looking to be one of the shock results of the league. However, Alltraders have been there before and are at their most vulnerable when in front. On two more occasions, the Caledonian attack found their way through the Alltraders defence only to be denied by the acrobatics of Warren in goal.
With the referees whistle beeping, another quick kick found Tim yet again in a scoring position. This time his luck ran out and his first time shot curled past the far post and out for a goal-kick - a wasted hat-trick opportunity!
The final whistle blew with Alltraders 2 - 0 victors, causing one of the shocks of the season so far! This victory was a result of a mixture of superb goalkeeping, solid defending and very cool finishing that Alltraders knew they were capable of. Sadly it has been a long time coming, and is not likely to last. Next weeks game against Ifield Eagles is going to be another tough one, so let's see if this was just a one-off or a return to the Alltraders of old!
Final
Score: Alltraders 2 (0) - (0) 0
Tim Leader (2)
Man of the Match - Warren