ALBURY EAGLES Football Club

ALBURY CRICKET AND FOOTBALL CLUB

SUMMER SPORTS DINNER

SATURDAY 24^TH APRIL

ALBURYHEATH

Put this evening date in your diary, when the whole sports club get together for a fabulous evening meal and excellent entertainment.

For more details, please contact Tim Wall on 01483 202949 or email tim.w@dnxmarketing.com

There was much anticipation at the start of the match with Albury looking to repeat their previous win against Hearts and keep them in the title chase for league champions 2009/10.   Spirits were high on the pitch and Albury's loyal supporters were enjoying the first signs of Spring as we awaited the starting whistle. The opening 5 minutes of the match saw both sides evenly matched, with short controlled passing in the midfield and strong defence from Albury's backline with Archie Eve clearing the first attack from Hearts. Albury countered and only just missed scoring with Jay launching the first of a series of long throws into the penalty area, only to be headed wide by Sam. Minutes later Jay sent another long throw into the penalty area, this time finding Sam's
boot which hammered the ball into the top left hand corner to put Albury 1-0 up.     Albury continued to dominate the game with wave after wave of attacks on Heart's goal, spearheaded by Nathaniel in midfield, leading to Albury's second goal just minutes later after a well worked move between Archie Eve and Jay put a beautifully waited pass through to Sam on the penalty spot rendering Albury 2-0 up. You would be forgiven for thinking at this point that Albury could go onto to put a big score on the board, with Jasper running the full length of the pitch to lob the goalie only to be gathered on the line.   Hearts, however, had other plans and countered with some strong passing up through the centre and scored a deflection off one of Albury's players.   2-1 to Albury. Albury countered again, but a long ball forward from Hearts found space
behind Albury's defence and the score was 2-2. With only 5 minutes to go until half time, Hearts scored twice in quick succession to win the first half 4-2.

Some calm talking from the coaches at half time had the desired effect, with Albury surging forward at the start of the second half and scoring within the first sixty seconds off a baseline cross from Sam finding Jay to make the score, 4-3. The touchline which had been quiet now erupted in choruses of support as Albury continued to battle hard. Brent, who had been working tirelessly throughout the match to clear the ball from
Albury's half with his trademark aerial kicks deep into the opposition's half, launched another volley, this time finding Jay to score his second goal of the match and levelling the score, 4-4. The match then entered a period of pinball as the ball ricocheted around midfield players before Jay tried a long range shot over the goalie and Jasper headed a corner just wide of the posts. The flow of the game then swung back in favour of Hearts who put a series of shots on goal only to be denied by the safe hands of Archie Wells. Nathaniel and Archie Eve then teamed up to put in some darting runs down the left side and were finally rewarded with the goal of the match as Nathaniel thumped the ball into the roof of the net from 20 yards out to put Albury in front, 5-4. Sam then scored again two minutes later from the left side having been switched by Ian, making the score 6-4. Jay scored the final goal of the match from a well placed pass from Archie Eve to make the score 7-4. Final whistle was blown not long after and Albury celebrated a hard fought win.

Goals: Sam Moldon – 3,   Jay Lawson – 3,   Nathaniel Hallam- 1
Man of the match – Jay Lawson

Players: Archie Wells (G), Brent Savage, Jasper Whitefield, Nathaniel Hallam, Jay Lawson, Sam Moldon, Archie Eve

Albury Griffins hopes of clinching the league title effectively ended with this defeat against a strong Hearts team. Albury got off to a flying start with a goal in the first minute from Will Edwards who put in the rebound off the Hearts keeper following a strong run from James Foulsham down the Albury left. The game was very evenly matched in midfield and Hearts turned the game around with two goals in the next 5 mins, the second a great long range strike into the top corner of the Griffins net.

Albury continued to play some good football going forward with Joe Lockhart showing some excellent dribbling skills and they equalised through James Foulsham who squeezed the ball in at the near post following another strong run with the defence trailing in his wake. Hearts continued to create chances and made it 3-2 five minutes before half-time. As the first half drew to a close, the final action saw Joe Lockhart dribble his way through the Hearts defence before slipping into the bottom corner past the keeper for an excellent individual goal.

The half-time drinks seem to take their toll on the Albury team as the second half was dominated by Hearts who had managed to gain control of the midfield and created numerous chances only to be thwarted by stout defending from Man-of-the-Match Liam Langridge-Barker and his partner Alexander Potts. With the pressure building up Albury conceded a penalty which was duly despatched to make it 4-3 to Hearts. Albury had few chances to make an impact but a lovely counter-attack mid-way through the half resulted in Luke Pecorelli hitting the post after being set up by Will Edwards. Then with five minutes remaining, Hearts sealed the win with a fifth goal following goalmouth scramble. Albury kept working until the final whistle but were beaten by the better side on the day.

Team: Ross Gilding, Will Edwards, Liam Langridge-Barker, Alexander Potts, Luke Pecorelli, Cameron Potts, Joe Lockhart, James Foulsham

With the score at 2-2 and 10 minutes to go Eagles managed to scrape a win and keep their title hopes alive.

Starting strongly Eagles went two up with goals from Henry Rowland and Charlie Hubbard mid way through the first half, but Griffins were playing some great football in midfield with crushing tackling from Lois Edwards, Joe Young and Luca Crosta which saw them dominate and pull back a goal through Sam Hallam who latched on to a cross and getting to the ball first fired in from the edge of the box.

Starting strongly in the second half Griffins started to pass the ball well and were soon back to level with a goal from Tom Perceval (23 minutes). Alex Hill looked dangerous with strong runs from midfield which Eagles struggled to cope with and if not for goal keeper Harry Twine more goals would have followed. Griffins continued to press and both Archie Stevens and Alex Hill went close. Eagles rode their luck with some goal mouth scrambles but finally managed to compete and challenge for the ball better in midfield and raised their game with time running out for the win they needed. Breakaway goals for Charlie Hubbard (32 minutes) and Henry Rowland (36 minutes) who coolly slid the ball with his left foot past Angus Lovatt in goal saw them gain the win, although the 2 goal advantage did not reflect this close encounter between the teams.

Albury came into the game determined to show Holmbury that they are the in-form team at the moment, and right from the kick-off it was clear that centre-forward Will Shepherd would be imposing his authority by closing down every lose ball and driving forward into the Wolves defence.

Stunning runs by Joe Watson (right wing) and Felix Butler on the left, with Dominic Hardesty controlling midfield, ensured that Holmbury were going backwards, and almost immediately the pressure told with Will Shepherd chipping the ball over the keeper within five minutes.

That gave the home side the impetus they needed to continue pushing forward. Some excellent through balls and one-two's from Hardesty meant that Watson and Butler were running with ease through the Wolves defence.

Holmbury just could not contain the amount of continued pressure from Albury and it was only a matter of moments before goals from Watson (2), Chris King (1) and another from Shepherd left Wolves trailing by five at half time. King was on as substitute and showed great pace and determination.

The second half brought more of the same attacking flair, with Watson running with ease down the right flank. A number of chances were made, and the sixth goal came from Butler who was impressive throughout.

Connor Tidy and Eden Parnell in defence were in complete control, picking up anything that looked dangerous and clearing to the wings. They protected Callum Cozens terrifically, who had a quiet but assured time in goal and dealt impressively with the one or two attacks by Wolves and kept the clean sheet.

Coach Guy Hardesty was almost lost for words having seen the whole team play with a complete determination to win every ball from start to finish. Albury are clearly on top form and will continue to press for the league title.