The second half brought great expectations. The EJA boys did not disappoint. Bradley Niner had replaced Ashley Mulimba in midfield and George Harrison took his place between the sticks. Almost immediately, Crouchy saw a great effort tipped over for a corner. After some calm and reassuring words to the EJA boys from Glenn and his coaching team in the dressing room, they had certainly come out buzzing.
After just 5 minutes of the second half, following good work in midfield and a rather desperate lunging challenge by CCL, Ben Adams then forced a good save from a direct free kick about 25 yards out, leading to an EJA corner. EJA immediately forced another corner. Following two blocked EJA attempts from the corner, even Luke Sanders fancied his chances with a shot on his weaker foot from about fifteen yards. Clearly, confidence on the EJA side must have been building.
After 49 minutes – relief all around. After good work on the halfway line and a through ball by Ben Adams, Andrew Stark used his pace to force two shots which were blocked by the CCL defence, but Andrew then unselfishly cut back the ball to Bradley Niner, who scored from close range. The score was evened up at 1-1, and EJA were now playing with real belief.
Andrew Stark put through Josh Bardouleau with a great diagonal ball, but this was cleared well by CCL. Josh kept pressing down the right side even though the lively, bumpy pitch made his dribbling more difficult, and on the hour mark, he again went close with a volley after a fantastic flowing move by EJA.
EJA now looked confident and compact, with Mike Dunn at the back looking very assured alongside the skipper, the two central midfielders getting the upper hand in some minor skirmishes; the four wide players were linking up well and the two lads up front looking very lively. The excellent referee even had to have words with the CCL captain - who was starting to get a little frustrated at the game seemingly getting away from his team.
After 60 minutes another through ball to Andrew Stark saw the keeper tested again. A corner followed, as did more success. A near post corner saw the keeper spill the ball and Crouchy pounced and stooped to head the ball in from a normal teenager’s height. Thankfully, the moonwalk was not to be seen.
CCL stepped up their efforts and although some quite threatening EJA corners followed, CCL showed they were not yet finished. Luke Sanders had to make a great blocking tackle on 64 after the ball span free from a CCL corner. CCL followed this up with a good move down the right hand side resulting in a great volley, which went in off the post. Another disaster! Thankfully for EJA, the linesman stood firm and proud, with his flag aloft. Offside given. Never in doubt….
Although EJA continued through the second half with their quicker passing and tackling, CCL also probed away, even drawing on a Rory Delap-style long throw into the box at one stage. These attacks were dealt with well by EJA, helped by George Harrison in goal drumming up support from his defence in front of him.
Glenn Wilkinson and his EJA coaching team again began to rotate players as the adrenalin began to wear off and some legs began to tire. After 71 minutes, Ryan Blackman replaced Josh Bardouleau. Shortly after, Reece Beckles-Richards was put through by Andrew Stark after a fast break and Mason Ellis was continuing to link up well with Billy Fuller down the left.
On 74 minutes, Ashley Mulimba replaced the terrier-like Ben Adams. The CCL midfield would have been thankful as Ben had been persistent and had shown no shortage of skill all night long. Ryan Blackman pinged in two dangerous, long free kicks that the CCL keeper was pleased to take and hold on to. Mike Dunn then had to make a sharp recovery after his own error on the halfway line looked, for a brief moment, as if it might have let in CCL on the break.
EJA were looking to play out the match, but then in injury time the referee gave a rather flaky free kick to CCL for holding, some thirty yards out. Rather like the rest of the evening, it was a tense moment, but EJA came through it with Luke Sanders marshalling his team well from the back.
Overall, a good result and a very encouraging first performance from a ‘new’ team. The opposition team were resilient, a little more ‘settled’ than EJA’s team and they proved to be a good test for the EJA lads. The spirit, determination and togetherness of the EJA boys seemed good and should only improve still further. Glenn Wilkinson said “I was really pleased with how the boys came through this. The whole squad showed us a lot tonight and they had some spells of really good football in this game. We’re looking forward to how we can press on from here, and make the most of the real talent we have in this group”.