Report

EAGLES  2-1 BARROWFORD ORANGE

Last game of the season against Barrowford Orange currently lying third in the table and vying with Rishton for second spot and promotion,so again a tight match against a team with a lot at stake .             As is the Eagles way they started slowly and took time to build up a head of steam (the whole of the first half in fact) inviting Barrowford to come on to them,which to be fair they did and as with Rishton in the last game they had  a good following who roared them on at every oppertunity,what seemed to be our problem was the midfield was playing quite deep and so leaving big Kyle and Ryan somewhat isolated up front the wide players Tom and Marko were playing mainly on the half way line and consequently not getting any crosses in and Jack and Levi in the centre of midfield were engaged in a battle royal with the Orange central pair and couldnt probe to much forward wise, the back four were coping well as usual so stand in keeper Kyle Haslam wasnt under a great deal of pressure and I must comment on is kicking both from his hands and from dead ball situations was exellent, but as has happend in the past we went behind a loose pass on the right was swooped on by a Orange midfielder who sent his striker racing through the middle to plant the ball past the onrushing Kyle H, the Orange fans were ecstatic sensing three points and getting one over on Rishton who had no game,but as the game wore on The Eagles did come a little more into it Kyle M burst through in typical fashion but his shot was straight at the keeper,full back Pat Gallager had a long range effort easily saved half time approached still only 1-0 down and the game was there to be won.  


HALF TIME     EAGLES 0 - BARROWFORD ORANGE 1

Second Half              Well Andy and Gareth had a thing or two to say at the interval I think if there had been any hairdryers about some of the lads may have had to duck ! but it had the desired effect they came out as if fired from a gun for the second period,inspired by a phenomenal display from sub Dylan Hart his introduction and that of Nick Haworth on the left changed the game entirely ,from chasing the game The Eagles were now bossing it moving the ball around with skill and pace they had Barrowford chasing shadows,Jacob Smith also on and doing his usual job taking the heat off the back four, Levi Longworth conducting the midfield like a orchestra, the back four holding the Orange attack in a vice like grip it was all systems go for the victory charge and when Tom Yates was hauled down in the penalty area and the ref waved play on the temprature was reaching boiling point the official had words with captain Sam Smith for something he said and the game was restarted with a dropped ball, shortly after this Jacob won the ball in midfield and let go a thunderous shot that just cleared the bar, the Barrowford goalie was really earning his corn now but when in a goalmouth scramble he could only parry a Kyle M effort the ball fell into the path of the lad who is making a habit of being in the right place at the right time Rob Starkie who calmly steered it home 1-1,now the game was really on and Dylan was coming in to his own combining brilliantly with Nick and Kyle M in a series of attacks down The Eagles left,the only way Barrowford could deal with him was  to bring him down which they did with alarming regularity but even with the attention of two or more defenders he was tearing them to pieces finally he jinked past two defenders shaped to fire the ball across the keeper into the right hand corner of the net, three defenders all raced across to cover that side of the goal just as he dinked the ball with the outside of his left boot into the other corner what a goal!, I was the closest spectator to it and believe me it was a special special goal.    That seemed to knock all the  fight out of Barrowford and the Eagles closed the game out until the final whistle.    As a footnote you may wonder why I have given my first ten mark of the season to Dylan especially as he started on the bench well it is a culmination in my humble opinion of his superb season ten goals and the work rate of four dray horses and today he changed the game and scored what I think was the goal of the season.   Well the end of a quite remarkable season Champions 93 goals scored 12 against thats almost 8 goals a game and less than 1 a game against Quite simply outstanding WELL Done boys; aand finally AU-REVOIR to all my touchline pals and of course Brian and the dodgy goals panel and hope to see you at all the presentation do's  FINAL SCORE EAGLES 2-BARROWFORD CELTIC ORANGE 1 MOM DYLAN HART