Season Summary 2004/2005

Season Summary

The start of the season saw a solid performance from Gunners earn a 0-0 draw with West End.
Gunners then lost 4-1 to Chalfont and were unlucky to draw 0-0 away against DC Steamers with Fraser McNaughton Gunners "Man of the Match". After the first 3 games of the season Gunners had only scored a solitary goal!

The return of Bill Maslin saw him score a hat-trick and earn a "Man of the Match" award alas it was not enough to see Gunners lost the game against Woodley 4-3.

Gunners inconsistent form continued with a great team effort and a 5-3 win against high flying Shinfield RBL.

The next tie was a Berks & Bucks Cup match against Maidenhead Utd and despite a good footballing performance, Gunners lost out narrowly 2-1 and went out of the Cup.

Back in the league, Gunners faced Good Companions in their 150th competitive game and Paul Ali marked this game with a goal in his 150th competitive appearance. A strong performance from Lee Gallagher helped Gunners towards a 2-1 win.

Gunners then comfortably beat Reading Pirhanas 6-1 with Paul Marten Gunners star performer. The most interesting part of the game occurred before kick off when a disgruntled girlfriend of a Pirhana player turned up before kick and dumped his wordly possessions in a bin liner on the football pitch before storming off!

Despite a "Man of the Match" performance from keeper Duncan Josey, Gunners then lost the return fixture to Shinfield RBL 3-2.

Gunners up and down season continued with a comfortable 6-2 win against Purple Turtle with Matt Rees playing well on the day.

Gunners then had their worst performance of the season losing 6-1 to Ruscombe after Paul Stout had been sent off for two bookable offences in the first half of the match.

Gunners then faced league leaders Bulmershe Old Boys in the league cup and were well beaten 7-3. Matt Rees was Gunners star man on the day.

Gunners poor run of form continued with a 6-1 home defeat to West End.

After three defeats in a row Gunners bounced back with a 5-1 home win against Ruscombe to avenge their poor performance of a few weeks before but Gunners were then humiliated by Reading Pirhanas by losing 2-1 and giving Pirhanas 3 of the 4 points they would earn the entire season.

After the worst performance of the season, Gunners put in their best performance led by "Man of the Match" Richard Alderton who helped Gunners earn a 2-2 draw against top of the table Bulmershe Old Boys. Bulmershe needed a late equaliser to earn a point after a good performance from Gunners.

Gunners then hammered Earley Retreat 7-0 and then earned a point with a 1-1 draw against DC Steamers in an even contest.

Gunners then went on a run of draws with a 1-1 result against Purple Turtle (Dave Owen was "Man of the Match") and a then a 0-0 draw against lowly Earley Retreat (Jon Hall was "Man of the Match"). Gunners had dominated possession in this game but just could not find the target.
Gunners then faced Good Companions at home with a bare 11 men and no referee. Good Companions showed a lack of sportsmanshop by passing on the opportunity of refereeing the game themselves to get an even contest started and elected (which they were entitled to) to play 11 vs 10 with Gunners supplying the referee. Unsuprisingly Gunners lost the game 3-0.

The next game saw Gunners face Bulmershe Old Boys for the third time this season and an entertaining game saw Gunners lose out 6-4.

Paul Stout was the pick pf the players when Gunners beat 9 men Chalfont although it was an average performance with the final score 4-2 to Gunners.

Gunners finished the season by earning a 1-1 draw with Woodley Hammers Res to prevent them from finishing Runners Up in the league. Paul Stout was again the pick of the Gunners players.
The end of the season saw Gunners finish in a less than spectacular 8th place although it was another inconsistent season with Gunners struggling to get full teams together. Gunners proved they could match the better teams by taking points off every team ahead of them but 7 draws and 8 defeats including dropping points to the bottom two teams in the league meant Gunners final position was deserved.

The record for the season saw Gunners, Play 24, Win 7, Draw 7 and Lose 6, Scoring 57 and Conceding 58 goals.

Earley Gunners vs Chalfont 4 - 2

Match Report

Gunners return fixture against Chalfont was a bit of an anti-climax with Chalfont only able to field 9 players.

Despite the numerical advantage, Gunners made very hard work of the game and despite looking reasonably comfortable throughout the game did not create as many chances or score as many goals as they should have.

Gunners failed to break Chalfont down in the first ten minutes but soon after opened the scoring when Paul Stout headed in Neil Oldcorns cross. Paul Stout then made it two with another header from a cross. Gunners then added a third through Iain Peer.

Chalfont had the occasional attack and looked dangerous from corners. They pulled a goal back when a long corner was headed back across the goal and put in from close range.

Chalfont nearly added a second shortly before half time with another effort from a corner.
The half time score was 3-1 to Gunners.

In the second half Gunners failed to get a grip of the game and the performance was very disappointing. Gunners created a couple of good openings and added a goal through Iain Peer. However, the team again failed to up the tempo of the game and utilise the extra men. As a consequence, Gunners had more possession but failed to really dominate the game.

Chalfont pulled a late goal back with Aston wandered through the Gunners defence and finished well but the game was largely over.

The final score was a 4-2 win, a good result but poor performance.

Match Facts

MOM : P Stout

Goals : P Stout (2), I Peer (2)

Team

Pictures

Shinfield 10k '05

Shinfield 10k 2005

Paul A, Phil N & Paul S

Runners Mark, Matt & Mike pictured

Leevan finishing the race

Team MMA (from left to right)

Chris, Stouty, Paul A, Paul B, Mike, Matt, Phl, Mark & Clive