Match Reports
04/02/06
Eastbourne 4 5-2 Men's 6th XI
Scorer: Ollie 'Mork' Arkaah.
Darkness descended on the barren wastes of Stanley Deason, street lights activated at midday, birds roosted and Whitehawk chavs rose from there beds ready for a nights anti-social behaviour. Was Brighton witnessing an unforseen eclipse? No it was just Mork's Afro blocking out the sun from the top of the steps.
Despite this fearsome opening, the 6's had little to fear, not only was Ed 'The Rock' Siegle returning from his mid-season lay off, but the comforting sight of Will's whiteboard meant our master tactician had been hard at work.
The game itself started with a deep-lying, quick breaking Brighton setting out to frustrate one of the stronger sides in the league. Will, Dipak and Dicky providing an effective screen for the back four. After a competitive first 20 minutes, Brighton broke the deadlock with a fine team goal. Will breaking with the ball, beating 2 defenders and slipping the ball to Mork arriving late in the D and slipping the ball past the keeper.
Brighton's tactics were starting to frustrate a talented Eastbourne side, with Will cleaning up in front of the defence, Dicky pulling the strings in midfield and Myles playing an unfamilar but effective target man role. However, disaster struck in the 5 minutes before half time when Brighton conceeded a series of unnecessary shorts and Eastbourne's well worked routines put them 2-1 at half time.
The second half proved more open than the first, Eastbourne going 3-1 up straight after half time with a goal in open play and taking another short corner opportunity midway through the half. However, Brighton frought hard, with Mindy's pace proving a constant threat. Brighton were rewarded with a second when Mindy's over-run ball was just kept in play by Myles' back flick, Mork finishing from Mindy's resulting cross.
At 2-4, Brighton were hopeful of putting more pressure on a flustered and (in one case) argumentative Eastbourne side, but minutes later a mistake in the heart of the Brighton defence was punished to leave Eastbourne 5-2 up at the final whistle.
Despite the scoreline, Brighton can be pleased with a battling performance that would have taken the points against most of the sides in the league. Skipper Will, Dicky, Myles and the Mork and Mindy combination all putting in fine individual performances.