So on a balmy evening at the Park, City continue their fabulous start to the seasn with a good 2-0 win over a very physical Crawley Town side in front of a healthy 3726 expectant supporters. City lined up: Marriot; Friend, Edwards, Matt Taylor; Moxey, Sercombe, Artus, Tully; Stansfield, Logan, Mackie.
It was City who got off to the brightest start, with Mackie and Tully combining well down the right for Mackie to cross in near the byline. Logan beat his man to the ball, but unfortunately his glancing header was too fine and the ball skimmed away to safety from eight yards out. A minute later another City attack resulted in a free kick some 40 or so yards out, and in the absence of more senior colleages, up stepped young Liam Sercombe - making his full home debut - to drift a delightfully lazy ball towards the far post that beat everyone and the post by the narrowest of margins.
In the fourteenth minute though, City's domination of both possession and attacking football got it's just reward when Stansfield went surging towards the heart of the Crawley defence. Spotting Tully steaming down the right flank, he deftly laid the ball into his path whereby Tully hit a low, hard first time cross towards the far post. Logan did his best to try and turn the ball home but under severe pressure form a desperate defender decided the best option was to lay the ball off. With the goal at his mercy Stansfield gave the keeper no chance having continued his run into the box to smash home gleefully from six yards to make it 1-0 to City.
City continued to earn the lion's share of possession, and all the while the Crawley solution was to up the physicality. This resulted in Sercombe getting a rather nasty elbow to the side of the head as the half hour approached to leave him unconsious on the floor for a worrying minute or two. He recovered to wobble whoozily to the touchline, instantly being replace by Jon Richardson, while the offending Crawley player, no doubt mitigating circumstances by remaining injured on the floor for as long as Sercombe was, escaped with a mere yellow card for his challenge.
The team were a little subdued for a period after that, although spirits were raised when Tully set off on a lung bursting run from the halfway line that culminated in a low cross shot drilled across the box that just beat the far post. This got the boys' heads up once more, and City's desire to attack at every opportunity was highlighted by a lightning break to the heart of the Crawley goal when Marriot quickly fed Moxey on the left who in turn drove down the touchline. His ball in found Stansfield marauding towards the goal line, but unfortunately a defender was alert to the danger and deflected Stansfield's shot for a corner.
It wasn't all City though, and right at the death Crawley showed they were no mean attacking force themselves when a break down the left forced Marriot to the edge of the box whereby their striker lobbed the ball over his head only to see George Friend hoick it away to safety about two feet out.Thankfully the ref blew his whistle shortly after to signal half time, just as Crawley were looking to build a head of steam.
Didn't matter though, because in the second half Crawley continued where they left off at the end of the first half, and came out all guns blazing. Ironic then that the first chance fell City's way eight minutes in. A delicious cross field ball from Rico found Tully out on the right where his low cross was deflected at source for a corner. Matt Taylor rose magnificently at the near post to guide the resulting kick narrowly wide of the far post when well placed to do better, but a minute later normal second half sevice was resumed again with Taylor heavily involved.
As Marriot again found himself drawn to the edge of the box, the Crawley striker unleashed a ferocious smash past him and towards the back of the net. He reckoned without the skills of Taylor, who from an impossibly tight angle kung-fu cleared the ball into Marriot's grateful arms via a huge smash onto the cross bar in one of the most desperate goal line clearances seen at the Park in years.
But then in the tenth minute, well against the run of play it has to be said, the game was made safe with City's second of the night. A long range Jamie Mackie drive took a massive deflection off serial Logan-mauler Bradley Thomas' shin and flew into the back of the net with the keeper already committed to going the other way.
Crawley didn't give up though, and as twenty minutes expired again they found themselves breaking at double quick time. This time though it was Deano on hand to guide the ball away from an attacker's toe at the last minute. With half the half expired Mackie turned his man superbly before turning in despair at seeing his shot deflected to safety after a surging run into the box. A minute later Crawley looked to have pulled one back when a suspicioulsy offside striker broke away down the left. With defenders frantically trying to get back, he was left one on one with Marriot, and although he beat the keeper, he couldn't beat the post as his shot sailed wastefully wide.
The match was still pretty even going into the closing stages when first Mackie and Stansfield combined well to rob a dallying defender in the corner of his box to set up Mackie to crash a spectacularly wide of the mark shot from a tight angle that eventually went out for a thow in, then just as the referree announced three minutes of stoppage time a Crawley break ended with powerful drive straight at Marriot in the final action of the game.
And so we find ourselves sitting pretty at the top of the Blue Square Premier League with six points and six goals scored and only the one conceded from our first two games. Of course it would be ridiculous to try and read anything into that at such an early stage, but with positions decided at the business end of the season by the odd point here and there, it's vitally important to get as much on your opponents as you can at every opportunity.
As for the players, well they all did pretty well considering some of their ages, expeirience and the number of home debutants. In goal Marriot's handling and distribution were assured, although I'd feel a little more comfortable if his forays to the edge of the box were slightly more measured. In defence the back three were pretty much on easy street, with Matt Taylor in particular looking menacing at both ends of the pitch.
The midfield quartet showed composure beyond their years, and it was sad to see young Sercombe - could he possibly be the first City player born after we won the Championship in that unforgettable 89/90 season - depart with concussion. Also of concern is that for the majority of the match Bristol City loanee Frankie Artus was carrying an injury too. Makes both their performances even more remarkable in my eyes. The two wide men - Deano and Tully, were both involved heavily down the flanks, although I'd liked to have seen Tully given the ball a little earlier in the second half particularly.
Up front it's difficult to contain the superlatives for the front three. With my MOM Richard Logan winning ball after ball in the air - despite the limpet-like attentions of joint ECFC top scorer Thomas - for jet heeled partners Stansfiled and Mackie to chase, they gave Crawley's defence no respite all evening. Logan in particular caught my eye, as not only did he deliver a strong performance up fornt, he also regularly tracked back to produce many a ball winning tackle just outside his own penalty area.
So overall a thoroughly professional job done, with no little entertainment and hard work thrown in for good measure. Manager Tisdale might well have pulled out something of a tactical masterpiece with his bold 3-4-3 formation, but should the need arise then the formation also shows its flexibility with Tully able to drop back for a 4-3-3, or Mackie or Stansfield able to drop back too for a more conventional 4-4-2 line up.
Either way, even at this early stage, it looks as though it could be an exciting season for City this time out, and considering the calibre of the players sidelined at the moment, you can't help but wonder just how good this team could actually be. There's only one way to find out, and that's to be packed into the Park on Monday evening when the team entertain York City. If you can't be there, then try and tune in on the telly, as this is where City make their Setanta bow with their first live outing of the season. But you'll be there anyway, won't you? I mean, after one of the best pre-seasons we've had in many a year coupled with the fact that we're currently top, top, top, top, top of the league with a 100% record, how on earth could contemplate being anywhere else?
