The sun was shining, birds were singing, the turf was hallowed and there was an anticipation in the air of a fresh start in div 1. What all the sh** means is that the pitch wasn’t yet cut to fook, and the only singing (and I use that term very loosely) was Dave Bartlett in his original take on uniteds ‘come on you reds’ fa cup theme song form an era missed by most of Cloggsie’s new signings! Once inside the changing rooms the squad were entertained by Cloggs’ attempt to become a life coach by sticking powerful messages of self belief on the wall (And he says he has too much work to do this match report).

At last on to the game! The trees looked sluggish and a bit lost with ‘rafas’ 4-3-3 formation, this lasted the 1st 5 mins and after that the trees grew in confidence and began to dominate. The back 4 looked solid and stuck to a rigid line, only breaking to cover any balls over the top, Daz was controlling the back with some great chat and last ditch sweeper keeper action. With the defensive duties being covered and more support offered from the dynamic duo of little Dan and Jay, Walshy was able to swan about and pick passes that enabled disco Dave and Rusta to bomb forward in support of Ben up top. The pressure began to tell as Jay went through twice to be denied by his primal fear of passing the ball round a goalie. The trees did go one up when Walshy sent a sublime ball over to Russ, who did the same defender twice before rounding the keeper, doing 10 press ups, tense both pecs and slot the ball in past that same poor defender. More dissecting through balls caused the lav defense to concede 2 more goals to little Dan and Ben, who both deserved their goals (I can’t really remember what happened as I didn’t set it up!).
The half time whistle went with the trees 3 up and the only negative was Disco Dave went off with a suspected torn slipper.

The second half started well enough and the trees could have nabbed a couple more, Gravesy was introduced at half time to bolster the trees passing game, and was surprisingly industrious (tackles and headers were won in impressive style). Andy Cadman was also brought on as the trees had a few injury worries. The Lav pulled 2 goals back from corners (time to bring back the gaffers zonal diagrams!) and I’m sure I saw extra clouds looming – but fear not, the mercurial number 10 and skipper was on hand to rob a dozing defender and coolly slot home to equal his goal tally form last term. The celebration bore the confidence and Je Nai Sai Quois of Cantona. The Lav scored a third in the dying mins to add a bit of spice to the end of a entertaining game and a scintillating performance from Walsh (did I mention my header as I dropped to 1 knee?)
A good all round performance and solid start to the season
MOM - Russ