football rambles

 Las Sunday, I was over in Lithuania so decided to catch the Zalgiris Vilnius game against Dainava. On paper, you would have thought that Zalgiris would run out the winners, but they have been pretty inconsistent so far this season. The game started off brightly for Zalgiris, but despite their attacking intent they couldn't force their way past a forceful Dainava defence and looked particularly vulnerable when Dainavadid break. From the players that stood out, I thought Yuri Kendysh of Zalgiris, who has had numerous clubs in Belarus and stints in Latvia and Moldova looked a cut above. Unfortunately, the Zalgiris midfield didn't seem too capable of reading his smart passes. However, it was Dainava who opened the scoring with a well taken goal by Artem Baftolovskyi on the 37th minute. Baftolovskyi is one of a number of Ukrainian plying his trade in Lithuania after being signed from Liviy Bereh and previuosly having been at Dinaz. The second half saw Dainava coming out with more p...

 So on Sunday, Downham won the playoffs and will now play at the highest level they have in their history. Downham who finished third took on Walsham who finished fifth after wins against Ely and Fakenham in the semifinals. Downham perhaps went into the game as favourites after finishing higher and a convincing win against Ely. Walsham had finished fifth and had scraped past Fakenham who had an injured keeper for a significant part of the second half. Things didn't start as planned though with Walsham taking the lead after only four minutes.  The wind really wasn't helping though and on 12 minutes, it was all equal when a Langy cross was met by Dylan Edge to convert and the teams were on level terms. The rest of the half followed a similar pattern with attack and counter attack and the wind playing havoc. Both teams seemed to elect to put the ball in the air when playing it on the ground would have probably resulted in more predictable passages of play. There was some good def...

 First in the bank holiday of football was Aston Villa v Fulham on Saturday. It really was a must win game and felt a bit odd with it being a lunchtime kickoff. The game was decided by a Youri Tielemans header from a John Mc Ginn corner in the 12th minute. In truth Villa dominated the first half and Ollie Watkins was a bit wasteful in front of goal, but at least he was getting in the right positions. Matty Cash and Ian Maatsen were good at getting forward on the wings and the midfield battle was being won by McGinn and Tielemans. At halftime, you kind of wondered if Villa would regret not making more of their chances. The second half saw Fulham attacking with more intent, but Villa were more troubled by their own style of defending than the opposition, however it was a bit nerve wracking at times. That said, the best opportunities of this half went to Villa. Watkins should have converted a chance that Rogers set up for him; Torres missed a golden opportunity that a more attacking m...