Men's 3rd's v Barton 3rd's, 26/01/2008

This week saw Derby play the team above us in the table. After playing Barton once in the league and once in a friendly just before Christmas we knew that this was going to be a difficult challenge. In an attempt to create more goals this week we changed the format to last years 3-4-3 format.

From the beginning Barton applied pressure on our backline. Unfortunately a well hit pass within the D from one of the Barton players rebounded off my foot and went into the goal. Unperterbed Derby started to apply pressure on Barton. The best opportuntity in the first half was a disallowed goal scored from a short corner. The shot struck by Peter Chesney had appeared high and although it was dipping, it was deflected onto the backboard and was therefore judged to be too high. Going into the break Derby had turned the corner and was playing well. Pat Chambers was continually beating their left back with runs up the right wing and the team was managing to retain possession of the ball.

In the second half Derby continued playing in the fashion they had finished off the first half. Despite plenty of continued pressure on Barton Derby unfortunately didn't manage to level the score line and Barton won 0-1. At the end of the match there was a general feeling of satisfaction that we had played well. A measure of this was the fact that no short corners were awarded against us. Particular credit should go to Des Pope and Pete Chesney who performed well in midfield. However I think man of the match this week should go to Pat Chambers.

I've never seen such injustice, Im not talking about my disallowed goal mind, the fact that i didnt get MOTM! Unbelievable!