Thursday, February 26, 2009

Match Preview - Allenton United v Terenure 3rds

Allenton will host league leaders Terenure 3rds on Saturday 28th February at Johnstown Park, Tallaght for a 2:30pm kick off.

Terenure won the corresponding fixture 3-1 and on paper it will be a tough ask for Allenton.

Allenton will point to their display against Sportslink 2nds who were riding high in Division 3A when they edged Allenton 7-5 in a game that could have gone either way.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Match Review - Larkview Boys 3 - Allenton United 2

More disappointment as Allenton United lose by the odd goal in five in an evenly contested affair.

Larkview Boys were slow to start which allowed Allenton United to press forward and enjoy the majority of possession in the first half. Plenty of chances were passed by until Marc broke the deadlock for Allenton with a fine header. Unfortunately the lead lasted all of five minutes as a long throw caused confusion in the Allenton defence with the clearance falling kindly for a Larview Boys striker to find the bottom corner to send the teams into half-time level.

The play in the second half was more even and it was Larkview Boys who took the lead after a poorly defended corner allowed a shot to squirm in the bottom right corner. This could have easily been the cue for an Allenton collapse but the boys rallied and found an equaliser through Marc's second goal of the evening after some good build up play on the right.

A well deserved point was not to be as Larkview Boys scored the winning goal from a hotly disputed corner and despite some late Allenton pressure a second equaliser was not forthcoming.

On the plus side Allenton played good football at times and Steve made a sound debut as our new number one.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Lights...Camera...Action!

Well there will be lights anyway as Allenton United visit Larkview Boys (Whelan Park, Kimmage) on Tuesday evening (24th February) for a 7:30pm kick-off.

Allenton will be hoping to have a full squad available for selection as the quest for that elusive first win continues.


Sunday, February 15, 2009

Call to Arms!

On Saturday we couldn't even afford our long suffering manager the option of bringing on a substitute.

We need everyone to make some sacrifices to make sure there available for selection on a Saturday. I fully realise it's not always possible with work commitments etc but this season every single drop out for a Saturday will hurt us.

Maybe I'll leave it to Braveheart to sum up my feelings best...

Match Review - Strand Utd 3rds 5 - Allenton United 0

An under strength Allenton United suffered a St Valentines Day massacre at the hands of Strand Utd 3rds in a match which was marred by some quite astonishing refereeing and the sending off of club chairmen Thomas Hogan.

We failed to learn the lessons of 2008 and invited Strand Utd to dictate the play in the early stages. Two quickfire goals (a glancing header and a well placed shot) saw Strand Utd 3rds establish a commanding two goal lead mid way through the first half.

To our credit Allenton rallied and the match became an evenly contested affair which allowed for some optimism of a fight back in the second half.

The turning point in the match was undoubtedly the third goal which coincided with the dismissal of Thomas Hogan. The referee awarded a throw-in to Allenton which has to be said should have been awarded to Strand Utd but nevertheless led to several of our players standing bewildered when Strand Utd took the throw and scored from the resulting break away to end any hopes of a come back.

Understandably the whole team were incredulous about the decision. The referee decided that Thomas Hogan had taken his protestations too far and a straight red for dissent followed. Personally I'm from the school of "there's no point harassing the referee as he's not going to change his mind" and therefore it's very easy to criticise our own player for his actions.

However when you reflect on the standard week for Thomas as club chairmen a little more understanding comes to light. Monday is spent organising who is available for training, Tuesday training, Wednesday to Friday organising whose available for match day, Friday evening making sure the kit is in order, Saturday morning marking the pitch with two other players before finally making sure everyone is going to turn up and dealing with last minute call offs and that's before he even steps onto the pitch.

In short Thomas puts his heart into the club and is well aware of how desperate everyone is to get a win on the board and to see that chance ripped away harshly is a bitter pill to swallow.

Now back to the referee and I realise those that didn't see the game will be thinking it's a case of sour grapes on the back of a heavy defeat but let me qualify my criticism by saying that Strand United where worthy winners on the day and are by no means an overly physical team. However when blatant fouls and body checks are allowed to go unpunished it undermines the spirit of the game and the effort put in by our players.

The referee also seems to have read that you should wait to see if there is an advantage to be played before blowing but all too often this led for needless delays or even worse no decision.

After being reduced to 10 men it was always going to be a case of damage limitation and despite fighting to the final whistle Strand United capitalised on their numerical advantage with two late goals.

The result leaves us marooned at the bottom of the table but one things for sure. If we do go down we'll go down fighting!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Match Preview - Strand Utd 3rds v Allenton United

Finally the bad weather has subsided long enough for one of the pitches to be deemed playable and the long anticipated relegation battle between Strand Utd 3rds v Allenton United will now take place at Allenton's home ground on Saturday 14th February at 2:30pm.

Allenton will be hoping to put 2008 behind them and get 2009 underway in style but are under no illusions that grabbing that all important first win will be an easy task.

Check back here for result (hopefully a winning one) and match review.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Match - Saturday 14th February

Weather permitting our first game of the year will be away to Strand Utd 3rds.

Kick Off is at 2:30pm.

Thomas will be in touch Friday lunchtime to confirm the match is on or otherwise.

Training - Tuesday 10th February

Training is on at the usual time / usual place. Give Thomas a call if you're unable to make it