On a day when scientists attempted to unravel the mysteries of time and space deep underground on the French-Swiss border, another puzzling event was occurring in the small town of Wells-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast. Perhaps a mini-black hole, perhaps the elusive Higgs bosun, perhaps a disturbance in the space time continuum – either way it will take some great minds to understand how 11 minutes of injury time can be played in a half with no injuries.

Arriving early and with a very strong squad Easton turned up at Wells’ pleasant seaside ground with high hopes of continuing their 100% start to the season. The first half began in comedic fashion with Pete falling over the ball from the kick-off, but that was the only sour note in a half that Easton dominated from start to finish. Putting together some quality football Easton kept possession well and carved out the first chances – Stu heading over after good work from Matt and Pete down the left, and Tim going close from 10 yards. Chris was a virtual spectator as Wells were run ragged by the quality of Easton’s football, even Trig managing to find feet on several occasions.

With half-time approaching and despite their dominance Easton had failed to make the break-through and it looked like the teams would go in level. Instead, with just a couple of minutes to go until the interval Tim broke from the right and a mazy dribble was only ended by a cynical Wells foul, just as he was about to let fly with his left boot. A huge relief both for Tim and for people with cars in the car park. Beany stepped up confidently to take the resulting free kick and stroked it into the corner, for a deserved 1-0 lead. Cue Barry Fry-esque celebrations from manager Jack, who had been taking some vocal abuse from a minority of the away support for his team selection.

After making 3 changes at half-time, it only seemed a matter of how many Easton would win by in second half, but after 5 minutes of tidy football, Wells made a couple of changes. Bringing on 2 new strikers for the ineffectual first-half strike-force they began to bombard the new-look Easton back-line with long balls from the back, and with flick-ons now being won Easton were struggling to get out and re-assert their dominance. Wells went close a couple of times when strikers nipped in and beat Chris to the ball, and twice hit the woodwork, as well as having a shot heroically blocked on the line by Rixy. As the half wore on Easton could still not find the fluent football of the first half, and were getting pegged further and further back. Stu was controversially adjudged offside when through on goal, but moments of respite were otherwise few and far between. With 5 minutes of normal time left Wells finally made the breakthrough, a long ball from a free-kick ball getting deflected into the path of the Wells captain, who finished smartly to level.

It looked like the draw, which would probably have been a fair result, was certain, until the 10th minute of injury time when another free kick was floated into the box and an unmarked striker rose to nod home the winner. There was still time for Tom Payne to nearly level after a goalmouth scramble, but in the end it was heartbreak for Easton, who will rue failing to kill the game off, and bad organisation on the 2nd free kick. A disappointment certainly, but at least not the end of the world predicted by some - with a chance to put things right at Freethorpe on Saturday.steve

Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:12 pm
Private message