After last week’s disappointment of a loss in the last few seconds of the game, the Dedham Athletic lads finally got their first win of the season on Sunday, and what an emphatic win it was.
Mistley & Ramsey kicked off, dead on 10.30am. To a man the Dedham team, closed their opponents down all over pitch forcing them to make mistakes and loose possession.
Crisp passing opened up the Mistley & Ramsey defence time after time, with shots going just wide, or the goalkeeper making some excellent saves.
The deadlock was finally broken after 10 minutes, when Dan Smith ran onto a lovely through ball from his brother Alfie, powering his shot into the bottom left corner.
Twenty minutes later, Joe Connor made a run from the half way line down the right wing, cutting inside on his left foot where he found Dan Smith, who skilfully hit a powerfull shot with the outside of his right foot, up and over the goalkeeper.
The unusually hot early autumn morning, meant that half time came as a welcome break .
Dedham kicked of the second half, and continued playing as they had in the first, pressing their opponents all over the pitch.
One challenge led to Ramsey & Mistley being awarded a free kick some 25 yards from the Dedham goal, which was struck well, flying through a host of players for both sides before hitting the back of the Dedham net.
With the score now at 2 -1, the Ramsey & Mistley boys began to believe they were back in the game. Their confidence was soon dented some 5 minutes later when Ben Rand, making his debut for the Dedham, dispatched a shot low and hard to the keepers right.
Dedham now stepped up another gear, totally domination possession of the ball. Aron Debenham who had been on the pitch for a matter of seconds, sprinted onto a fine pass from Ben Rand, taking the ball around the keeper and slotting it home, making the score 4-1.
In the 80th minute Ben Rand got his second goal of the game. After a superb passing move involving all of the Dedham outfield players, found its way to Ben who’s confident left footed shot flew passed the keepers outstretch right hand.
The rampant Dedham team kept up the pressure until the final moments when Lee Rand broke free in the inside left position. With two opposing defenders blocking his way to goal, he played the ball to his right where, brother Ben played the ball right again to the advancing Aron Debenham, who calmly scored his second goal, making the final score a well-deserved 6 – 1 to Dedham Athletic.