Oh my lord! Call Norris McWhirter its a record breaker!
La Chiesa undid all the good work from last week with a humilating defeat at their new ground at Cottons Park.
For the second week running the appointed referee failed to
show, and it was left to the Colts' manager to take charge of the game. If we knew then what we know now... Well hindsight
is a wonderful thing...
Chiesa were rocked by the late withdrawals of Iain Gay through
injury, and Terry Soteriou (work commitments). Cy Taylor wash in Amshterdam, so Mark Harris and Warren Hardwick came back
into the staring line up, with Steve McCarthy moving into midfield. Matt Gillham started up front in place of Dennis Peck
who moved to the bench.
Barking's youngsters played the better football in the opening
exchanges, and Danny Hardwick was forced into a smart save when faced with a one on one situation, but Chiesa were denied
an early lead only by a fantastic reflex save by the Colts keeper. Matt Gillham danced past three defenders on the left and
crossed for Adam Jeffers to lash a first time left foot volley that was destined for the top corner until the visiting stopper
intervened. Next came the controversial decison that Chiesa will feel changed the course of the match. Gillham was first to
react from a dodgy clearance by the Colts keeper, and when he knocked the ball past him only to be sent crashing to the floor,
a penalty looked the obvious outcome. The Barking Colts manager thought differently, however.
Chiesa were incensed, and a steady stream of abuse was sent
the referees way for the rest of the half, despite his pre match warning that he would suffer no nonsense. Chiesa became less
disciplined with every 50/50 decision that went in the away teams favour, and when a free kick that had been given for
a seemingly innocuous challenge in the centre circle was headed past Hardwick in the 40th minute it was downhill all the way.
Similarly bad marking saw the same player given all the time in the world before firing an unstoppable drive into the top
corner on the stroke of half time, and LC/DC were staring at their first defeat of the season.
Injured skipper Darren Hodsoll was replaced by Dennis Peck at
the interval, a move that saw Mark Harris move to right back and Matt Gillham fill in on the right of midfield, but any hopes
of a comeback were dashed in the first minute of the second half when yet more poor marking saw a free header guided past
Hardwick and the game was up.
Barking had the chance to make it four minutes later when a
penalty was awarded for a perfectly clean tackle by Warren Hardwick, a decision that had Barking's subs on the touchline cringing
in its bias, but their impressive number nine's kick was turned away by the elder of the Hardwicks - merely delaying the
avalanche of goals that were to follow.
The Colts Nine, who had been their most impressive player throughout
with his close control and silky skills, didn't have long to wait for his goal, converting the first of a stream of one
on ones in style, then adding a second when faced with the same situation soon after.
Chiesa had lost any discipline they had left by now, and it
was embarrassing to watch the lack of pride they showed once they realised the game was beyond them. Time after time
Hardwick was left exposed and in the end it could have been more than the eight goals that they conceded.
The poor refereeing may have contributed to the feeling of injustice
in the first half and the scoreline at the interval, and it is fair to say given the choice of no game, or the opposition
manager taking the 90 mins in future, Chiesa will be heading back to bed, but the truth is LC/DC were left trailing
in the wake of fitter, hungrier players in the second half, and it must not be repeated in the future else they may as well
hang up their boots.
LCDC; (4-4-2) D Hardwick; Hodsoll (Peck), Riley, W
Hardwick, Williams; Harris, Jordan, McCarthy, Gray; Jeffers, M Gillham
