Terry Soteriou and Colin Williams were the heroes as
Chiesa bounced back from two consecutive defeats with three hard earned points versus St Augustine Res this Sunday.
With the luxury of twelve men to choose from, stand in boss
Adam Jeffers controversially allowed Soteriou and fellow stay away star from last week, Dean Jordan, to start, with Matt Gillham unfortunate
to find himself on the bench with only the lineasmans flag to keep him company. Goalkeeper Danny Hardwick failed
a late fitness test on his right leg, so Mark Harris donned the No 1 jersey, with Steve McCarthy taking over from Dennis
Peck at centre back.
The Rossoneri became the Azurrui this week,slapdash management
meaning the traditional red and black kit was left in an Upmister airing cupboard, and very smart they looked too in the new
shorts and socks that Jeffers had swindled out of a Hotpoint Sales Executive in the summer.
The first half was a scrappy affair. Chiesa ,short on confidence
following the past fortnights results, were battling hard in to scrap for the points against a side that they had
yet to beat in four attempts. Dean Jordan added steel to the midfield, while Jeffers was his usual nuisance factor X up front.
Steve McCarthy and Warren Hardwick looked composed at the back, and it was reassuring to have the pace of Soteriou on the
left side of defence.
Goalmouth incident was hard to come by in the first forty five,
and although Chiesa were controlling the tempo of the game and playing for the most part in the opposition half, it was difficult
to see where a goal was coming from. Some of Chiesa's goals this season have been very easy on the eye, but they sometimes
need to score less spectacular goals from set pieces. Soteriou had been as big as 66/1 with some bookmakers to score
the first goal of the game, but he rewarded loyal friends and family who had invested at the huge odds when he rose
like a salmon and headed in an Ian Gay corner at the far post with twenty minutes remaining.
A huge sigh of relief from all LC/DC fans, and the game was
put out of St Augustines reach ten minutes later when Colin Williams let fly with a swerving left foot shot from 30 yards
that gave the keeper no chance. A typical Williams heatseeker, it seems he only deals in spectacular strikes.
Handbags were to follow in an incident out of character with
the rest of the game which had been played in a good spirit, and resulted in a yellow card for Dean Jordan, but Chiesa held
on to take three valuable Corinthian League points and become one of five teams tied on six points behind runaway leaders
AFC Dockside.
LCDC; (4-4-2) Harris; Williams, McCarthy, W Hardwick, Soteriou; Taylor, Jordan, Gay, Gray; Jeffers,
Peck
