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Scorers James 2, Owen.
The boys took to the field at Calverton with a mixture of anticipation and excitement, this being the first match that the team has played for 7 weeks, and with the 3-1 loss to Calverton earlier in the season being clear in everyone's mind.
Calverton took the kick off, with Owen taking possession straight away. A run from Joe Dane followed quickly, finishing with a shot from James going wide. The pressure from the outset against Calverton was constant, apart from a couple of fruitless Calverton breaks. Shortly after a run from Mac down the left wing saw the ball crossing over to Owen, a quick pass to James who steadied himself and slotted the ball away to open the scoresheet.
Toton maintained the pressure with regular breaks from Mac down the left, a free kick and a corner all failing to breach the Calverton defence. The rest of the first half degenerated into a midfield slogging match, with neither side making much progress, apart from a couple of quick breaks from Mac and Harry. The first half ground to a halt with a great save from Matt after a Calverton move wrong footed the Toton defence.
Toton started the second half, and again were pressing hard into the Calverton half. A quick corner and a shot from Owen both didn't produce any gains, but Calverton were getting into their stride, and a quick cross was slotted away neatly to bring the score to 1-1.
A Calverton corner followed soon after, and in an almost identical move a second goal was put away to put Calverton into the lead for the first time.
The Toton boys kept their heads, though, and a quick break from Harry, passing through to James and on to Owen saw a shot heading just wide. A Calverton goal kick didn't go quite as far as Calverton would have liked, with Owen pouncing on the ball, passing through to James to bring the score level at 2-2.
Toton never let up on the pressure for the remainder of the second half, with a further shot from Owen hitting the Calverton post and rebounding into the goalkeeper's hands. The last few minutes saw frantic action in the Calverton box, but again, all the Toton efforts were to prove fruitless.
The first period of extra time began with a Toton kick off, quickly followed by a series of breaks from Mac and a free kick, all of which were saved by the Calverton goalie. However after a Calverton run, Owen picked up the ball at the halfway line and stormed into the Calverton box, working past practically every member of the Calverton team before knocking the ball past the Calverton goalie to bring Toton back into the lead.
The second period of extra time reflected the tone of the whole match, with the ball spending most of its time in midfield, mostly with Joe Dane or one of the Barkers, with breaks from Mac and Owen keeping Calverton far enough away from the goal to ensure that the scoreline remained at 3-2 in Toton's favour. A great start to 2010 with some quality football from the boys. Well done all.
Match Report by Phil Bloor
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