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The
Hamsters faced Mierosoft for the first time in
nearly two years in their opening match of the
2007-2008 season, but it was the visitors who
walked away with the points following a 6-4
victory. The home fans had reason to be
optimistic following the return of club captain
Robert Jones, his first match in over a year,
and Bert Lloyd and Dan Collin back from New
Zealand. Scott McCarthy, Peter Chapman, Doug
Lane and Tom Witham all retained their places
following last seasons final day victory over
The Tribe
Things
did not start well for the Hamsters, as Kieran
Elliott gave the visitors the lead with a shot
from distance, that6 zipped off the wet surface
and beat the despairing dive of McCarthy,
although questions were asked of the keeper as
he attempted to make the save with his shoulder.
The concerns about the sides fitness that had shadowed
their performance in a behind-doors friendly
against a Diamonds XI on Sunday came back to
haunt them, and it was soon 2-0, after Robert
Jones attempted clearance ended up crediting him
with an assist, albeit for the visitors. The
arrival of chairman Tom McCarthy seemed to rejuvenate
the Hamsters, as Dan Collin pulled one back, but
Chris Davis was again in good form between the
sticks for Mierosoft. Two more goals were added
before half time, as a shambolic Hamsters
performance went from bad to worse and the half
time whistle was met with relief on the pitch,
and boos on the terraces
A
half time reshuffle saw the Hamsters come back
out and instantly start to make their mark on
the game. Following his earlier bizarre antics
in goal, Scott McCarthy was back to his best in
pulling off some superb saves to keep his side
in the game, and Robert Jones, now reveling in
his central defensive role put in some important
challenges. Tom Witham was running the midfield,
while Peter Chapman was completely anonymous.
The general feeling was that if Bert Lloyd had
the ball, despite not having his pre-game potassium
source, the Hamsters would have a chance. This
soon proved to be the case, as Dan Collin, now
in a more familiar attacking role, picked up on
loose control that ended up working into a very
good slide rule pass from Peter Chapman, as he
tapped in his second of the game. With Mierosoft
happy to sit back, the Hamsters could smell the
blood amongst the wolves, and proceeded to push
forward. Assistant manager Dougie Lane, who
pushed forward into a more attacking role with
Tom Witham providing solid coverage at the back,
soon set up Collin for his hat-trick, and 99th
goal for the Hamsters. Lane floated in a
delightful cross, which evaded both the
Mierosoft defence and goalkeeper, to leave
Collin with a knee in.
Pushing
for the equaliser, and buoyed on by the support
of the home fans, the Hamsters began to sense a
remarkable come back was on the cards. With
Collin chasing a century of Hamsters goals, it
seemed only a matter of time before it would
come. However, the Mierosoft defence had
improved significantly since the sides last
meeting, in particular with Graeme Knight, who
had Chapman in his back pocket, being back to
his flowing best, and unlike previous meetings
between the teams, it was not proving easy for
the home side to net. But the instrumental Bert
Lloyd used his full arsenal of trickery to find
Collin with a delicate chip, who scored with a
thunderous volley. Incidentally, this was his
100th goal for the club, yet such was the focus
of his team mates that they were more concerned
with pushing for the three points
Unfortunately,
this was not to be the case. As fatigue set in
amongst the home side, Mierosoft grabbed the
initiative against the run of play thanks to a
fantastic goal from Dave Riley. The midfielder
somehow found the time and space to dance around
four players, before slipping it past the
advancing McCarthy to net the goal of the match
and leave Hamsters hearts broken. With that, the
home side pushed for another equaliser, but the
fatigue, or complete lack of fitness proved
detrimental, as everyone bar Witham became
stranded in the opposition half, allowing an
easy sixth to round off a fine opening match of
the season, and give Mierosoft only their second
ever victory over the Hamsters
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