Pre-season friendly vs Fowlers, Mile End, 25 Sept 08

Now then

Here we are again, another season for the Alliance, another lacklustre performance and drubbing I suppose? Oh no not here. Not the new Alliance, under the stewardship of Coyley, not these days.

A bumper turn out which bodes well for the season with a new signing - Jonesy - and a couple of returning old boys in Darty, Hudson and Chris G respectively - making appearances in an Alliance shirt (which we are led to believe may change before the start of the season if we can invoke the overdraft facilities of our bank account quickly enough).

Coyley gave one of his now infamous team talks, wearing the captain's armband, and while Dai as vice captain was doing up his laces and rubbing in his deep throat, I mean heat, lined the 'new look' Alliance up like so:

Smithy in goals, Johnny at right back, the partnership of Dai and Chris restored at the back and Colin on the left gave us a solid back five. In midfield, veteran Dan Monahan sat in front of the defence allowing Crouchy and Coyley to push on, with Iain and Micah running the flanks with Darty leading the line (or waddling around up front). The team knew they had to perform as in Coyley's new regime no one is safe. Johnny was told he would be subbed at half time before even kicking a ball in anger! Waiting in the wings was a Stuppley, a Hudsony, Woody and a Jonesy.

In the first half, it was quite tight, neither team giving much quarter. The 4-3-3 Coyley formation held up well, as did the defence who were valiant in their efforts to thwart the danger of the opposition's strike force. We had a few frights but Smithy was more than a match for any attempts on goal. In terms of attacking we showed signs of creativity, some strong running by Darty up front, Iain dropping deep and Johnny from right back managing to keep their trickiest player quiet while marauding up the wing. We had a few chances but nothing materialised until Iain got on the end of one and squeezed one in from a tight angle, at least that's how it looked from in goals as we thought it had gone wide. 1-0 Alliance against a first division side. Just before the break Darty was substituted for Hudson, after a clumsy run into the box, Darty lost control and slid into try and force the ball over the line injurying himself in the process.

Half time and quiet contentment for the Alliance. A few changes are made with Micah coming off for Jonesy and Paul coming off for Woody, with Pete coming on for Colin at left back and Hudson barely on for a few seconds in the first half had a half to prove to the boss he'd still got it. Similar stuff in the second but with Fowlers pushing hard for an equaliser there was more pressure on the defence. Temperatures rose with a few flare ups, and with Hudson putting himself about substantially in a way only Hudson knows how. To the point where some idiot baldy on their team started suggesting Hudson should be substituted. Undeterred Hudson continued reckless tackle after reckless tackle.

Somewhere in the middle of this the pressure told. A free kick conceded, a low free kick that escaped the wall bouncing just in front of Micah who did well to save (who by now had as you may have gathered replaced Smithy in goals, who in turned replaced Johnny at right back) but unfortunately spilled the rebound and their strikers were quicker to the ball than us lot and they equalised. Why dont we hit low balls at the keeper and follow them in? Note that one everyone. 1-1 and the natural balance of things for the Alliance. But with Woody and Jonesy pulling the strings we started opening them up as they pressed for a winner. Quite a few attacks later and somewhere a long the line Paul got a tap in and it's 2-1. More of that this season please. A quick response to conceding. Magic. With a few minutes to go with the Fowlers giving up after rebuff after rebuff from the Alliance defence, including some good saves from Micah, Woody put Jonesy into a goal scoring position (I think) and Jonesy smashed it in with the keeper barely moving.

Meanwhile on Planet Hudson, at this point the score being 1-1, Woody set Hudson off on a run to the edge of the penalty area sliding in to knock it past the keeper. The bald guy, abusing Hudson from the stands, came into challenge and fell on top of Hudson who had managed to rub his head a long the astro turf leaving him bloody headed and a swollen eyebrow. Hudson made way for Paul to come back on who eventually scored to make it 2-1. Hmmm this paragraph should have come earlier, oh well.

And that was that. A welcome and morale boosting win for the Alliance - more of this if you please gentlemen.

Coyley got the Alliance's season off to a cracker in a Kevin Peterson style way - but like KP it will be the bad times where Coyley has to prove his worth.

MOM spoils are shared between Johnny and Jonesy respectively.

God bless you Alliance.