Early on in the game it didn't take long for the Crane to establish himself as the reliable 'cat' that he's been dubbed.
Save after save to keep a low-scoring game in Romford Towns favour, with plenty of motion at the right moments.
The real motion though, the motion that actually takes Crane out of his area and halfway up the pitch, wasn't evident last
night as Crane kept his mind on the game and his body in the area.
Next up it was Jones to turn on the style, silky skills and fast footwork creating space for Jones to add two to the
Towners cause. We caught up with the Towners manager, Rickee Murrell, for his comments on his captain after the game,
"I've been very impressed with Jones this season. Whether it's silky runs or 'ball-hogging' as some people call it,
or some fantastic tackling or passing, Jones has been quite reliable. The only thing is, he forgets to wear his captains
armband every week and when the players are on the pitch, they look for a captain, and when they can't find him morale goes
down the plughole".
Murrells out-burst was cut short as he was wrestled to the ground by a mysterious stranger, known only as the digicam
thief.
The game wore on as a test of fitness to both teams. With only five players, EFC were showing their fatigue but
not enough to allow the Towners to get too far ahead.
Although most of the team were quiet this week there were some nice moments of pure football on Pitch 4 last night.
One incident found rock solid defender with another oppurtunity to score this week. The ball came across the Eastside
goal and Benny managed to squeeze a low shot goalward with the left peg, but his shot was saved by a mostly reliable keeper
for EFC.
Roger Dogs came closer than ever this week, from open play, as one curling long range boomer took a slight deflection
and was heading for the top right hand corner. Again, another save was accomplished by the keeper, but it would have
been a lovely goal.
The man who had more moments than most this week was Dan Monteith-Knight. On several occasions he would come flying
into crunch tackles which he usually won. On the ball he was very at home last night as he walked the ball around
areas of the pitch and the EFC players. Also Dans off-the-ball was evident as he peeled away from defenders and kept
running for the Towners, all contributing to a solid performance.
Finally, I'd like to say a big thanks to Romford Town faithful Steve Hammond for being on standby to play for last nights
game, just a shame he had to watch such a boring game!
