Friday, August 21, 2009

Laxey 3 St Georges 2 - Starting with a Buzz

Greens In the Valley, 17 August 2009 21:20

This was a great start to the season - and a comprehensive defeat of St Georges not only makes up for the disappointment of recent encounters with them, but also sets out our stall as more than also-rans.

We started the game without at least nine potential first teamers - This gave a great chance to our up and coming stars and they made the most of it.

The game started evenly, but after a few minutes, St George's got the upper hand. Ten minutes into the game they got the first goal. Laxey tried to pass it out of defence and an unfortunate ricochet bounced the ball to Chris Feeney who shot low and hard from the left, giving Mark Blair no chance. St George's continued to look dangerous and definitely had the better of the first 20 minutes.

As the game developed, Laxey gradually got a grip on things - dependables Jim Travers and Gary Williams pulled the strings with energetic support from Jack and strength from Fraser Vaughan.


A satisfying first half, though going in one goal down to a team with Geordies class did not auger well, but Laxey had had a good 20 minutes as the half ended and looked to be the better side.

Ten minutes into the second half and Manager Steve Falconer made a brave decision, taking off the very influential Fraser and replacing him with Lee. Chris Brown dropped back into midfield.

Immediately Lee made an impact as within in seconds of coming on he typically turned the last defender and honed in on goal with only the keeper to beat, who did well to block with his feet and body to deny Lee.

However, it was not to last long as Lee was on fire. The equaliser could well deserve an assist from Blairer. His big kick out bounced near Ashley and he did enough to both put off the Geordies defender and maybe get a marginal touch - whatever he did, the ball bounced once, and high, to Lee who ran in and put in a brilliantly guided looping header over the Geordies keeper to make it 1 - 1 with about half an hour to go.

Laxey took the lead as Danny Kewley surged down the left wing. He put in a cross from the left, a cross which just kept going and going - and looped over the Geordies keeper to make it 2 - 1 to Laxey. Cue pandemonium from Laxey supporters as finally St George's were behind.

The third goal came for Laxey when Ashley Webster laid on a ball to Max Murley and his shot was saved and fell out to Jamie Clague, who was able to head in from about five yards out - 3 - 1 to Laxey and it was starting to look safe.

Geordies were not going to give up, and with about three minutes to go, Mark Blair had to push a cross out to the right, but it fell to the worst person possible, as Chris Bass Jr slammed it in from an angle to make it 3 - 2.

The game turned when Lee came on, and Laxey really started to dominate from then on.

GITV is inclined not to name a Man of the Match as everyone made this win happen -

Well done lads - keep it up - This is Our Centenary Year

And here's the Stats:

Laxey St George's
Shots on Target 8 3
Shots off Target 5 5
Corners 6 6

Full Match report on the website

Thursday, August 20, 2009

In the Beginning

Welcome to Greens In The Valley.

It used to be a photocopied paper version, contaminated by Prit stick glue, and amateur Clip Art, and distributed to the members of Laxey Football Club for their amusement and sometimes disgust. Lengthy match reports, profiles of players, slightly rude pictures and double entendres were the order of the day in the mid nineties. Plus of course the Saga of the Founding of the Club in 1909 - the doings of Old Tom Snuggles and his mining contemporaries.

But as we approach the Centenary of the Club those sticky photocopy days have gone and we have our own website - at http://laxeyfc.intheteam.com/modules/page/page.aspx?pc=home

And here as an experiment, a blog all about Laxey Football Club.

The first league game of the club in the Isle of Man was in 1910 and there is a mighty saga to tell of those early days in future entries.

For now though, the basics. Laxey play in Green - Laxey play in a Valley. A beautiful valley. How green? Mighty green at the moment. And Laxey play football in the Premier (First) Division of the Isle of Man and peaked in 2006 when they won all the Cup Competitions (4), and the League, without losing any games. The Grand Slam. And we still have most of the players of those days and hope for more glory as the months of our Centenary Year unfold.

So if you want to know more about the beautiful village of Laxey and the Club which is part of the glue which holds the community together, come back here again.