DEA Bedford Over 30

DEA again brought a short squad on the road, this time to Ipswich.  However, their efforts this time paid off with a 2-0 victory.  Kudos must go to Chris Harrington, Jerold White, Chris Florek, Chris Jones, Chris Laberge, Elvis Zukovic, Ryan Carvalho, Barry Fitzgerald, John Leblanc, and Jon Cloutier for making both of the tough road matches in the last two weeks.  DEA Management thanks them for their efforts.

 The game was delayed due to a scheduling conflict.  Once it finally got underway, both squads took the action right at each other.  Ipswich figured they could run DEA off the pitch with their deep bench.

 Two early chances by Ipswich were smartly saved by keeper Harrington.  He has come into his own as the season has progressed.

DEA countered smartly, but their chances were off frame.

Ipswich kept the waves of subs coming, rotating four midfielders and four forwards through the lineup.  DEA was content to let Ipswich switch throughout the midfield, but locked down as play moved toward the red zone.   DEA kept the defense compact and utilized some strong defensive work from the forwards to keep the pressure on.

In an effort to keep Ipswich off balance, DEA mixed in some long balls to Peter Cline and Gary DuPlessis up top with some short passes to possess when the chances arised.

As the first half wound down under ten minutes, Ipswich had a flurry of chances but came up empty.  Harrington again came up with a save, and the defensive quartet of Laberge, Florek, Jones, and White (with some help from Elvis) threw themselves in front of shots to keep the shutout in hand.

The action was picking up, and back at the other end DEA was not content to settle with defending all game.  Leblanc's header off an Elvis pass just went wide.  Cliney and Gary both missed from either side of the net.  Then, with only minutes left, DEA finally broke through.

Jerold's long goal kick found Cliney's in the middle.  Cliney headed down to Ryan's feet, who smartly one-timed a through-ball to Gary.  Gary wrestled his defender aside and left-footed his first touch into the upper left side and DEA had a 1-0 lead at the half.

Ipswich still played with confidence, knowing they had defeated DEA twice in recent meetings and felt it was only a matter of time before they broke through.

Instead, DEA got a break when the Ipswich sweeper poorly cleared and Gary again was the beneficiary.  He took the gift and calmly left-footed home the insurance tally.

DEA had to fight off one more flurry which saw a header go wide; a drive just past the woodwork; and the last hitting the post before being cleared by Barry and Elvis.

DEA smelled blood, and Jerold stormed through the middle and sent Peter in clear.  His shot would miss.  Another long pass from Flo found Gary who fed Leblanc in the middle.  He tried to chip the keeper but he wouldn't bite.

An all-around team effort that saw offensive chances come from everywhere and defensive help from all 11 players.  Jon Cloutier, nursing a bum ankle from last week's game, even chipped in with some important minutes to give Peter and his bad back a break when needed.

DEA is now in a solid position to avoid relegation after the rough start.  Winning the division is already out of the question, but with Windham coming to Legacy Field next week DEA can assure themselves of staying in D1 with a win or a tie in any of their last three games.  Windham must run the table to stay up.  A tall order indeed.

GREAT EFFORT by the players who made the trip!

(DEA's regular reporter was in holed up in a hotel room in Boston with his wife on top of him and could not make the game.  Fill-in reporter Elvis Zukovic contributed to this report.)