(4-4-2)

Andrews, Bruni, Cowdery (Murray, 45), Smith, Dawson, Danieli, Johnson, Newman (Catalogna, 55), Fulton, Ameri, Davis (del Favero, 60)

The unfortunate Eagles ran into a CPR team in unstoppable form.

CPR were determined to come out of the traps early and dominate this 6-pointer. In fact they could have gone ahead in the first minute when a slip by an Eagles defender let in Chris, but a fellow Eagle got back to clear.

Steve and Jason quickly took control of the midfield, getting in crunching tackles and spraying passes to the two Andys on the flanks. Meanwhile Chris and Amir, a combination of pace and power, had the Eagles defence looking rather uncomfortable.

When the first goal arrived, however, it was to come from the left boot of Steve Newman rather than the front two. The Eagles broke from the back but Jason tracked their ball-carrier for 50 yards before getting in a sliding tackle which got the ball to Steve. The big man charged upfield past the back-tracking Eagles, and just when it seemed he’d run out of options he curled a shot past the keeper from the edge of the box.

CPR continued to dominate, and their quick passing and movement was creating plenty of opportunities. So it was a shame that their second came from a long ball which found Chris (and Amir) in a blatantly offside position. The ref waved play on, though, and a distinctly sheepish-looking Chris ran on to score despite the keeper getting a hand to it.

Earlsberg were obviously aggrieved by this scandalous decision, and they lifted their spirits and put a bit of pressure on the CPR goal. They managed to force a couple of corners and throw-ins by the CPR box, and from one of these the ball found its way to their striker on the penalty spot who cracked in a first-time volley for the Eagles opener.

Now it was CPR’s turn to get rattled, and it didn’t take long for them to increase the lead again. A simple long ball from Alex was misjudged by the Eagles back four, and Chris raced on to the ball, trapped it, shimmied the keeper and tapped home from 2 yards out.

CPR had a few more golden chances before half-time – notably Steve trying a cool lobbed finish with only the keeper to beat, which sailed over the bar – but no further score. Halftime saw Jon Murray on for Ken Cowdery.

CPR knew that they had to get one more goal to kill the game, so they piled on the pressure again in the second half. More chances would come and go before they got the killer goal. A long cross from the right was missed by the entire Eagles defence and the CPR front men: however, Amir raced to collect the loose ball on the left bye-line, and his cross was turned in by Chris Davis, who was practically standing on the goal-line.

Chris’s final contribution, before making way for farewell hero Teo del Favero, was to set up the team’s fifth goal: his well-hit pass caught Andy Fulton in the nether regions, but the big Scot recovered his composure and raced into the box to slot it past the keeper.

Andy was hitting a purple patch, and he had a big hand in the sixth goal as well. His wing wizardry taking him past the full-back, from where he hit an inch-perfect cross to Andy Danieli, racing into the box on a late-breaking run. Andy D met the cross first-time and guided it into the corner of the net.

With time marching on and the game clearly won, CPR put all of their efforts into finding a goal for Teo on his final appearance. The crowd held their breath after some neat interplay between Amir and Andy D got the willowy striker in on goal, but the Eagles keeper got his legs to the shot to keep it out.

It looked like Teo’s chance may have come and gone, particularly when the referee blew for time at least 10 minutes early. Both teams slowly left the park and then made a joint appeal to play out the full 90 mins (any criticism of the referee’s performance was quickly negated by looking across to the adjacent pitch and thinking that it could be worse).

Thus, CPR had an extra 15 mins to get that goal for Teo, but the palaver with the early ending seemed to have mentally drained both teams, and the final period was generally uninspired. CPR huffed and puffed but didn’t really put much pressure on the Eagles goal, and it looked like the mtch was going to drift to an end without further score. However, in the final minute Andy Danieli summoned up his last reserves of energy and went on a lung-burtsing run down the right flank. He hit a high looping cross into the box, and it was a straight-out race between Teo and the Eagles keeper to meet it first. The keeper came racing out and almost got a hand to the ball, but Teo had leapt like a salmon, hung in the air, and just managed to nudge it over him. The ball slowly edged its way into the net and bedlam broke out on the pitch and the sidelines as the team rose as one to acclaim the final goal from their favourite maverick philosopher. CPR – indeed London – will not be the same without him.

Final score: CPR 7, Earlsberg Eagles 1

Match Reporter: Garry Griffin