Valley Green 3 – 2 Clements Athletic (aet) (Essex cup 4th round)

We may have been knocked out of two cups in two weeks, but there are still plenty of positives we can take from these games:

1. We’re a very tough team to beat over 90 minutes.

2. League games are only 90 minutes long.

3. We avoided a 70 mile round trip thanks to the game being moved to our ground.

4. Which meant we got to go to The Ship Inn and enjoy wraps, sweets AND sausage rolls.

5. We got to try out the new pegs – thanks Alex, they’re fab!

6. We’ve scored some really good goals over the two games.

7. 240 minutes of football should help our fitness.

8. For the second game running the DOTD award found a worthy winner, rather than it going to a      misfortunate and committed defender who unfortunately conceded a penalty.

9. Our small squad is starting to creak at the seams, so a few less games won’t do us any harm.

10. We can concentrate on the league (you’ve got to love a cliché)!

Pretty much the whole squad turned out for this match, but the problem was that three of them – Ryan (shins), Luke (appendix) and Alex (what is it about players called Alex and ingrowing toenails?) – were injured.  Still, Sharpy could still name a strong team, and solved the problem of missing Ryan on the left - and trying to accommodate three first choice central midfielders – by playing Liam on the left and partnering Dale and Harry up top.  Joe earned a promotion to right back, having impressed there in the second half against Lakeside.

Subs: Johnny, Rob, lil’ Ryan, Ryan

Before the game started both sets of players and supporters impeccably observed a minutes silence to pay their respects to Bradley Arthur, whose life recently came to a tragic and premature end.  The Clements players wore black ribbons to show that our thoughts are with the families and friends (some of whom are our team mates) who have suffered this cruel loss.

Our opponents from Witham were a young and confident group of lads, which was evident from the fact that one of them boasting that he would score a hat-trick inside 10 minutes.  To be fair to them, this confidence translated into an assured and technically proficient performance on the pitch.  However, they had obviously not heard of Clements’s famous grit and dogged determination, as although Valley enjoyed a lot of the early possession, some clattering challenges from Robin and Brian reflected the general attitude that we weren’t about to be rolled over by these young pups.

Having survived a couple of early scares (with Webby’s good form continuing), we found that the key to Valley’s defence could easily be picked by exploiting the space they were leaving behind their back four.  Having two master locksmiths in the centre of midfield helps, and Foggy and Jake would have been leaping up the assists charts if a combination of last ditch tackles and superb goal keeping hadn’t denied our attacking four of Liam, Dale, H and Chris.  Dale had the best chance to give us the lead, and did most of the creating himself as he latched onto a through ball before slaloming his way across from the right and into the six yard box, before being foiled by the keeper’s legs –maybe Liam could impart some advice about scoring from 6 yards.

The game was well poised by this point, and it was Clements who made the first breakthrough with by far the best goal of the match.  Chris was sent clear on the right, and he supplied the type of quality cross that we are coming to expect every time the ball leaves his boot.  The cross went deep, and Liam went deeper as he peeled away from his marker before opting to volley – rather than head – the ball back across the keeper an into the far corner: 0-1.

Chris was involved again in our best chance to extend the lead before the break, when he went in hot pursuit of a through ball into the box, but got to the ball at the same time as the outrushing goal keeper.  Both players bravely contested the ball, but the keeper won this particular battle.

The second half was always going to be difficult for Clements’s defence, with the Sun and wind definitely not acting in our favour.  It was the run of the ball rather than the conditions that levelled the score, when an attempted through ball on the edge of the box was blocked, but bounced up nicely for Valley’s midfielder to slot into the net: 1-1.

The score line did not stay like this for long, with the referee awarding the first of two debatable penalties.  Foggy slid the ball through for Liam to chase into the area, and there was no doubt that his cross struck the arm of the full back, who was about four yards away.  The attacking team will always argue that it’s a penalty because the player’s arm is away from his body and has significantly altered the ball’s path.  The defending team will argue that the player had no chance of getting his arm out of the way, and that the handball wasn’t deliberate.  Both arguments seem valid, but the referee went with the attacking team on this occasion, and Dale showed great character to step up and score the spot kick despite having missed in the penalty shoot-out the previous week (a fact that the opposition were somehow aware of and took great pleasure in reminding him): 1-2.

Now believe it or not, referees are human, and I can’t help but think that Valley may have sewed seeds of doubt in our young whistle blower over his decision to award a penalty to Clements.  Therefore, when a Valley player threw himself to the ground after coming into close contact with Brian, you can’t help but think that the opportunity to ‘even things up’ and restore the previous equilibrium made the decision to blow the whistle and point to the spot all too easy. The penalty was dispatched, and with neither team able to find a way to finish the game in normal time, for the second week running we were heading for extra time: 2-2.

Whilst physical fatigue is bound to set in as the clock ticks past the 90 minutes mark, mental tiredness was also an issue as passes became sloppy, players failed to react as quickly as they might to the movement of the opposition and our positional awareness was pretty much non-existent.  Players were also becoming increasingly irritable, and with a referee who was a master of irritation this lead to some angry words and confrontations. H was particularly lucky to avoid seeing red as, towards the end of extra time he threw all his toys out of the pram in a manner that was reminiscent of Sharpy in his heyday.  This complete loss of self-control earned Harry the DoTD award.

Unfortunately the only goal of the additional thirty minutes was scored by Valley.  We obviously have some weaknesses as a team – if we didn’t we wouldn’t be dodging dog shit at Blackshots playing field in front of a crowd of 7.  One that is becoming increasingly apparent is an inability to attack the second ball from corners, as again this was our undoing as a Valley midfielder reacted quickest to poke the ball in from 6 yards.  You could obviously question our marking, and argue that players aren’t sticking with their man.  However, I think you can’t rely on one man in this situation and others need to take a gamble by leaving their men to throw themselves in the direction of the ball, wherever it happens to be.  We just seem to be a bit static in these situations, and it cost us again on this occasion: 3-2.

We may not have managed to take the game to penalties, but this wasn’t through the lack of chances that we created.  Johnny, who had replaced Jake towards the end of the second half, hit a couple of the sweetest strikes you will see.  One went narrowly wide, and the second was well saved by Valley’s excellent goal keeper.  Lil’ Ryan (who had replaced Chris) also had a great chance to open his Clements account when he met the ball in the air at the back post, but couldn’t direct it on target from a tight angle.  Even Eye-Ball should have had a possible assist for the equalising goal, as he was felled in the area when attempting to bring down a high ball. Well, all the Clements players who were nearby thought it was in the area, but vitally the referee didn't agree and awarded a free kick right on the edge of the box.

You had to be proud of the way the boys kept going right until the final whistle, and you have to take Valley’s ridiculous attempts at time wasting by holding up the ball in the corner with over 10 minutes still to go as a sign that they doubted their ability to hold on to the lead against us.  It is a shame that not all the subs got a run out, but Sharpy openly admitted that he was struggling for ideas of how to turn the game around (and the option of roll-on roll-off subs didn’t make his life any easier).  However, this didn’t stop all the squad getting involved in supporting the team and I know Sharpy goes out of his way to explain his reasoning to individuals, and will be as fair as he can be over the course of the season.

Despite the defeat there were still plenty of outstanding performers throughout the team, but the MoTM award was unanimously awarded to Joe ‘Petal’ Flower (make sure H buys you a drink).  With so many purist defenders in the squad, Luke’s absence had robed us of a significant attacking option when looking to build up from the back.  However, Joe showed in this game that he is more than capable of meeting this requirement, and relished the opportunity to get forward and link up with Chris on the right, whilst also fulfilling his defence responsibilities superbly.  It’s just a shame we will be losing him very soon to his studies – although hopefully he will consider joining up with us again if the opportunity arises.

We naturally felt a bit down at being knocked out of our second cup in as many weeks, but we need to pick ourselves up for next week, as there is once again a new league leader who we need to displace.  We’ve raised our game every time we have come up against a team who would have been eyeing up the title, and I have now doubt that we will do it again.  However, if you do feel a little low having read this report, and feel the need to reach for an extra sheet of toilet paper to dry your eyes, just scroll (or swipe) back to the top of the page and read the ten reasons to be cheerful again, and also reflect on how fortunate we are to have the freedom and ability to choose to spend our Sundays playing football in the company of friends.

Eye-Ball

Next game: Sunday 18^th January – Away v Pegasus @ The Pegasus Club.

Goal scoring chart