Three second half goals separated these two sides in a game
in which the home side were seriously below par, and the away side showed the
better quality and greater desire. The
result can’t be argued with, and should serve as a wake-up call that we can’t
expect to get anything from games in this league without giving 100% for 90
minutes.
The squad was pretty bare again for this game, but we still
managed to put out a side which included one lame keeper being replaced by
another, as Foggy went in goal despite a dodgy thigh. One significant absentee was our assigned
referee, and former manager Alec proved the depths he will sink to for £35 by
agreeing to referee the game. Although
for that money I think he should definitely have worn the little black number
Eye-Ball had dug out for the occasion.
As it happened, Alec was saved from this thankless task by the last
minute appointment of a replacement referee (praise to the league for a
change), and instead he ended up running the line for nothing!
Mossops seemed to cope better with the traditional
Blackshots cross wind, which was blowing particularly strongly on this
occasion. Clements had very little of
the ball, which is an exhausting approach to playing football. Despite this we made it to half time with the
scores at nil – nil thanks to a few fantastic saves from Foggy, including one
tip over the bar when the striker shot from 12 yards. These heroics were performed despite not
being able to kick the ball, and relying on players dropping deep or on long
throws. Some last ditch defending,
including a header off the line from Eye-Ball, also contributed to us keeping a
clean sheet for the first 45 minutes.
It wasn’t all one way traffic, and we looked particularly
dangerous from set pieces with the defenders getting in on the action at both
ends of the pitch. The keepers really
defined this outcome, and the Mossops number 1 also showed his quality by
denying Robin’s powerful header from Dale’s throw, which was destined for the
top corner, with a fine one handed save.
Brian also came close, but could only head over from Dale’s corner, and
Liam was also denied by a fine save when he swivelled and shot from 8 yards.
Whether it was the effort of
chasing the ball in the first half I don’t know, but it all went completely to
pot in the second half. I don’t really
remember us creating a decent chance, and we conceded three sloppy goals (which
included assists for Foggy and Eye-Ball).
Alex shocked us all last time out by finally getting some dirt on him as
a result of a well-executed slide challenge.
However, one swallow doesn’t made a summer and his attempt this time out
resulted in a penalty being conceded.
This earned him the DoTD award (another first) despite the Mossops spot
kick taker firing high and wide.
Man of the match rightly went to Foggy, who refused to go
off despite hardly being able to walk and put in a fantastic display of grit,
determination and commitment which was a lesson to us all.
It is always worth looking on the bright side, and this was
our last home game of the season so no more putting up the goals! Thank you everyone for your considerable
efforts on this front; it makes a huge difference to not be frantically
erecting the goals 10 minutes before kick-off.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 15th March Away v Greyhound
Goal scoring chart
No comments:
Post a Comment