Obviously a two nil defeat isn’t what anyone wanted, but we
should be proud of our performance which was characterised by a level of
determination and effort that has been missing at times in recent weeks. We’re still not playing great football, but with
no consistency in team selection – we just about scrapped the bare eleven again
this week – it really is no surprise that we are not really ‘clicking’ when
players are having to play in different positions every week. The situation was so bad that Sharpy had to go
out and buy some new boots. They seemed
to do the trick though, as he had a really good game despite battling Mossops’s
defence on his own for much of the game.
Subs: -
We started the season with five centre backs, but only one
of them was available for this game.
Fortunately Neil returned just in time, and impressed in his first game
for Clements in this position. His
organisational and vocal skills were key in us more than holding our own in the
first half. In fact, if Dale (2)’s rasping
drive had dipped a bit more rather than hitting the post, or Ryan hadn’t been
given off-side by the referee, we may have gone into the break with a
lead. The offside issue was a contentious
one; a Mossop’s player ran the Clements line because we had no one to do it (there
was no way Milesy was going to), but because he didn’t want to give offsides
against his own team the referee instructed both linesmen to just award throw
ins. It would have really helped if the
referee had told the rest of us!
The offside debacle contributed to the first goal we
conceded in the first half, as the player looked to be offside when the ball
was played across the box. Nothing was
given, so Eye-Ball had to intervene, but his interception ended up being a
perfect assist for the Mossop’s striker, who had bags of time and space to slot
the ball into the net: 1-0.
Mossops’s record shows that they are a hard team to score
against, and their keeper obviously plays a big part in this as he snuffed out
a lot of our attacks in a period when we dominated and created the best
chances. Harry had a well struck effort
saved when he guided the ball into the far corner, and also had a header
cleared off the line from one of Ryan’s many dangerous corners.
As we pressed for an equaliser, it wasn’t surprising that we
got caught out, with Eye-Ball giving possession away high up the pitch. Credit to Mossops though, who were deadly
clinical to break and finish the chance from their own half: 2-0.
We may have lost the match, but the spread of votes for MoTM
was an indication of how well we played as a team. In the end Robin just edged it, having once
again led by example from the back, not only in terms of the countless balls he
won but also showing the youngsters how you should conduct yourself in the face
of some poor refereeing. One lad who
definitely needs to take a few leafs out of Robin’s book is H, who once again
completely lost the plot, which is a real shame as he was surely a contender
for MoTM. Still, at least you can’t
accuse him of being ageist, as this time it was a more experienced referee who
felt H’s frustration. I won’t write down
here what he said, as I wouldn’t want to risk conflicting with the referee’s
notebook, but needless to say our two centre halves may have been a little
offended. Ironically, with only one league game now to go there is only one man
who can equal H for the overall DoTD award, and that is the man whose referee
bashing role H seems to be trying to inherit. I expect that both H and Sharpy
will be on their very best behaviour in the last game!
Enjoy next week’s friendly and let’s make sure we play the
last 90 minutes of the season with smiles on our faces!
Eye-Ball
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