It is becoming a worryingly familiar story, that by the time
Aveley arrived in Rochford just before 10am, the available squad had depleted
from 15 to 8 relatively fit players, 2 pissheads, a crocked winger and
Sharpy. It seems that having a full
squad to choose from is as difficult as telling the difference between an
orange and a grapefruit.
This led to the latest cabinet reshuffle, with utility man
Brian starting on the left wing (I think keeper and striker are the only two
positions he hasn’t played now!) and Ryan partnering Sharpy up front. Liam got kitted up, but the hope was that the
most strenuous thing he would have to do was run the line.
Chappers and Jake were placed in their positions and rotated
to face the right direction, and the match got underway under the warm Sun. It soon became apparent that any pre-match
concerns about being up against a quality outfit (further reinforce by someone
from the oppo being heard to proclaim: “Who the f@*k are these lot”) were
misplaced. They weren’t anything special
and didn’t really trouble us with the frequent ball over the top. Unfortunately we weren’t quite at the races
ourselves, which made it a pretty even contest.
Given the fact that we played 120 minutes, you may expect
there to be more memorable highlights.
However, what the game lacked in quality, it more than made up for in
Accies character. To come from behind
three times is no mean feat, especially when we didn’t have the luxury of
taking advantage of the roll-on, roll-off Essex Cup rules.
We went behind midway through the first half when we allowed
a low shot from the edge of the area to be aimed goal-wards and nestle inside
the far post: 1-0.
I said this game didn’t have many memorable moments, but an
Eye-Ball shot on target is a rare and noteworthy event. On this occasion he followed up as the keeper
spilled a free kick from the edge of the box, but he then spread himself to
block Eye-Ball’s firmly struck effort from close range, and the half finished
1-0.
Once we had decided that grapefruit wasn’t actually all that
bad, we took to the field again for the second half, and quickly restored
parity. Ryan – leading the attack in the
absence of Dale – latched onto Foggy’s ball to race clear and showed that
clinical finishing runs in the family, as he creamed the ball back across the
keeper and into the corner of the goal: 1-1.
The game didn’t improve much following this display of
quality, and it was about 20 minutes from the end that we found ourselves
behind again, when Rochford’s winger drove the ball across Andrew and into the
net from the left side or our box: 2-1.
Again, our response was almost immediate. A whipped in cross
by Jake was spilled by the keeper, right onto Robin’s trusty right knee, and he
walked the ball into the net: 2-2.
What then followed was a series of over-reactions which put
the fly on top of the massive turd that had been the previous 80 minutes. Foggy found himself on the wrong end of an
eye-watering collision, which was definitely a foul but seemed devoid of
malice. Jake saw it differently and
reacted when he knows he shouldn’t have.
However, this should never have led to World War III, and in the heat of
the moment the ref sent off Jake and left all of the villians on the opposition
team to wallow in their smugness. The
gaffa and Luke then had a DoTD nominated handbag duel before some sort of calm
was restored and we got on with playing the next 40 minutes with 10 men.
Luke had picked up an injury of his own towards the end of
90 minutes, which left no choice other than to bring on Liam. This meant moving Brian – who had put in one
hell of a shift on the left – to the middle, Sharpy to the left, Liam right and
Ryan upfront on his own. A combination
of tiredness, loss of concentration and being vertically inferior saw us
concede three times from set pieces in extra time, the first coming with 93
minutes on the clock: 3-2.
Rochford had a habit of playing a high line and committing
too many midfielders in attack. Eye-Ball
had already exploited this twice in normal time by catching them in possession
and racing forward with the ball. The
first time the through ball to Ryan wasn’t good enough and the second time
vertigo set in and Eye-Ball found himself at least 10 yards offside. When it happened again in extra time, the
pass for Ryan was better, but when he superbly turned the last defender he
could only shoot wide with tired legs.
Liam played through the discomfort of an injured knee to
make a real impact in extra time, and when Sharpy won the ball on the left and
played it inside to his FIFA buddy, Liam hit triangle (or whatever through-ball
is), and Ryan calmly slotted the ball home: 3-3.
Two goals either side of half time in extra time then killed
us off – one was another headed goal and the next a rebound after Andrew saved
a free kick at his near post: 5-3.
I say
these goals killed us off, but it was fantastic to see that we refused to die
quietly. Chappers had sobered up enough
now to instruct us to play three at the back, and (along with Rob, Eye-Ball and
James) continued to defend as if his life depended on it. The defence were backed up by Foggy, who ran himself
into the ground, and Ryan continued to harass Rochford’s defence as Sharpy,
Liam and Brian looked to help him get the third goal his performance
deserved. However, it wasn’t to be, and
although we went out of the Essex Cup in the first round for the first time in
4 years, at least we went out fighting. Now we can concentrate on the league
and cup double!
Ryan was deservedly voted MoTM for his two excellently taken
goals, and for being pretty much our only attacking outlet for much of the game
– a job he did without a word of complaint.
Despite Sharpy trying to deflect thoughts from the main incident (which
included his handbag antics) by highlighting a skewed pass from Eye-Ball, the
DoTD award had to go to Jake – although there were definitely no hard feelings
and the subsequent apology for getting sent off was met with the following words of
wisdom: “Jake should have hit him instead of a girly push.” Oh well, you live
and learn.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 11th October – @ home v FC
Deportivo Thurrock
Goal scoring chart
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