Those who find my match reports a little too War and Peace,
and not enough Janet and John, will be pleased to hear that this week’s round
up is brief. Partly due to my own time
constraints, but mainly because there is probably more to forget than remember
about this game. In the end we were the
ones sneaking off in the wooden horse, with three points most of us admitted we
probably didn’t deserve. Still after 4
straight defeats – at least two of which we deserved to win – and the disappointment last week of turning up at Blackshots to find a note saying all games were off because the locks to the changing rooms had been changed, we desperately
needed the three points, and as someone pointed out – what goes around comes
around.
With a strong squad to choose from, Sharpy would have been
looking forward to stalking the touch line and marshalling his troops. Instead the boots were put on and he trudged
to the middle with stopwatch and whistle in hand. Sharpy already does far too much for this
club, and having to referee due to a last minute drop out really is beyond the
call of duty.
Subs: Scott, Craig,
Jake
A strong wind blowing from one end of the pitch to the other
made for difficult playing conditions, and despite kicking into the wind in the
first half we really struggled to settle.
It seemed like the wind was carrying away all our enthusiasm and energy,
in addition to the smell of bacon and the inaudible squeak of Sharpy’s
whistle. The ball spent far too long in
the air, and although there were some flashes of the quick one and two touch
football which has been so encouraged in training, these instances were too few
and far between.
However, we did take the lead when Nick collected the ball
on the right and played a ball in, which bamboozled the defender near the
penalty spot and fell invitingly for Liam to calmly stroke into the net with
his left: 1-0.
We should have pushed on from here, but instead we conceded
the first of two sloppy goals from set pieces.
On the first occasion the ball was whipped in from the right hand side
of the box, and allowed to bounce to the back post where Tom (brother of James)
reacted quickest to nod past Foggy: 1-1.
The Accies re-took the lead with a sublime move which saw
Ryan linking up with Mo, who showed great feet to find some space on the edge
of the box and play the ball through to Dale.
Our top scorer then fired the ball across the goal keeper, who couldn’t
prevent the ball crossing the line despite getting a hand to it: 2-1.
We couldn’t hold onto the lead for long, as another free
kick was awarded to the opposition by Sharpy on the edge of the box. Foggy got down well to save the ball at his
near post, but once again it was a Trojan’s player reacting quickest to fire
home the rebound: 2-2.
If the first half wasn’t much of a spectacle, the second
half was awful. Neither side ever seemed
to have control of the ball, with possession constantly changing hands, passes
being misplaced or over-hit and tempers rising.
However, there were three more goals, with Trojans getting the first to
take the lead for the first time. Eye-Ball
was caught in possession, and Tom raced clear before passing the ball to his
team mate to slot home: 2-3.
We weren’t behind for long as, amidst farcical scenes, Ryan won
a penalty which was converted by Dale.
Whilst most of us were watching Ryan being chased across the area by the
goal keeper in pursuit of the loose ball, it was all kicking off on the half
way line between Nick (who had been kicked in the face) and the opposition’s
troubled centre mid (who just wanted to kill everyone – including his own
players). As Sharpy raced over to avert
a punch up cries of “PENALTY!” rang out, because Ryan had got to the ball first
and been unceremoniously taken out from behind by the keeper. Sharpy had turned just in time to see this,
and so when something resembling order had been restored the penalty was
awarded and scored. Some of the
opposition chose to doubt Sharpy’s honesty, arguing that he couldn’t have seen
the incident if he was dealing with what was going on at the half way
line. However, Sharpy says he saw what
happened, and despite what some were saying one thing you can’t doubt is
Sharpy’s honesty. I quite honestly
missed both key moments (my natural reaction is to close my eyes when I see
Sharpy charging towards the oppo), but the general lack of complaints from the
goal keeper and those defenders who had actually bothered to play on, rather
than swinging their handbags, suggest that justice, in the end, was done: 3-3.
We had more than one chance to snatch the victory, with the
best falling to Eye-Ball, who anticipated Rob’s flick on from a long throw but
saw his stooping header deflect of his marker in the six yard box and trickle
agonisingly wide.
Scott and Craig replaced Mo and Nick midway through the
second half, and showed enough good touches and accurate passes to suggest they
fit perfectly into the type of team we are trying to become. However, it was left to two of the Aveley
stalwarts – Ryan and Liam – to save the day, with the former running across the
goal to avoid the defender before hitting the ball back across the keeper with
his left. The keeper parried the shot,
and Liam was on hand to finish into the empty net and hand us the victory: 4-3.
Man of the match came down to a revote, which saw Liam edge
out Harry. Both players deserved to win
the vote thanks to their commitment and unquestionable effort both on and off
the ball. I suppose Liam’s two goals
rightly swung the result his way.
DoTD went to Blakey following a passionate campaign to see the
big centre half awarded this honour. Even
he would admit it wasn’t his best day at the office, and taking an impromptu
rest in the middle of the pitch was never going to help – I suppose he could
argue that the air is a bit thin up there, so lying horizontal just helps fill
the lungs. Some dubious voting patterns prevented it
going to Scott, who turned up about 15 minutes before kick off only to proclaim
that his Mum was currently driving back to Chadwell with his kit in the
car. He wasn’t get out of playing that easily,
and we manage to scrape enough kit together for him to play.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 22nd November @ Home v Jacks
Lads
Goal scoring chart
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