Whilst having to explain another dismal defeat for Newcastle
United, Steve McClaren stated that it’s not the squad or the tactics that make
the difference between winning and losing; it’s all down to attitude. Now McClaren isn’t getting much right at the
moment, but he was absolutely correct on this occasion, as this applies as much
on a blustery Sunday morning at Belhus Park as it does at a packed Selhurst
Park on a Saturday afternoon. Newcastle
could definitely learn something from Aveley Academicals, whose attitude was
spot on as they exacted revenge for the narrow (and undeserved) defeat to
Deportivo earlier in the season. Sure,
we would have preferred the margin of victory to be a little bigger, and the
referee kept us sweating for the final whistle, but to leave the battlefield
victorious having let a two goal lead slip – followed by a one goal and almost
a three goal advantage – took character and desire which some have questioned at
times this season. Perhaps the
well-attend social on Friday had helped reunite us – a big thank you to our
sponsor!
The squad may not be everything, but having one definitely
helps and once again Sharpy had a strong one to choose from. The fact that he could leave Robin, Jake and
James on the bench despite missing both H and Mo is testament to how good we
are collectively if we have the numbers.
Arguably our best performance of the season against Stanford Town was
with Nick in a holding role, and Sharpy chose to deploy him in this position
again, with Scott being given the opportunity to prove himself in the middle
with Ryan.
Subs: Robin, James, Jake
Deportivo’s strengths are in their size, strength and speed
in attack. Where they are not so good is
at tracking runners and defending through balls. We didn’t exploit this enough in the previous
fixture, but Eye-Ball and Dale demonstrated in the first five minutes what was
possible if we kept the ball on the floor, as the defender played the ball in
the space inside the full-back to meet the striker’s incisive run. The keeper saved on this occasion, but the
marker had been set.
With the wind in our favour in the first half, we were
making better use of possession and restricting our opponents in attack, helped
in a large part by Nick who always seemed to be on hand to cut out the long
balls which inevitably fell a little short.
With the wind naturally taking the ball right, Scott and Craig were
seeing a lot of it, and kept things neat and simple as they looked to bring
Liam and Ryan into the game.
It was Ryan who was instrumental in providing the
breakthrough for us when he linked up with Dale on the right before racing with
the ball to the bye line. Dale turned
and sprinted into the box, and arrived at exactly the right moment to stroke
Ryan’s pull back into the bottom corner: 0-1.
Dale should have had a second when Liam latched onto a loose
ball played at the back and raced clear.
He did everything right but the keeper saved well. Liam didn’t give up, and won back possession
before squaring the ball on the edge of the six yard box to Dale. With the goal seemingly at his mercy, he hit
the ball directly at the defender on the line, and it was cleared to safety.
If Dale missing such an easy chance was strange, there were
other things happening which would have left some wondering if we had entered a
parallel universe. One of the discussion
points of Friday night had centred on the belief that we need to get a bit more
steel and grit into our game. However,
Eye-Ball maybe took this a bit far, as a rash challenge incensed Deportivo’s
big number nine, and sparked an angry scene.
Players from both sides were on hand to avoid Eye-Ball being turned into
Peperami soup, with some of the guys volunteering to act as character
witnesses. This was much appreciated,
but I really must question Scott’s apparent claim that “He wouldn’t hurt
anyone. He plays the trumpet”. For starters Scott, it’s a trombone, and if
you’d seen some of the things I have at band camp you’d think twice about
walking down an alley with a man holding a music stand in one hand and a big
lump of brass in the other. Eye-Ball rightly
received a booking, and spent the rest of the game being told by his team mates
to calm down. What really took the
biscuit was Sharpy pulling him to one side to warn him of the opposition’s
likely attempts to get him sent off. I
don’t know what this place is, but I don’t want to go back!
Once order had been restored, Aveley once again got on with
the task in hand and extended their lead when Blakely stuck out an 8 foot long
leg to steer Dale’s free kick into the bottom corner. There is pretty much no doubt that everyone –
including Dale – were expecting a shot, which makes Blakey reacting in time
somewhat of a miracle. Having said that
perhaps the slide just coincided fortuitously with Blakey decided to take a
rest: 0-2.
We haven’t been great at defending set pieces this season,
and throughout this match Deportivo looked like scoring from dead balls thanks
to their height and superb deliveries. Apart from this we were keeping them at bay with
Foggy only having to tip one shot round the post. It was from a corner that was well headed home
that they got a goal back before half-time, and it could have been worse if
Ryan hadn’t cleared another scramble from a corner off the line: 1-2.
What with another headed effort skidding off the top of the
crossbar, and Blakey pulling up with a suspected torn hamstring on the stroke
of half-time, we were grateful to hear the referee’s whistle and have ten
minutes to regroup.
Sharpy made two changes at half time as Robin replaced the
injured Blakey, and Jake stepped in for Scott.
It was pretty obvious that the wind was going to cause us as many
problems as the opposition in the second half, as Eye-Ball demonstrated with a
sliced clearance from 20 yards out which flew straight up in the air before
catching in the gale force wind and spinning rapidly towards our goal. Foggy bravely flung himself into the goal to
intervene if required – picking up a dead leg for his troubles – but fortunately
the ball dropped just over the bar. This
resulted in one of many corners which we couldn’t afford to concede, and we
were punished early in the second half when the run of the striker to the front
post was not tracked, and the low corner was flicked into the net: 2-2.
We would have all been gutted to let a two goal lead slip,
but we didn’t have to wait long for our spirits to be lifted again. Now despite scoring 69 goals, it is an
indisputable* fact that Eye-Ball has still scored more headers for the club
than Dale. It was therefore a rare and
fantastic sight to see number 70 flying in from close range off the hairspray laden
bonce of our prolific striker. To be
fair, he hardly had a choice other than to head the ball into the net, given
that the outstanding cross from Craig was driven right onto Dale’s barnet: 2-3.
*I say indisputable, but I’d need to check this but I can’t
be bothered so would rather just make this wild claim.
One incredible sight was soon matched by another, when
Deportivo’s midfielder laced the bouncing ball from 35 yards off the underside
of the crossbar and into the net. There
was absolutely nothing Foggy could do – although the dive made this a great one
for the cameras – and our lead had been snuffed out again: 3-3.
The chances were coming thick and fast now, with Robin
almost becoming the second defender to score in the match, when he stretched
but could not quite get enough on a pin-point free kick from Jake from on the
half way line, which he dropped onto the six yard box like Tiger Woods pinging
a 9 iron within inches of the flag (hopefully that is all Jake and Tiger have
in common).
In an incredible ten minute spell, the Accies went from
being in danger of losing a game they had dominated to opening up a three goal
lead. First Luke bravely won the ball on
the half way line despite the high boot lunging at his head, before playing in
Dale. He raced clear, and when his shot
was parried by the keeper Ryan was on hand to score on the second attempt as
(for the second week running) his initial header was blocked: 3-4.
Four became five when Ryan rose highest to get something on
a corner from the left. The ball fell
backwards into the path of Brian, who capped off a superb performance at the
back with arguably his best goal for the club, as he took a touch before
lifting the ball through a crowded area into the top corner: 3-5.
It would have hurt Dale to have been pulled off (I mean
substituted!) during last week’s game, and having had prolonged discussions
during the week with the gaffa, his reaction in this game was magnificent. He chased absolutely everything, and was even
seen defending in our box at one point.
He was a constant threat, and I suspect at least two of Deportivo’s less
mobile defenders are still having nightmares about him gliding past them with
ease. The fact that the referee penalised
him for diving when the defender gave up any hope of getting the ball and
simply barged into Dale was truly shocking.
However, Dale definitely had the last laugh as he made Aveley’s sixth
goal when he evaded two defenders to latch onto Eye-Ball’s ball down the line
before running in field and shooting from a tight angle. The keeper got to the ball, but couldn’t keep
hold which left James (on for Craig), with the easiest of tap ins (although I
for one was still holding my breath given our track record over the last two
games): 3-6.
This sixth goal proved to be vital, as we conceded twice in
the last ten minutes, from diagonal right to left balls, which curled in
towards the goal on the wind, leaving our defence floundering. The first was scuffed, and somehow looped
over Foggy into the net, and the next was brought down with one touch and then
slide past Foggy with the next: 5-6.
After all the issues we have had with referees, “ref bashing”
is definitely something we shouldn’t get involved in. However, all you ask is that referees are consistent
with their decision making, and treat both teams the same. During this game it was hard not to feel like
we were playing against twelve men at times.
There is no arguing our three bookings, but to see the opposition go
unpunished for threatening behaviour, blatant pushes, cynical fouls and for give
as much lip to the ref as we did was both unexplainable and unforgivable. Then at the end of the game it seemed like he
was determined to keep playing until the opposition equalised. Sure, it isn’t
his fault our defence turned to jelly, but when you say there are four minutes
left to play you expect to only have to hold out for roughly that amount of
time. Still, football is all about
overcoming obstacles – which takes the right attitude. Enough said.
Voting for MoTM was tougher than ever this week, with so
many players putting in superb performances.
The majority of the votes when to Dale, Ryan, Nick and Brian. Dale just edged it, and picked up his third
award of the season, which is as many as anyone got in the whole of last
year. DoTD was even tougher to choose,
with Dale’s 6 yard chance and Foggy being lobbed from 10 yards being two
suggestions worthy of note. However,
both these risked taking the gloss of what had been a superb all round
performance, so Sharpy nobly fell on his sword and took the award for…shameful
eating of a bacon sandwich? It is
actually worth mentioning that Sharpy showed an uncharacteristic level of
controlled despite the referee pressing all the wrong buttons, and was even
able to be talked out of confronting the man in black following his shocking
booking of Foggy when a maul formed on the goal line. Oh dear, we’re back in that parallel universe…
Next week we are at Belhus again to play Jacks Lads, and
will need to show even more grit and determination to extend our winning streak
with a number of key players being missing.
I have no doubt we can continue to show what we’re made of.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 6th December – Away v Jacks
Lads @ Belhus Park
Goal scoring chart
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