Thursday 30 April 2009

With all the strength we could Garner...


With a squad decimated by injury, swine fever and players putting rock
music before Notvery, only six players headed up to Bishop(s) Burton for what
was a must win game. Fortunately for us every single one of them was a
hero.

The pre-match warm up didn't suggest things were going to be any
different to normal with passes going astray and shots flying wide of the
goal. However, as soon as the kick of whistle blew things were different.

In the first half some excellent kicks from the keeper were putting
pressure on the Black Socks, backed up by some good link-up play from the
forwards. Defensively we looked perfectly safe and the few shots that were
heading anywhere near our goal were more than comfortably dealt with by
Paul, who proved to be immense between the sticks. Our new player was
proving himself to be well worth his 'pint in the pub afterwards' signing
fee, flicking on many of Paul's long straight kicks and Chris H managed 2
or 3 shots on goal, testing the opponents keeper. Colin and Chris G dealt
with everything at the back and our captain put in the miles linking up
the attack with the defense and making his presence felt at both ends of
the field.

The second half began in a similar vein, however half way through an
excellent ball forward was controlled perfectly by Dave who passed it to
Chris H, I made a run through the centre and Chris slotted a perfectly
weighted pass through the tiniest gap in their defense putting me through
on goal, unfortunately I delayed my shot for too long and a Black socks
defender was able to get close enough to put me off my shot giving us
just a corner from what was a perfectly worked move.

As fatigue began to set in from having no substitutes, I swapped places
with Colin, putting me in defense and allowing Colin to make his famous
charges down the wing. He straight away proved to be a problem for the
opposition finding space and collecting Dave's flick ons. However the
fatigue of a constant end to end match was showing on our forwards and
midfield line, with nobody getting back, leaving our defense open to
several overlaps and often being outnumbered by the opposition, however
we stood firm, often putting our bodies on the line, and kept their
scoring opportunities to a minimum.

Whilst defending a corner Chris H took a slight knock and slotted into
the defense allowing me to go up field for the final couple of minutes,
another well worked move left Dave on the edge of the box, but his
attempt to shoot was cut off by a foul giving us a free kick on the edge
of the area with the opposition wall about 3 foot away from the ball.
Colin stepped up to take the kick, but his options were limited as Dave
and I were well marked. However, having been told by Chris H that he was
going to stay back Chris Garner stealthed up the field, with a nonchalance only he could manage, into scoring range of the goal. Colin slotted across a perfect pass and Chris, with all the composure you could ever muster cooly side footed the ball under the keeper. I'm not entirely sure what happened next, some people may suggest we over celebrated the goal but that celebration had been waiting 7 weeks and we weren't going to cut it short.

After the restart, an opposition restart not at kick off or half time which is an unusual occurance for us, the Black socks piled forwards, but our determination shone through, perfectly illustrated by Chris H's fighting headed clearance. Finally the whistle blew and we had our victory, fully earn't and fully deserved. I can name next weeks starting line up straight away, exactly the same as this week. Those returning to the side are going to have a fight to get back on the field, I suggest some training attendance is required.

As we dragged our tired and battered bodies off towards the pub for our weekly debriefing we were all thinking the same thought; Notvery were off the bottom. Losing that game could have been the final nail in our coffin, fortunately Chris G sneaked in and stole the undertaker's hammer.


he doesn't look like he cares,
but he'll catch you unawares,
Chris G,
Chris G...



Web Marketplace Solutions Football Club (WMpS FC)

8 comments:

  1. How can nobody comment on this.. our first victory n all that..
    Hope you dont look to me to be like this every week.. you know its not gonna happen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Every other week will be fine.

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  3. 1 in 7 good enough for you?

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  4. but theres only 5 more games...

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  5. I see you have made yourself Geoff Hurst, Bill. Does that mean a hatrick is in the offing??

    Or are you intent on mirroring his career as Chelsea manager (ie rubbish).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Preferably the former, probably the latter.

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  7. So when are we going to get a proper team photo then? I want to see these awesome High Vis kits!

    Well done on the goal by the way, I predict your conversion rates will improve if you give me £10K and invest another £20k in development.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Team photo now proudly displayed at the back of the boys toilets, in a cupboard, a locked cupboard. With a snake in it. A grumpy snake. With a gun. A grumpy gun.

    ReplyDelete