Seven of us strolled up to Bishop Burton that night, weakened in the middle by the loss of Ben who unfortunately had been forced to miss the match for a thoroughly rubbish reason. Rob was back with us so we were a little stronger up top. If the NVA was a woman we had basically gone from Pamela Anderson to Carol Vorderman. However with Chris and Dave B at the back as usual we still had the legs of Tessa Sanderson.
As is usually the case from kickoff they kept the ball for some time but were not going anywhere and eventually fired wide from long range. I have been studying why they seem to keep the ball at the start for so long, using eye witness accounts as well as the latest video technology and have decided that it is due to me generally starting on the bench, I did put together a ten page document explaining why this is the case but unfortunately I left it on the bus and the dog ate it.
Not long later they had another attack with their four foot two striker bombing down our left wing. He attempted to go passed Chris on the outside but was stopped in his tracks with what we all thought was a perfectly timed tackle. Although what we saw as a perfectly timed tackle may not be an exact interpretation of the rules and their little terrier didn’t seem to like it, although to be fair he didn't like anything.
The match was looking pretty even, and quite a good spectacle for the fans, end to end stuff with some nice tackles going in however the highlight of the game was when the mighty NVA broke the deadlock. It all happened in a flash and Chris had a better view, and has a better memory, than I so I asked him to describe it:
‘Well held up by Gadie, drew in a couple of defenders then dinked it in to Rob, took it down and wallop’
Sounds pretty accurate to me.
After the wonder goal the game continued in a similar vein, with neither team making any clear cut chances and This was generally story in the second half as well, but towards the end our lack of fitness began to show and it was this more than a lack of ability that lead to their two goals. I was dead on my ass for the last five minutes and seemed to just arrive at one end of the pitch in time for everyone there to be ushering me back down the other. Guys, if you’re needing to tell me ‘get up there, Will. Get back Will’ the reason I’m not already doing it is that I’m entirely knackered.
It didn’t feel like we deserved to lose this game, a draw felt like a fairer result but we played ok until the fatigue set in and I also took it as a compliment that the opposition needed to spend so much time fouling us when we were attacking; it’s going to take a few washes to get the handprints off the back of Rob’s shirt.
As to the man of the match, this is a tough one. No one really stood out. Rob did his job and scored a goal, Gadie, Rich and I covered a lot of ground in the midfield, Chris and Dave were pretty solid at the back and Al made some good saves with some excellent distribution. So this week, the whole team get it. Not neccassarily for being great, just for being as good as each other. Cop out? Yup.
Web Marketplace Solutions Football Club (WMpS FC)
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