On the carpet pitch of Boundary Street playground we were bundled out of the 2010/11 A League cup last night on penalties

A bit light on defenders we drafted Bertie (CB) in at the last minute alongside an experimental back line of AndyB (RB), MikeM (CB) and Stef (LB), stalwart Tom and Aidan marshaled the midfield, Ed & Matt ran the flanks while Patrick & Nick roamed up front.

It soon became clear what the opposition tactics were, punt the ball hard either up the field, or out, and pretty much nothing else. With a hard pitch it took 3-4 touches just to get the ball on the ground, our midfield were closed down quickly from throw-ins and goal kicks and we struggled to get any rhythm.
When we did get the ball on the ground we passed it around well and attacked down the flanks  – when then ball was in the air it was a total free for all – it could not have been further from Jogar Bonito than Gary Glitter being described as suffering from teleiophilia.

A quick goalkick from Danny saw one of their players pick the ball up in the box (that would mean a retake ref!!), however he was intercepted, the ball was fed out to Matt on the right who sprinted to the corner flag, a nice right cross back into the penalty box saw Patrick side foot in 1-nil 10 mins in.

20 mins in and a couple of changes with Ed & Nick off, Patrick onto the left wing and Dan & Sunny up front. We managed to get the ball on the ground a bit more however we failed to do anything in the final third and our period of possession yielded nothing further. Aidan picked up a card along with the opposition for some agree bargy.

1/2 time changes with Matt & Patrick off, MarkO on the right  Chi up front with Dan and Sunny moving onto the wing.

More of the same in the second half, end to end stuff – but primarily the ball on it’s own rather than with anyone.
With the opposition name translating as "Horka" they must have thought it was Haka as they got more vocal on and off the pitch amd if one closed ones eyes, you could have been hearing a preview of New Zealand scaring the french away on Sunday.

Chi chasing a ball and blocked by one of their players got a ridiculous card for a push in the back, at the other end Tom through on goal was brought down by the opposition, no card however we did get the free kick, Aidan’s shot did not dip in time and went over the bar. Dan came the closest with a header and Chi had a few runs into the box but was over marked.

As the half wore on the opposition had a few chances latching onto a few long balls down the wings and crossing into the box as well as 4-5 dubious free kicks won in our half. With the clock ticking down and our subs ready to come back on they broke behind the defense, Danny came out but did not reach the ball and their player chipped to level the match.

Ed/Nick/Patrick back on for Dan/Chi/Sunny as we tried to grab a winner in the final 10 mins came to nothing and the match went to penalties.

Bertie volunteered straight away along with Chi, however Patrick did not hear Chi, request for more saw AndyB, Tom, Stef and Chi, Patrick did not hear Chi again….so the first 4 were up with either Aidan or Dan having the 5th.

I should have mentioned this before, but unfortunately there are no bonus points for hitting the post, only for scoring!

Bertie – left post
Oppo – goal
Stef – goal
Oppo – goal
AndyB right post
Oppo – goal
Tom – left post
Out 3:1

Penalty taking session at training next week?
At least not as bad as this though…check link below
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2011/sep/07/al-ahly-amir-sayoud-misses-penalty-video
http://gu.com/p/3xyyn