After putting on a few pounds over Christmas we were back in action at our old hunting ground Ma on Shan scene of many a famous nite Spartans victory. We were playing RC who we recently drew with 1-1 two games previously.
With 18 on the list I was shocked at the lack of drop outs with only 1 person dropping out before the game. Perhaps the coldest day of the winter so far saw us line up in our usual 4-4-2 formation as follows:
GK: Henry
D: Sanj (C), Colin, Jason, Terry
M: Edd, Woody, Tom, Jeff
S: Stef, Rich
We started off the game passing the ball around quiet well with Sanj playing some good balls down the line to Rich who was getting constantly body checked rather than the opposition playing the ball. In the first half we had one shot on goal with the opposition only producing a few shots from far our as well. Woody was playing well in the middle and Henry was excellent in goal, we just struggled to get the ball forwards towards the strikers. Going in at half time 0-0 was a fair reflection on the game.
The 2nd half was a lot more entertaining. With a raft of subs coming on Paul for Jeff, Mike for Jason, Chi for Tel, Henry for Tom and Jeff going in goal. We started the 2nd half brightly with Henry and Woody playing well. A great cross from Stef saw Rich put the ball wide which he really should of scored. Moments later Henry put a great ball to Stef who did excellently to put a ball through to Rich to finish to make it 1-0. Celebrations were short lived because about 3 minutes later as like Moses splitting the red sea a huge gap between our centre backs saw a through ball go through to their quick striker to score to make it 1-1. Jamil on for Sanj, Ean on for Edd and Tom on for Woody. Around 25% of the time in the first half was taken up by us collecting the ball, trying to pump up another ball and then deciding which ball we wanted to play with which hindered our time available to try and win the game.
It got worse as a few minutes later Paul made a sliding tackle inside the box to give them a penalty. Luckily their player managed to hit the bar and an escape for Paul who was adamant he didn’t foul him. More drama was to ensue as like the first goal Moses was still up to his tricks. Another ball straight through our centre backs saw them score again to make it 2-1.
Unfortunately the game finished with a loss which is a shame as a draw would have been a fair result a few moments of madness saw us lose but we will be back for more.
Back in the pub after with around 10 players saw Stef be crowned MOM with a very close call for MUG with Rich and Terry tying, after a recount Terry was confirmed as MUG some might say he was even encouraging it with his comments.
And as 2012 comes to an end we look forward to 2013 with lots more football on the horizon. So far this season we have done pretty well and have a good group of guys. Lets keep up the efforts.
