Up against the league leaders it was always going to be a tough match although the opposition only brought along a kids ball and we could not find a pump for ours. The boggy grass pitch looked to be more favorable to us given the silky passing Black Bee played in the previous match
Starting lineup of 4:5:1 JimR (GK) Stef-Colin-Sean-Pete, Willie-Joe-Mike-Adam-Cowley, Rory.
We started brightly attacking into the less boggy part of the pitch. The trio of Joe-Mike-Adam were winning lots of ball in the air, on the ground and some sublime passing left the opposition chasing shadows in the middle of the pitch. Cowley and Willie were finding spaces down the wings but the ball delivery in the final third never quite managed to find a yellow shirt with a chance on goal.
The opposition won the usual amount of dodgy throw ins and free kicks and these were there only real chances although one ball did evade Jim and cross the face of the goal however we managed to clear our lines.
Some great movement from saw Joe running from behind to put a perfect header over their keeper who was caught off his line however this was oddly blown as offside see video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Half time one change with Ed on for Willie down the left.
We started the 2nd as we had left off the first however the opposition were getting progressively more irritable and frustrated. Playing into the boggy part of the pitch some of our slick moves broke down as the ball got trapped in the mud. Rory and Adam found themselves within striking distance of the goal on a number of occasions only to get bogged down.
We made changes after 5 mins with Cowley and Joe off, Rory going right wing and Stef up top with bigDan on as left back and Jeff slotting into midfield staying 4:5:1.
Our back 4 was solid with Colin immense at the back directly the show and making lots of clearances and interceptions. Stef got stuck in up front and the game opened up more as both sides started to tire although a lot of time was lost with balls ending up in various building sites.
20 mins to go Matteo on for Rory right wing and shortly after Sanj for Adam. We rode our luck somewhat towards the end with an uncleared corner stuck from the right side coming off the inside of the post and back out, just before the end Colin had the ball stuck in the mud allowing their striker to shoot with Jim pulling off an amazing save dropping to his right to palm out for a corner.
Ref appeared to blow up slightly early given there was still 5mins of pitch time left however with a few dicey moments near the end happy to come away with a draw in a very close match.
It’s still quite tight in the top half of the table and we have a game in hand sitting in 6th in theory we could get 2nd place if we win remaining games and some other results go our way. Realistically 3rd spot is achievable, if we drop points depends which teams it’s against and we may end up 4/5th. In any event we must take 3 points off Lama this weekend so let’s get another strong team out.
Didn’t get around to MOM in the pub however I have to say it’s a tossup between Colin and Jim at the back and the trio of Joe/Adam/Michael in the midfield. Jim edging Colin with the superb save at the end of the match. As for mug of the day, check out the footage for some candidates – loading up now.
