Up until 2.00 o’clock on Saturday afternoon this was the most frustrating week of the season, for many different reasons everything felt like it was going wrong. By Wednesday I had 6 players available for the weekend’s game, by Thursday we were up to 10 by Friday evening we had 13 by Saturday morning we were back down to 10. A couple of frantic phone calls and I was able to get another player along to make it to a basic 11. The squad (ha ha) included:
Just getting at least eleven players there wasn’t our only problem, we didn’t know who we were playing! Although the original fixture should have been Larkfield we had received reports suggesting it had been switched to Lanes End. A flurry of calls resulted in us finding our fixture had been swapped to Lanes End without our knowledge, so at around 10 o’clock Saturday morning we had to rush around and find new maps and directions for Lanes End and prey that all eleven men showed up.
Once we got to the ground the team seemed really up for the game even though we were carrying a few injuries and a couple of players had colds. We were playing a very good side that in previous seasons were very competitive and physical, and I was worried as we had a very young side (I must have looked a bit like Michael Jackson turning up with these young lads) that we may get bullied out of the game. Thankfully and to the 11 guy’s credit we competed from the first minute to the last.
I can honestly say that I have not been involved with a Saturday side that competed like this for a long time, usually you have 6 or 7 of the side working hard for each other but today all eleven worked their socks off and I could not ask for anymore commitment. I cannot tell you why they were so committed as it certainly didn’t have anything to do with my team talk as I was so cold I could barely speak, I managed to say just enough so everyone knew where they were playing the rest was just my teeth chattering together. It may have been due to them feeling a little let down by some of the 14 players who could not play for various reasons, rightly or wrongly this did seem to inspire my brave 11 little soldiers.
The game started at a lightning pace and it took us about ten minutes to get into the game really, after this we started to find our feet and start playing some decent football at times, with a young goalkeeper making his debut we tried to protect him as much as possible, but we needn’t have worried as Marcus had a stormer in his first game and we couldn’t have asked for more from him, although he seems to have the curse of Pembury goalkeepers with his kicking.
The back four competed for first and second balls and the only problem was they were a little square at times and this resulted in us conceding the goal as one ball took out the whole defence. For the striker to slot home giving Marcus no chance. At half time we spoke about one of the centre halves just dropping off a few yards to give us an extra line of cover so we wouldn’t be caught square, the second half was much better from the defence and we didn’t look like they would get in behind us. But overall a great defensive performance throughout the game, they put their bodies on the line, whether it was foot, chest, head or hands (great save strawbs!) they didn’t shirk anything.
We managed to get back into the game shortly after conceding with probably the best move of the match, with some good football and some tidy passing Ollie found himself at the far post and smashed a shot at goal which the keeper did well to parry luckily Ben Brooker was there to convert the rebound and scored a goal he earned on the day as he was outstanding up front and ran them ragged for 90 minutes, not bad fro someone who had a dead leg. Unfortunately Ollie took a nasty whack on his metatarsal but bravely carried on playing (although he is probably still whinging about it now, I thought rugby players were meant to be tough), he had a great game and was as good going forward as he was defensively.
The Midfield were industrious throughout and although outnumbered 5 to 4 held their own and competed for everything. Woody must have covered most of the pitch, Ross although struggling with a cold worked hard and played some killer passes that put the opposition on the back foot.
Tom Gent although he probably could have fitted into the pocket of the guy he was marking he more than made up for his size with effort. A special mention (and it pains me to do this) has to go to Dave Hymers, although we haven’t always seen eye to eye, Dave has without a doubt been the most committed member of this team this season and that includes the management. This is usually been the best I could say about him so far this season although a couple of games when he went in goal I could praise his performance, but this is probably the first time I can say he played really well and almost to the level we know he’s capable of. He also looked and sounded like a captain. Although his fitness is still very questionable he ran until the end, won almost every header at both ends and was my man of the match, nicking just from everyone else.
The two forwards of Ben Brooker and Alex Donaldson were a constant threat mainly on the break and didn’t give the opposition much resting time, which was shown by the amount of times Alex won the ball back from the opposition which was a part of his game we hadn’t seen until now.
Overall a great performance from the 11 guys who played, it was by no means the best game of football you have ever seen and we rode our luck at times but on pure effort and determination we did not deserve to lose, and a draw was maybe a fair result. The opposition may feel a little hard done by as they had more possession but apart from maybe a couple of good chances we restricted them well and had a few chances ourselves to get a win. Once again a great team performance and well done to everyone involved.
If a few more people could make themselves available we could really have a good side able to compete with the best in that league.
Team
M.Lawrence
L.Smith
T.Bowyer
G.Hughes
O.Allman
T.Gent
M.Wood
D.Hymers,
R.Taylor
B.Brooker
A.Donaldson
Subs:
Mr Nobody
The Invisible man