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| Tuesday’s
game was our third cup attempt of the season, this time the Invitation
Cup which is a new fangled device intended to fill up the extra
slots now that there are only three divisions in the league. I
neglected to point out before the game that premier league opponents
Brentnal hold our worst ever defeat record namely a whopping 21-0
in February last year, they were in our division then you see.
Looking at the team sheet for that game we didn’t actually
look too bad, we were playing 3-5-2 at the time with speedy Mark
Nesbitt as sweeper, Birdie (ex Hartlepool reserves, appears on
FIFA 2000) in midfield and Andy North (top scorer despite playing
only half the season) up front. The only people who played in
both games are Dom, who claims that he went off injured after
15 minutes last year, and Giles who has presumably improved as
the latest game went to penalties at 1-1. I have to hold my hands
up here and mention that I played the entire game at centre half.
So anyway, it’s official, we’re a better side now
than we were then. |
| For
the first half hour the teams were evenly matched, in fact we
had a couple of shots on target and they didn’t. The Albion
gave Brentnall very little time on the ball, defence truly did
start at the front, and passed well when in possession. We could
still have done with a few more balls out to the wings but there
was plenty of movement into space, a fair bit of talking and lots
of hard graft for the team. As ever I find it hard to recall (or
at least describe succinctly) specific events, I know Tom had
a few chances up front, James created space and set people up
(as did Aidan), and the midfield were good too. Stuart got stuck
in well at fullback throughout the game as did Jon, while Will
filled in nicely at centre half along with Dom. And Giles has
started coming off his line to great effect, he even left the
area and clattered a striker at one point. It was nil all at half
time, the premier league lads had the better of the last ten minutes
but it was a fair score. |
The
Albion pressed well straight from kick off in the second half
and were rewarded with a goal after fifteen minutes or so. We
took a corner, Aidan I believe flicked it on and then one of their
defenders did the same into his own net. They started coming at
us a bit then but the Reds were resilient, Stuart cleared off
the line, Giles came out at feet again and we also had to deal
with a free kick from an alleged back pass which he caught. Chris
and Steve Jones came on (the latter for his first game since the
summer) but eventually Brentnall’s pressure told, after
hitting the post they shortly after scored after getting through
our defence. Shame. The game opened up a bit then as both teams
went for the winner, we came closer through a fine attempt from
Tom, but the game ended up going to penalties. Which we lost 4-2.
So no shame there lads.
Well done everyone who played tonight, for one thing the wet and
windy conditions would have kept many down the pub watching Arsenal
demolish some Italian team 5-1 away. The team showed good spirit
and really played for each other and you can’t ask for more
than that. |
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Amongst several good individual
performances man of the match is Giles who showed no fear and
was confident and committed when challenging for the ball. He
stopped a few good shots as well. The rest of the team are runners
up, no one hid, it’s a shame we don’t have a place
in the next round to show for our efforts. I’ll tell you
one thing, if we play like that against Camden School next week
they won’t know what’s hit them. Remember, like
Brentnall, they think they’re in for an easy game after
beating us 8-2 pre season and 3-1 in the cup so let's make sure
we disabuse them of that attitude. |
| The
team (4-4-2 r-l): Giles; Jon, Dom, Will, Stuart; Sean, Aidan,
Rich, MH Pete (Steve J 62); James (Chris 62), Tom |
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