Mens 4th 11 – Come from Behind
12/10/2013 2-1 win vs. Sanderstead 2’s
Hello – me again, and seems I am now the official match reporter. Interestingly when I tried to post last weeks report on the website (OK so probably should have used one of the kids to do this for me, and perhaps is why it’s still not there) it appeared there were sub-sections for every team apart from the Mens 4’s ( #wherestheteamspirit).
So it started with a flurry of emails, deciding who was going to take the kids (once they’d got up) to the match. Maj had Tuckers and Rob S; I had myself, Jack, Rob M, my daughter Niamh as a rare supporter / mascot (#teamspiritgettingbetter), the keepers kit and picked up Jack D on the way. Now compared to my lonely drive to work, my average age for people in the Rengger bus dropped from 42, to nearer 17 and I was feeling a whole lot better.
So Sanderstead it was, and given they were in the Premier league last season and we were Div 2 “nearly ran’s” it was going to be another challenging game. OK lets get half full here – we are on our journey up, and they are on the journey down.
So we finally found the pitch, and we did our usual pre-match chit-chatting whilst Sanderstead took it all far too seriously and look well drilled, professional and really quite good.
Onto the game (at last), and started with a well balanced game; albeit must say they had the greater share of the balance but we held our positions well and actually found some composure. Indeed we had 2-3 clear goal scoring opportunities and the attack of Jack, Jack Rob & Rob (now that’s confusing) started to look quite useful and dangerous. I won’t mention the great run by Rob S down the left into the D and a great ball across to Rob Mazza who had to just deflect it for a certain goal, as despite his clear cricketing skills it went sailing past.
Anyway, one of their short-corners was well taken and we were facing a 1-0 defeat at half time.
Half-time talk was positive and encouraging and we decided to just enjoy ourselves and continue to play our game – we were doing well, just hadn’t finished in the net as yet.
Great pressure from the start, and the midfield engine (should mention myself and Andy Adams were right and left back’s and not part of this well oiled engine) of Ross, James, Jack and now Jamie started to control the game.
Another short corner, and this time out to James who took his time, controlled his shot and smashed in for a well deserved equaliser . OK so from most angles it may have looked like it was going wide, before the defender deflected it in, but in my book (vis-a-vis last weeks claim by myself for a goal from our own half) this was a good goal by James and they all count.
One all, and we kept the pressure up – this was suddenly our game to win. James and Ross really dominated the middle of the pitch and just kept niggling their best players and we started to seem like winners. Finally Jack who made some great runs (more later on one less good run) went past at least 3 players (#isdadbiased) and scored a well deserved goal to put us 2-1 up !
We looked like winners, we played like winners and we had the game in our control. Some frantic defending at times, and special thanks from me to the ever reliable Matt who saved my blushes more than just a few times, and some great saves from Tucks in the goal.
A great game by all, real fun all round, and you know what – we are starting to build some real team spirit. Really enjoyable to play in the 4’s, great to see the youngsters not just stepping up, but being key players in the squad and yes it feels even better to win.
- Man of the Match (my vote) – James – great game all round
- TFC – was to be me, for my aerial that wasn’t; but given to Jack R for running the ball down the line, into clear space and over the side line for no apparent reason whatsoever
- Umpire of the Day – Jack D – thanks for doing this, and not an easy or thanked job (as we found out….)
- Lucky mascot of the day – Niamh.
Steve