ALLEYN OLD BOYS 5’s 5-0 IBIS FC 4’s - (20-04-2013)

Match Report

Squad
Liam Angell
Karl Bolton

Baz Clarke
Will Hainsworth
Nick Boid
Gideon Barnett
Nhamo
Jordan Mills
Matt Naughton
Callum Mayfield
Ben Thomas
Arnaud Cautier
Ross Cooper – (no show)
Pete Snell – (late dropout, ankle injury)

On another lovely sunny spring day in London the Ibis 4’s travelled down to Herne Hill to face the Alleyn Old Boys 5th side and spirits were high pre match even though I (Liam Angell) was going to be in goal and my record isn’t that great (after this match I think in 5 games it’s about 30+ conceded) but all of us apart from Boidy & Nhamo got to the ground in good time and were able to have a good pre-match warm up. Personally after missing my 1st game of the season last week due to being at the RNV Wrestling Capital Collision event, I was chomping at the bit to get back out and playing, even with my knees being banged up and wrapped up with more support than the welfare system gives. I did warn the guys again pre-match that I’d need more protection than condoms as I’m not a keeper and in the 1st half (at least for most of it) I got the protection I needed as Ibis were in control and we did have a couple of penalty appeals waved away. Ben & Arnaud were causing problems for AOB on the wings and we were carving out some good chances, forcing their keeper to make a few good saves but the one thing we didn’t get was a goal, but AOB did late in the 1st half against the run of play. On the edge of our box their striker had time to hold the ball up, turn & shoot and unfortunately he was able to arrow a low drive into my bottom right hand corner, a slide rule finish and that meant that undeservedly, we went into the break a goal down. 

At half time we couldn’t really fault much in the way we’d performed so the team talk was very positive, so we went on to the pitch feeling aggrieved but feeling there was a match to be won for us. The AOB 2nd goal I take culpability for as I dived earlier to save the ball from a hit and hope effort from one of their strikers but as I went down the ball hit a divot and went over my left hand and in and if the 1st goal didn’t puncture the Ibis balloon, the 2nd definitely did as we went on to concede a couple more with one of their strikers somehow dancing onto the edge of the left hand side of our box and picking out a man at the far post for a tap in, another goal with their no. 7 (who had pace and trickery) dancing past Gids & Karl on the right and firing low and hard to my left hand side. Alleyn Old Boys also got a 5th as we ended up on the receiving end of quite a beating but after the match we were annoyed at the 2nd half capitulation where we had very few highlights, 1 of which being Boidy hitting the crossbar from the edge of the box & a couple of good moves down the left when Nhamo came on after we switched Will into midfield and went to a back 3. After the match in the club house we were having a chat and Boidy announced that he’s going to be moving back up North in the summer so he’ll be giving up the 4’s captaincy, which caught a lot of us by surprise, so there are now 2 burning questions in regards to the Ibis fc 4’s, 1. After our relegation, will there even be a 4th team at the club next season & 2. If there is a 4th team, who will be the captain of it. 2 important questions, the answers to which will hopefully be revealed over the coming weeks, interesting times at Ibis with the 2’s & 3’s chasing promotion.

I’m Straight Shootin’ LJA and that’s my take on the match

CIVIL SERVICE 7-0 IBIS FC 4’s - (06-04-2014)

Match Report

Squad
Liam Angell
Mike Jarolin
Tomasz (Mikes mate)
Jon East
Pete Snell
Nick Boid
Karl Bolton
Stu Mackenzie
Jordan Mills
Mark Davis
Ben Newman
Nhamo

Another defeat that can be summed up by a few short words, outplayed, out battled & outfought, all of these sum up Saturdays performance from the 4's. This game meant so much but ended up providing so little for the mighty Ibis, it truly was a relegation six pointer & a local derby all in one but it wasn't as keenly contested as I was expecting. It was a lovely day for playing football, warm & sunny but the ground was solid as anything & a couple of us were carrying injuries going into the match. Putting that preamble aside, the first 15 minutes or so were riddled with both sides poor passing but there was a questionable penalty given by the ref which put us on the back foot early on. Boidy was trying to stand hiss ground and the civil service player bounced off him and Boidy was in my view unfairly penalised. The resulting penalty was converted into my top left hand corner after I tried to put their striker off. Their 2nd goal came after a ball over the top and 'Slovak' Mike was unlucky as he missed a header and their striker was clean through and beat me to my right hand side, 2-0 down and the heads had already dropped and 3-0 came from a cross from the right was steered in from about 6 yards out first time giving me little chance of stopping it. Our best opportunities in the 1st half came from a Boidy free kick from about 25 yards out that hit the crossbar & Pete Snell hit the side netting from the left hand side (after he'd been switched from right to left midfield after good linkup play down the left with Jon East.

Half time rolled around and we needed a boost, which our captain Boidy tried to give after we went through what we were & weren't doing. The bottom line was playing for pride more than anything and even I tried to get the guys in for a huddle/hands in the middle and say some inspirational words but it was in vain in the end, but i'll get onto that.

Goals 4, 5, 6 & 7 came in the 2nd half after heads had dropped and we also had Pete Snell & 'Slovak' Mike Jarolin come off with injuries so we did end up dropping to 10 men as we started with only 1 sub. I thought i'd get worked on set pieces more & 1 of their goals did come that way, but conceding 7 hurts anyway you slice it and as much as I hate to say it, there were no real positives to be taken from the game for us. Civil Service did what we should have done, pressing the ball, stringing passes together and generally fighting for the ball and pressing as a team but it's onwards and upwards, with only a couple of games left we've got to do what we didn't do against Civil Service...play for pride and enjoy ourselves now as we're pretty much down barring a shedload of miracles, but in all honesty, if we can't do ourselves a favour, we can't rely on others to do it for us. It's painful to go down, but when you don't go down fighting it's a bit harder to swallow...if you'll pardon the pun, it's time to look forward to next season & enjoy the games we have left.

I'm Straight Shootin' LJA & that's my take on the match.