GLEMNET INTERMEDIATE NOVETS CUP: OLD ACTONIANS 8th 4-3 IBIS FC 4’s (21-09-2013)

Starting line up

Karl Bolton

Gideon Barnett

Steven ‘Boney’ Bone

Carlos Gordon

Ash Farrell

Nhamo Matamisa

Tom Butress

Jordan Mills

Pete Snell

Barry Clark

Will Hodges

Subs

Liam Angell (c)
Gavin Henry
Thami El Fane

Match report
In the Glemnet Intermediate Novets cup we travelled for a local derby to Gunnersbury park to take on one of the Old Actonian teams. We did have a good looking squad this week but it was A match that had somewhat of a disjointed start after certain people arrived well after kick off and due to having to chase people 10minutes before kick off yours truly Straight Shootin’ LJA didn’t have a warm up, but I’ll come back to that later. We went 1-0 down quite quickly after Tom Buttress (in his 2nd game after returning from a long term injury) conceded a penalty, which in all honesty was a stonewaller. After the goal we did get back into it and with a quality corner from Gideon, Barry ‘Baz’ Clark leveled the scores at 1-1. We had a reshuffle to make quite early on in this match and much earlier than I expected as Tom Butress pulled his groin, but I was directly culpable for the next goal as their striker (no.10) was lively and caught me napping at the near post after coming in from the left and slotted neatly past Boney into his far right hand corner to put us 2-1 down. I do admit culpability in this goal because it was my fault but admittedly I took my eye off the ball as I was more concerned with things happening off the pitch rather than on it.

Half time rolled around and after some wise words from Boney and my attempt at a motivational speech we went out and gave it a go in the 2nd half.

We did battle but we did go 3-1 down with a speculative shot that went under Boney’s foot (which he did blame on a bobble) but we got it back to 3-2 with Jordan’s goal eventually being bundled in after Old Actonians couldn't clear their lines, fortuitous was definitely the word I’d choose for the goal but I wasn’t complaining. It was soon 4-2 to old Actonians after their big ginger attacker bulldozed his way through the middle of our midfield & lobbed Boney who was only just off his line, much to the delight of the kids who had congregated behind the goal to cheer Actonians on. We did pull back another 4-3 with Gideon putting away a low effort similar to the 2nd goal we conceded after good buildup from the right hand side especially involving Carlos Gordon but in the end we did come up a bit short. It was a cup game as mentioned earlier so we did experiment with the 3-5-2 formation which we worked hard on to make work but midway through the 2nd half we did revert to 4-4-2, it was a match where reshuffling was done quite a bit but there were positives in terms of how hard everyone worked so we move and groove on to next week.

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

IBIS FC 4’s 2-6 SOUTH BANK CUACO 5th - (14-03-2014)

Video version of this blog (Also featuring Haringey Borough Women's FC 
& Stevenage Borough Ladies FC)  

Ibis FC 4's Match report

A tough start to the season was underlined by the punishment of mistakes by our opposition this week. We did have a late dropout & a couple of late arrivals but we also had a late addition in goal so a bit of rejigging was done on the starting 11. After a good warm up my first game as Ibis 4’s captain got underway and with Boney on the sideline helping us with instructions We did go 1-0 up during a very positive first 20-25 minutes as Pete Snell’s speculative effort ended up as a Goal of the week contender as it was a fantastic strike. But after that we did sit back and start overplaying the ball and we conceded somewhat of a sloppy goal, against the run of play it must be said. One of the goals we conceded I (SSLJA) have to say I was directly culpable for, I got the ball & came in from the left when I should have turned out, I lost the ball and we got instantly punished for it, captains log? More like captains botch on that one. So we ended up 3-1 down at half time and it has to be mentioned that during the 1st half after the 3rd goal we conceded we had to make a quick substitution as frustration began to rear it’s head when one of our players stormed off.

Half time came and we tried to keep our heads up and with Nhamo & Boney on for Kendal & Jordan in a move I made to try and get more of the ball we started the 2nd half we just couldn’t keep hold of the ball for any extended period of time (especially in midfield) with eventually became out undoing as our back 4 was under constant pressure. We did get it back to 3-2 with Jon East getting himself onto the score sheet with a low place effort into the bottom left hand corner but the joy from that was short lived as we ended up conceding another 2 and in the aftermath of the 5th goal we conceded I had to come off injured after landing awkwardly on my back.

So, from the side lines I tried to survey the game and get things going after getting Kendal back on at left back after Nhamo had earlier been switched to left mid to get Furness in the middle for a bit more control of the middle of the park the guys carried on and ended up conceding one more goal to make it 6, but oddly enough for the last 15-20minutes or so we actually played like we did in the 1st 20mintes with some nice possession play and keeping the ball well but the damage had already been done so we ended up seeing out the game with no more than 6 conceded. An honourable mention to Gavin Henry aka Da Gman who came on for Pete Snell and put in a good shift, but for a somewhat disjointed team there were positives to take, but one thing that was underlined is that this season will be a challenge, but challenges are there to be overcome & promotion is the aim!!!

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