Starting line up
Liam Angell (c)
Karl Bolton
Kendal Campbell
Stephen Dodd
Ash Farrell
Ollie Lewis
Rob Lusher
Jordan Mills
John Richardson
Andrew Williams
Manny Tesfai
Subs/dropouts
Christian Frixou - ILL
Nhamo Matamisa – No Show
Mussie Goyrom – late dropout
So another day, another defeat but the circumstances of the defeat were a bit odd this week as there is a bit of concern about the future of the club, at least in terms of number of teams but that's all i'm at liberty to say at the moment. The simple fact is, the double header that us 4's were supposed to have at home ended up being a treck to fairlop in Ilford, Essex to fulfil a 3's fixture v Old Parkonians. Now, on the morning of the match we had a dropout but on the day we also had a no show from Nhamo Matamisa which was extremely disappointing and that's me putting it mildly, I actually had to hold my tongue with my real feelings post match, but I digress. The fact is, 11 men (mainly 4's players) had to play against a 3's side from Old Parkonians which was being contested for league points, but nonetheless we soldiered on.
Now I must say that as the 4's captain I didn't tell the guys until after the match that we we're playing as the 3's this week due to extreme under-availability throughout the club, I didn't lie when asked about the game, I just avoided the question when asked about where Old Parkonians were in the league in terms of position as I didn't want to lie to the guys, but at the same time I didn't want them to play like the points meant nothing, for the good of the club would be the short way of putting it. Anyway, we started off very well after practicing our corner routines, it was a mission to find the ground so we didn't get to practice as much as I would have liked, but for a team with a good few people who hadn't played together much I felt we did well.
First half we had a couple of warnings and near misses but we contained Old Parkonians very well and limited them to few shots on target but midway through the 1st half the returning Kendal Campbell basically was knackered so eventually I had to switch him and Jordan Mills around just to limit the damage. There was a chance from a free kick that Jordan had but he put it over and ended up on his backside (there was another chance that had the same outcome later in the game). Lateron in the half just before half time after a really organized performance we ended up conceding from a corner, the ball was played in from the left and I think, as I didn't see it go through my legs the ball dropped to a striker and he fired it past me, sucker punch but 1-0 it was. Ollie Lewis came really close to a quick equaliser after a lightning quick break down the right which ended up in him flashing a shot wide which the keeper got finger tips to.Half time rolled around but it was a tad disappointing to be a goal down but I had to emphasize to the guys to keep going as Andrew Williams chipped in saying give him the ball early and Ash Farrell adding some notes in as well, by the way Ash is one of the fittest players i've seen come through the 4's in many a year, can run for 90 minutes.
But 2nd half we went back out and after a chat with the referee to clear the air after he accused me of cheating in the 1st minute when I asked the ref (who took an eternity to signal) to clarify a whether it was a corner or a goal kick, which our opposition hit the bar from the resulting corner, by the way it was a corner but refs usually signal and say it is before it's taken. 2nd half started and we had our chances but early in the 2nd half Old Parkonians came out of the blocks quickly and had us penned in for a while and forced me into a few good saves which at times surprised me that i'd made. Old Parkonians did end up scoring 3 more goals as fatigue and cramp started to set in and as we only had a bare 11 due to no shows and dropouts we couldn't make subs so we had to switch people around on the pitch, one of the goals was a quality finish from the edge of the 18 yard box to my right which even at full stretch I could do nothing about, but even with the deficit we still had chances, the best of which fell to Ash after a great run and cross by Andrew but somehow the keeper got over to it and saved it, I still don't know how he managed that, even before Ash hit it I screamed YES!
Another hilarious chance we had fell to Kendal and after he'd done the hard work on the edge of the box with a great turn to open up the space to shoot, but he fluffed his lines by falling over and basically hit the corner flag his effort went so far wide! After the match the revelation was made by Karl Bolton and Rob Lusher about the side we faced being a good 4 divisions above us and us filling in for the 3's this week but we felt that we have the fight and we have the heart for a battle, but once again we don't have the legs because we lack the numbers, 37 people available for 4 teams tells it's own story and it's not a positive story. But I can't fault the guys for effort and even writing this on a Saturday night I can feel my knees seizing up so my ice pack is going to become a very close friend, big shout out to the effort put in, we just need the numbers to turn that fantastic effort into fantastic wins.
I'm Straight Shootin' LJA and that's my take on the match
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