IBIS 2's 4-3 Old Finchleians Res - Sat 5th April - AWAY
Goals - Afful x2, Williams, Gayle
Starting lineup –
Jaymie Bailey
John Ewens
Jo Sibal
David Szabo
Liam Angell (c)
Jordan Gayle
Jordan Mills
Alex Laugharne
Callum Mayfield
Andrew Williams
Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Afful
Subs –
Pete Snell
Rob Lusher
Carlos Gordon
An unusual trip up North (London) greeted the 4s this week, as we stepped up to fulfill a 2s fixture away at Old Finchleians Reserves. Although we were competing at a higher standard, we had a decent squad and knew that if we played well we could come away with a result. Although most of us had played together before, there were a few new faces and a couple of players returning to 11-a-side action after a prolonged break, notably Jaymie Bailey who donned the green keepers shirt, meaning captain Liam was at his preferred starting position of left back. Lusher also secured his preferred position and duly started the game on the bench, vociferously giving out instructions to anyone that would listen, and those that wouldn't.
We started the game well and immediately caused them problems, with Manny Afful and Andrew Williams proving a handful up top. We came very close to opening the scoring within the first five minutes, a speedy counter-attack ending in Callum Mayfield powering a shot against the bar with their keeper beaten. However, almost immediately after this they went back down the other end and scored against the run of play. A slight trip by Andrew gave their centre forward all the encouragement he needed to hit the deck right on the corner of the area and the referee duly awarded a penalty. A soft way to concede but, probably the right decision.
With the penalty dispatched, we set about getting back into the game and trying to restore parity. We continued to create chances going forward, particularly with Callum's long throws into the heart of the box; Liam and Andrew both going close. As it was, the breakthrough came from one of these long throws, with the opposition again failing to deal with the ball in the box and Andrew pouncing on the loose ball to poke home.
Although we were playing some nice football, the direct channels seemed to paying the most dividends for us. The second goal was classic route one, with Manny getting in behind their centre-back directly from Jamie's kick and then finishing brilliantly to guide home the dropping ball on the half-volley into the corner of the net. And Manny added a third before half-time, this time unleashing a rocket into the corner from the edge of the area. However, he hit the ball so hard he tweaked a hammy and had to go off, being replaced by Carlos, who then also quickly departed after falling awkwardly and injuring his knee.
We reached half-time with our 3-1 lead intact, despite a few personnel changes. The second half started slowly from an Ibis perspective, the opposition increasingly getting the ball down and playing it around more than they had in the first half. Our priority was to keep our lead, but in doing so we invited too much pressure on ourselves and conceded a second following a powerful shot from the edge of the area. As the Old Finchleians chased the equalizer the game became more stretched, allowing us to hit them on the counter. Indeed, a counter-attack brought us our fourth goal, with Jordan Gayle managing to find a way straight through the middle of their defence and beating the keeper to bouncing ball to stab home. An important goal, which gave us some breathing space heading into the last 20 minutes.
Two goal lead restored, we set about shutting up shop and seeing the game out for the three points. Old Finchleians continued to push forward, with the back four of Liam, Jo Sibal, David Szabo and John Ewens proving up to the task and repelling their advances, while Alex and Jordan effectively breaking up their attacks in the centre of midfield.
Nevertheless, there was one final twist before the end of the game, with another long-range effort from an Old Finchleians midfielder finding the corner of the net, making it 4-3 and setting up a nervous final eight minutes. However, with Lusher continuing to coordinate the defence from the sidelines, seemingly having resigned himself to a coach role for the whole game, we battled through to the final whistle to record a excellent win in a second team fixture. If we'd have taken our chances the margin could well have been greater. This result should also bode well for the 4s fight against relegation the rest of this season.
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