IBIS 4's 4-1 Old Salesians 4’s - Saturday 19th April - HOME
Goals - Patricio Baptista x3, Joe Elvin
Starting lineup –
Josh Banks
Anrdew Matthews
Jo Sibal
John Ewens
Pete Snell
Jordan Mills
Anrdew Williams
Ben Pierre
Joe Elvin
Patricio Baptista
Mark Addy
Subs –
Liam Angell (c)
A beautiful day for football and a strong squad to face the guys who'd beaten us 4-1 away from home earlier in the season, revenge was sweet but getting some more positive numbers in the goal difference was even sweeter. There were a couple of concerns with late dropouts & a no-show but the side we had went out and did the business. Because of the strength of the side I was able to start myself on the bench after tweaking my knee last week in the win v Old Actonians. We'd started well and were getting the ball down and playing some nice stuff around Salesians, especially when we got it out into the wide areas and used the sheer pace of Mark Addy & Andrew Williams but we did concede somewhat against the run of play as our back line of Pete Snell, Andy Matthews, Jo Sibal & John Ewens were relatively untroubled in the 1st half. Salesians got down the right (our left), and their wide man played the ball into our 6 yard box, it was a bit scrappy as the ball bobbled around our box but they put it away and went 1-0 up.
Our 1st goal, which brought it back to 1-1 was by Pat Baptista, Andrew Williams got in down the right and his pace had theif left back on toast, he had his shot saved but Pat gobbled up the rebound and got the first of his 3 goals. 1-1 is how we went in at half time in a game we felt was there for the taking if we stepped it up a couple of gears and started using our wide men a bit more.
Second half the guys went out and a 2nd goal came via a Jordan Mills corner Pat headed into the top corner and this goal seemed to really deflate the oppo as they did start to complain at the ref a bit more. In all fairness there were occasions where the ref did make the game a bit disjointed instead of letting certain things go but refs decision is final
Our 3rd goal came from the edge of the box by Pat who'd pounced on a poor clearance from their keeper, shown good footwork to get it under control and after myself & Andrew Williams screamed 'SHOOT', Pat duly obliged and slotted in a precision side footed finish. By then Salesians were playing sloppy passes and after John Ewens took a bit of a clattering I'd came on in my familiar left back position for the last half hour or so. Andy Matthews had to leave early so we had another defensive reshuffle with John Ewens (after he'd recovered from the previously mentioned late challenge) filling in alongside Jo Sibal at centre back for the rest of the match as I asked Joe Elvin & Ben Pierre to sit back & hold in midfield as I felt we had the win in the bag.
Our 4th and final goal came from a Joe Elvin belter from outside the box, shoot on sight was definitely the call here and from about 20+ yards out Salesians gave Joe the time & space and he finished with aplomb. Apart from a couple of routine saves & clearances Josh Banks wasn't troubled too much, as I said to him pre-match, if you're not troubled too much then the backline has done a good job, which was true in this match.
When the final whistle went I was definitely thankful for the effort the guys had put in and thankful that Jordan Mills' Torres-esque miss from about 4 yards out (a volley that went high, wide & butt ugly) ended up as little more than a hilarious footnote to laugh about in the changing room afterwards.
A great result, making Easter exertions thoroughly worthwhile, big thanks to those who made themselves available, we've still got a good few games left including South Bank away next and what will be a crucial double header v Old Wilsonians on the horizon. Any team is beatable, but as we've shown over the past few weeks we need the numbers to do it because we have the quality!!!
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