In an incident packed encounter, Asterix Reds played the last 35
minutes with 10 men yet still triumphed with a 2-1 victory after a
brace of goals by Adam Scott.
Bar Flies came into this game on the back of two wins, the most
recent versus last year's champions. Many Asterix players were
unavailable and we called on the depth of our squad for this
fixture. 13 players - with more than a few carrying various
disabilities (some mental, some physical, some both) - lined up ready
for action. We started with an experimental 4-5-1 formation. It
worked with all the effectiveness of a chocolate teapot and Bar Flies
put us under the cosh in the first 15. Some poor finishing by the
Bar Flies and a few inspired moments in defense kept the scores
level. We reverted to our more traditional 4-4-2 about midway
through the first half which helped us settle. We pushed forward and
created a couple of decent chances. However, we didn't break the
stalemate and 0-0 it was at half time.
Shortly, after the restart the Asterix Reds Management Team decided
to make an inspired tactical change and revert to the rarely used
4-4-1 formation. (OK, I got sent off after 5 minutes; enough
already!). Playing with 10 men inspired the Asterix to dig deep and
pull out a performance to be proud of. With about 20 minutes to go
and chances at a premium 0-0 was the bookies favourite. However,
some good work down the left released Stuart Cavens who's low shot
could only be parried by the keeper into the path of Adam Scott who
finished neatly. A great poachers goal. 1-0 and ever-so-slightly
against the run of play. The goal sent the watching spectators (all
3 of them, notably a record low crowd at EP this season) into
raptures. The Bar Flies came back at us but we held firm and limited
them shots from outside the box. Frustrations grew on both sides and
some challenges, more meaty than the JnR steak sandwich, were served
up by both sides. Tempers flared with about 15 minutes to go
resulting in a 22 man melee on the edge of our box. Most amusing was
the lad who tried to wade in but met the not insubstantial shoulder
of one of our centre backs. This resulted him in hitting the floor
and writhing in apparent agony. A few of our players went over to
put a comforting hand on his shoulder but this apparently only seemed
to worsen his pain. He was rolling about like he'd been shot by a
sniper from the hills behind the goal. It was a performance that
Rumpole of The Bailey would have been proud of. The match eventually got started again and Bar Fools did level with about 5 minutes to
go. With the wind in their sails they must have felt that they could
push on for the win. The Asterix Reds were having none of it. With
about 2 minutes to go, we sealed the game with a fine goal. The move
started as Roy Schofield picked up the ball off Sugu. His long ball
released Kisho up the right wing. Kisho did very well to beat
several defenders and with the goal at his mercy decided to square the ball to Adam. Adam settled himself and pushed the ball into the
back of the net to seal a fine victory. This sent the crowd (which
had now swelled to 4 and a half people) wild. The final few minutes
were played out and the 3 points were confirmed.
We can rightly complain about the way the Bar Flies approached this
game. And for a while, such was their willingness to fall at the
slightest of contact, I thought there was an Orang Asli on top of the school hall shooting blow darts at them. We can also complain about
the ref who seemed to have a new whistle and was intent on ensuring
it worked OK. However, the important thing to focus on is our
performance.
We lined up with squad of 13 that hasn't played together before and
for sure we didn't play anywhere near as well as we can. Our
passing, movement off the ball, decision making and communication
were all below the standards we've set for ourselves. It was not
helped by an opponent who came to con the ref and a ref who didn't
see it. Nonetheless, I can't fault us for our effort and fighting
spirit. We dug deep and won ugly. For the last 3/4 of the game our
defence was very solid limiting them to only one good chance. When
it mattered we got our feet in the way and challenges in to keep them
out. Going forward, we didn't create a lot of chances but did score
two good goals. And we should very proud of that. It's well known
that s sign of a good team is one that plays poorly yet still wins.
And that was us today. 3 points. That's what matters. Well done.
Next week, we have Mancis; last year's champions. It's sure to be a
very tough game and we'll need to be at our very best to win. I'll
send the evites out for the match and for training. The training
seems to be helping our fitness; we've been strong in the second half
of the last 3 or 4 games. If you've not been attending regularly,
please come along this week.
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