For the second week in a row, the boys snatched a late draw from the jaws of defeat in what was a tough game against a strong Old Stationers side who had beaten the league champs the week before.
There were a number of changes in personnel from the previous game, resulting in a newly formed back 4 of Matt, James, Dan and George (reliably replaced by Gavin after an ankle injury) and Mike’s first game in goal. Despite three unlucky goals against us, the boys were solid and resilient at the back especially against some pacy and skillful forwards. Parsons bossed the midfield with Hudson and Olly Tolly; and Booth and Knight were always a menace up front.
AP took the lead when Paddy headed in from a fine corner from Booth. The boys went in at half time 1-0 up but knowing they had a battle on their hands. Fortunately the ref had been excellent.
The second half was different. Firstly, the referee decided to change his style from ‘very good’ to ‘very frustrating’. His first demonstration of this new approach came when Paddy expertly and cleverly took the ball of their forward in our area. The referee was disgusted by this display of talent and instantly awarded them a penalty. No nonsense.
Happily, Mr Booth immediately levelled things with a sharp volley from just inside the box but we then conceded an unfortunate own goal to make it 2-2. The ref made up for earlier errors by not awarding us a stonewall penalty and this made us all very happy. We then went 3-2 down with 15 mins to go.
But the boys are never beaten and we banged at their door until we finally got a goal 3 mins from time off a superbly whipped in corner from Olly ‘T-Bone’ Tolly, which their defender managed to slice over his own keeper’s head. Come on! Alex nearly sneaked in a dramatic winner but it wasn’t to be. Once again, the 6s battled hard to win a share of the spoils and it’s now 8 points from 12 and a steely resilience. Jack continues to enjoy chatting to refs.
General highlights of the day were this:
- ‘Cup Final’ Pete Croft’s return and request for a pre match dump in the chippy.
- Matt’s motivational cries of “Come on” when anyone made a mistake.
- Matt, Dan and Crofty’s pre match ‘Cultural Odyssey’ to Barnet’s Co-Op and chippy
- George’s ‘Hastings Greek Quarter’ look
- Matt’s loss of all his hair cos he used a laccy band to tie it back
- Paddy getting changed in front of loads of kids because he thought that Saville had “made it cool”.
