Game - Saturday 30th April Vs Greenwich

TEAM

Pete

Sean? Nigel ? Willy ? AL (C)

JP ? Graeme ? Peter ? Ronnie

Chris Ed

First Half:

Lane Cove West, fully aware of the opposition’s position in the table knew this was one to win. With a decent reserve side on the park (despite being short of subs) we were ready and eager to take the game to them.

The initial exchanges spoke volumes of things to come. Lane Cove having the upper hand in terms of possession and position on the pitch, pushing forward whenever we could, although the last ball was never quite good enough to give Ed or Chris enough of a chance. Greenwich were holding their own, but failed to really attack with any real spark or with numbers. During the half Ed had great chance to take the lead - clean through on the left - but with a tight angle on his left foot his shot was hit sweetly just past the far post. The ref was showing a tendency to pick up on some rather silly things and the whistle went off frequently. However considering many of these on the day were a result of the linesman's flag being waved against Greenwich we couldn't complain too much (at least JP waited until later).

The half wore on with Lane Cove still dominating but with nothing to show for it.

Ronnie was running around like lunatic and chasing everything down - and actually stayed on the pitch without the need for 16 gallons of water (I wonder why ?) JP was hitting the wings and despite having to mark two players for a lot of the game he caused their defence problems. Peter was leading the midfield with a good display of composure and passing. Graeme was always making himself available and made sure none of the opposition were forgetting his presence with the odd kick (A Scot's way). Peter in goal did made a couple of great saves (again) & cleaning up whatever came at him. The Defence lead by Nigel and Willy held together and tried to help in attack as often as they could. Ed and Chris were given a hard job of it as the last ball was usually inadequate or over hit and despite some good supporting numbers going forward we couldn't finish it off.

A Moments madness occured as the opposition's striker gave a pathetic yell and fell to the earth in the box like a sniper had hit him, (This was because Nigel had tackled him and won the ball fairly). Nigel showed the monster within and looked like he was about to start dinner early. After dragging Nigel away the striker was warned by the ref about his "Ronaldo" impersonation.

Shortly after, on one of Greenwich's infrequent attacks, - the ball swung in , bobbed about a bit and subsequently we were surprised by the ref's decision to call a foul on Graeme after it was deemed he was being a little too friendly with the opposition in the box. (wandering hands) Knowing our keepers ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat in these situations we were all prepared to run in and clear the ball away. Unfortunately it was not to be and Greenwich were 0 - 1 up against the run of play.

The rest of the half continued in much the same fashion. LCW with the majority of possession and position but with nothing to show for it.

The half time talk by Nigel woke us up from our slumber and after a berating about our determination we entered the field knowing that we had to give more if we were going to win.

Second Half:

The second half started as the first had ended with LCW pushing the opposition, although we were still unable to make that breakthrough. Greenwich seemed to be having more time in midfield. This appeared to be because they had decided to play with 5 in midfield. While Greenwich were causing us a few more problems with the additional number in midfield, we were also having more joy going forward, half chances and a more attacking attitude seemed to be getting us on top.

After a short period Graeme (the hands) came off for Mark who was stuck into the centre. Although we still didn't have the killer edge - the half time talk had done some good and Lane Cove were winning more tackles and closing the opposition faster ( Still not dutch "total football" but we were fighting) A few chances came to Greenwich but the defence did well and Peter in goal was forced to make a few good saves.

And suddenly the breakthrough came. From defence Mark cleared down the line, which was forced on again into the opponents half. Out of nowhere (and looking like we should have been doing it all day) Peter was sent through and after closing with the opposite goal - simply finished with a sweet pass into the net, past the emerging keeper. 1-1 LCW were back into it and feeling like a win was sure to come.

From the kick off, Greenwich's best player on the day skipped through the midfield and after a lucky tackle came through around 35 yards from goal and hit the ball with a fierce drive that beat peter. I was stuck on the floor having arrived a half second too late with a tackle (as usual) and so I did not see the ball go in - but needless to say the faces said it all - they were ecstatic and we were shell shocked.

But we still knew we could beat them and we piled forward at every opportunity. The half wore on and although Greenwich still had the odd flurry forward, we had them camped in their own half - even their solitary forward was defending and therefore allowing Nigel or Willy forward to attack.

One of our many corners saw the ball floated to the back post with Willy waiting. It must have been LCW national "hands on" day as Willy simply gave the smaller fellow in front of him an obvious push out the way and got his head to the ball - unfortunately just over the bar.

Constantly attacking we just couldn't finish Greenwich off and finally the whistle went and LCW were left feeling like they had been cheated out of at least a deserved draw

Feeling disappointed and annoyed at ourselves we sat back to watch the firsts and to give our whistle happy Ref some good "advice" while he turned his hand to linesman.