12 May 2007, Bob Campbell Oval
A game to put you in mind of Kris Kristofferson:
Splitting
from a sorry gig that left us feelin' flat
Hard to believe that this was the third of our five
games this season in which the scoring has gone 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 2-4:
three times halving a two-goal deficit, but in the end, losing 4-2.
This time it was against a team who had lost all four
previous games, and scored just twice all season. They matched that in the
first 20 minutes of this game. Flat is the only way to feel at the end.
But, back to the beginning. It was good to return to Bob Campbell Oval. Not that
it was called that when we played 6-a-side on many summer Mondays: then it was
called Gore Creek. Bob Campbell was the president of the
It’s also many years since we played a
Not too long had gone when our defence
backed away from an oncoming forward, who took the hint and on-came further, to
the edge of the box, before unleashing a shot into the bottom left corner: 0-1.
Worse was to follow before too long. A slightly dubious
free-kick (not the only poor decision of the day by any means) not far out on
the left was pumped up in front of the sun and into the top right: 0-2.
So here we were again, in all-too familiar territory:
two goals down, and struggling to put our own game together.
But gradually we improved, got a few corners and
began to believe in ourselves again. This period was rewarded with a goal well taken
by Ivan (who had moved to the Bs to give Jon B a run against his old colleagues
in the As). From a corner the ball was half-cleared to
Ivan who could only swing at it on the volley with his magical left foot. But the swing struck sweetly, we
were back to 1-2, and it was still fairly early in the game.
What we didn’t need next was them to score again but
that was what happened. A through ball found a forward of theirs in the area on
the right. He did look awfully lonely, and you could understand why our defence stopped; firstly because he was beyond catching,
but also, as it seemed that offside was inevitable. But it wasn’t, and he wasn’t
(as those nearby later confirmed). So after a second of the action on pause, he
slotted the ball past Tony, and we were back to 1-3.
Half-time finally arrived, and we agreed upon a bold
three-man attacking formation. This, after a little shuffling early in the
second half, found no lesser personage than Howard at left wing, where he
discovered that being a forward isn’t the cake-walk that it sometimes seems
from the other end of the park!
We did play better in the second half, but as it turned
out we could only draw it, not pull back the two-goal deficit.
But first, our hopes were raised by a bizarre second
goal. Harried by Mark S to the right of the goal, a defender could sensibly have
conceded a corner, or, indeed, done almost anything other than his actual
choice: an attempted clearance past the startled keeper and straight at me on
the edge of the six-yard box. In self-defence as much
as anything I headed it forward, and into the empty net. There were suggestions
that the ball had already been out, but (for once) no official popped up with
an inconvenient opinion, and it was 2-3.
So one more time we set out for the one goal that
would get us back to parity (that happy state that we have enjoyed for only a
few minutes in total in our last four games. Mostly, we’re playing catch-up). And,
as usual, we played our best football in this period. Howard had some really
promising runs down the wing, then passing across, or shooting – just like a
proper forward! Peter also let loose
some flyers, but the keeper (who turned out to be their A’s keeper, too) was
very good. On one occasion, he twisted acrobatically to scoop back a shot which
must have been close to being already over the line (indeed, Ernie from the
vantage point of his chair by the half-way line, could clearly see that it was
over: the ref & linesman who were nearer, regrettably had inferior vision).
It was now mainly us creating the action, and bodies
flew (to earth with a crash in the case of one defender at a corner. But it
wasn’t Howard who was responsible: “No, I got the keeper” was his defence). And harsh words were spoken: I almost got booked
(or possibly sent off) for suggesting, with some force, that there wasn’t much point
in the referee equipping himself with a whistle if he wasn’t going to blow it
when
But
More good tries from us, but to no avail. Fittingly,
the game ended with Peter dribbling past several defenders and into space, only
for his shot to go just past the left post.
The man-of-the-match voting was very close. Peter was
third, Bob second again, but Mark S was the winner for his constant running and
harrying.
Thanks to Nigel for being linesman, and to Tim for the beers.
So
now we’re just a point from bottom; but also 6th! We have 4 points
and there are four teams on 3 (including
MARK BRYANT