Unfortunately,
the person who had arranged our tour games so well last year, got it horribly
wrong this year. As a
consequence, we only faced one team. The
decision taken meant that we would play 30 minutes each way, with one of our
teams playing the first half, and the other playing the second.
Game
1 - The line up was:
Jamie
G
Jack
Y Sam B
James
B Jordan
Dan
Sam
K
Rolling
Subs: Aaron S, Matt L & Josh
They
attacked straight away and somehow managed to get the ball in the net 1-0.
Within a few minutes of the restart, Sam K got himself injured, Matt
took his place up front. Dan
tackled well to win the ball, and he chipped it to Matt, but his shot was just
over. Sam B defended well, won
the ball, and then went on a run, which was finally stopped at the expense of
a throw. Chickerel did attack as
well, Jamie pulling off a fine save to deny them.
Sam B then played the ball through their defence to Matt, but his shot
was just wide. Sam B then played
in Aaron, but he was tackled as he went to shoot.
Matt tackled back well, ran forward with the ball and chipped the ball
through to Aaron, who made no
mistake against the advancing ‘keeper 1-1.
Jack
then won the ball and played in Matt, but his shot was wide.
James won the ball from the kick and passed it to Josh.
Josh then fed Aaron down
the line and he cut inside and hit an absolute screamer to put us in the lead 1-2.
FULL-TIME
: CHICKEREL 1 FRYS
3
Man
of the Match – Chosen by
Andy for excellent play –
Aaron Sutton
Terry Hill took up the
Dictaphone for the second game, which very soon became a
“Comedy Commentary”. Read
on!
Game
2 - The line up was:
Jamie
G
Mark
Oscar
Josef
Luke G Spike
Joe
C
Rolling
Subs: Charlie G, Tom & Luke A
Chickerel
attacked as with the first game, but Jamie made a good save.
The next shot however, from 20 yards wasn’t dealt with so well and it
flew through his hands 1-0.
Jamie made amends on their next attack however and he cleared it to
Joe, whose run and shot was blocked. Chickerel
then ran through our defence, but Jamie made another good save.
We were leaving Jamie cruelly exposed however and the next shot went in
under his foot, although you will notice that our defence haven’t been
mentioned yet and already it was 2-0.
Joe took matters into his
own hands and went on a run, which he followed with a thunderous shot,
followed by the trademark cartwheel celebration 2-1.
Next, our defence (they finally get a mention) made a mistake and left
Jamie no chance 3-1.
They
attacked again and we finally saw what some of us thought would never happen,
and what we had waited three years for, Josef’s first foul, as he upended a
Chickerel player on the halfway line. Our
defence had just gone on walkabout and a shot flew into the far corner of the
goal 4-1.
Josef tackled well, and played the ball to Spike, but his shot was
wide. Oscar stopped Chickerel in
their tracks, with a timely interception and pass to Tom.
Luke G then got the ball and passed it in the right direction, which
Luke A got and managed to force a corner with.
Jamie was in action again with a good save, and from the rebound, Luke
A ran the length of the pitch, but just ran out of space.
Jamie made another good save, and released Charlie, who found Josef,
and he passed onto Tom, but his shot was wide.
We had committed forward and Chickerel used that to their advantage 5-1.
Next,
Jamie was caught out of position as Chickerel attacked down the right and
crossed the ball in 6-1.
Charlie tried to get one back, but his shot was just wide.
At this point Josef had a turn as sub and to quote Terry on the mic,
‘It is an absolute travesty’ Terry
then tried to get a few words of wisdom from Josef but he had a bag of Quavers
and a drink! Back on the pitch,
and Joe was played through by Spike, but he just missed the target.
Mark was then left badly exposed against three Chickerel players, but
he managed to stop them. Jamie
however took his eye off of the ball on the next attack, with predictable
results 7-1.
Joe was played in by Tom, but his shot hit the post, and then out.
At
this point Fran Glover went on a streak and managed to get into a fight with
other parents, although I don’t personally remember that happening, but
it’s what Terry recorded on the mic! Joe
then took a great shot after being put through by Luke A and was unlucky as it
just went over. Tom played a
lovely ball through to Charlie, but the ‘keeper saved it.
Tom then went on a great run up the left and crossed it in to where
Charlie was waiting, but he misjudged to pace of the ball, and it flew past
him. A cross came in and Tom met
it with a fantastic header which smashed into the crossbar and out again.
We then had a scramble in their area and three of our players tried to
get to it, but in the end, the grateful ‘keeper fell on it.
Tom then finished the game with a 25 yard shot which flew inches wide.
FULL-TIME
: CHICKEREL 7 FRYS
1
Man
of the Match – Chosen by
Andy for excellent play –
Tom Johnson
OVERALL
RESULT : CHICKEREL 8 FRYS
4
This
was an interesting game to observe. We
dominated the first game, and deservedly won, although it could have been
more, but in the second game, some of our players gave up as more goals went
in. It was the first time I have
seen it happen to our team, and don’t particularly like seeing it.
I admit some of the conditions were against us.
It was only a tour game, it was cold, it was wet and it was windy, but
then again, they never stopped!