September 21st, 2008
Sherwood FC 1 v 3 Calverton MW
Well, apparently the ref was poor as he insisted on throw-ins being taken properly, he blew every time one boy pushed or kicked another (youthful exuberance don't you know), the grass was too long, the sun too strong, you really shouldn't serve oysters when there's an ‘r' in the month and frankly if you say that about Jean Paul Satre again it could start WW III. Apart from that I think Calverton MW really enjoyed themselves today.
For us there were a few tears before the game on account of me not adhering to the subs policy (I tried when this was pointed out, honest!) and a few tears during the game on account of injuries. Simeons save with his face put him out early on and for the remainder of the first half. We are still a bit disjointed and not gelling properly as a team. We're still coming to terms with the loss of Raheem but . . . it's coming and we shouldn't get despondent. There was a much better collective attitude today but it wasn't one that could see us to a win unfortunately.
A very tight first half saw Buckly open the scoring after 18 minutes and I did that "Yesssss" fist clenching thing out of sheer relief. At that point I thought, hoped, that we'd go on to beat them but the feeling lasted less than a minute as CMW equalized straight from the kick-off. A couple of minutes before half-time they took the lead and our character was again questioned.
The second half was equally as tight. Both sides had chances but where we kicked wide with such great precision they took another one of theirs 10 minutes in and we never recovered. CMW scented blood and continued to chirrup at the ref, but we dug in. If we'd put one of our chances away it could have rattled them sufficiently to get some kind of result. They were asking "how long left ref" 10 minutes out, either getting twitchy or perhaps just unable to leave the poor chap alone. More chances were created and spurned by both sides and it finished 3-1. Not a disgrace against the unbeaten division leaders and maybe we have nothing better in us, but I'd like to think that we'll click properly anytime now.
Man of the Match for the third week running was the indispensible Harry W. He has always been a good player, but he has got better and has added exemplary attitude and behaviour. Well done Harry.
To paraphrase Dave Bassett, I think we can still win the League as long as not too many other teams beat us. Heh, heh.
