Soccer
The official account of my head splitting open...
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Rd13: Old Mentonians (h)
Humiliation 6, Dignity 1
Last Sunday saw the Thora’s seek to continue some recent good
form and play the team lying immediately above them in the table. On
paper this was a winnable game, albeit whilst continuing with a
number of rotations from last weekend’s side. Sproston and
Macdowell were in the 2s, Owen and Andy Webster were away to be
replaced by Bhav, Dave “Sugar” Plumb and Robin Tunderman
There was some consternation before kick off due to the arrival of
the female referee and no suitable changing rooms. Sheehan was
particularly concerned as he was seeking a toilet to void himself of
the previous night’s “all-you-can-eat” brazilian bbq and did
not want to permeate the home dressing room with a foul stench whilst
a lady might be getting changed – what a gentleman!
Wolst shuffled his deck of cards and made a few changes with the
result that Sugar started at the back, Irish Lothario Sheehan and
Robin T at center-mid and Sean used his explosive pace (sic)
alongside popular rural Aussie Leon Charles
The first few minutes were fairly open with some good play by both
sides. Sheehan showed some deftness of foot to skin the full back
and swing a delightful cross over which Sean failed to convert,
heading over the bar. However, MP3 found themselves on the back foot
a fair bit as the young urchins pressed forward and tested the
defence.
It was the Thora’s that came close to breaking the deadlock
however. Following a corner that was headed clear, Sean collected
the ball in his own half and played a one-two with Leon Charles that
sent him trundling clear. The defenders caught him just outside the
box but he got his shot away which scandalously bounced away off the
post. More outrageous ill-fortune followed as the ball was promptly
cleared upfield where OM scored!
Worse was to follow as OM followed up this slap in the face
(Kapow!) with two more (Bish! Bosh!) as the MP3 defence crumbled like
a fresh slice of madeira cake. MP3 tried to get back in the game.
Sheehan battled his way through but was denied by a late tackle. At
the other end, Schnizzle made a couple of trademark last ditch
challenges that kept the already alarming scoreline from worsening
Sadly for Schnizzle, his match was about to come to a premature
end – one corner later and the silky American’s head split open
following a clash of heads which could not be resolved by Bhav, the
team dentist/medic pitchside.
As we only had 2 subs on Sunday and we already used one, it was
difficult to ring the changes at half time. Instead, we switched to
a 3 4-3 with Bhav coming on for Storm. This led to an improved
effort in the second half as Bhav put himself about really well and
things began to turn for us. Leon Charles pulled one back with a
tidy finish from a Bobby Ledger cross. There was further hope when a
penalty was awarded, even if it looked a bit dubious. Sadly, this
was saved by the OM keeper which summed up our day really.
Ads made some good saves to keep us in it but by now the OM
wingers seemed to stroll round the defence at will as the weiry and
disheartened Thora’s battled on in vain. It was no real surprise
therefore when we cheaply conceded possession for an OM player to
sneak through and make it 4-1. Two more soft goals then followed
Gutted
The three late goals really hammered home the defeat. At the end
of the day, every MP3 player could have put in more effort and been
more committed in the challenge. We could have kept possession
better and the structure of the team did not work as well as we might
have hoped. These are the games that you have to battle through
(like Carringbush last week) and force a result – it was therefore
another nail in the coffin of a hugely disappointing season.
Hopefully this performance was a one-off and next week will be a
different story
posted by Laika @ 5:09 AM
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