Carb’s team (York Baptist) 1
The first Saturday in June, a perfect pre-World Cup friendly and the boys from St Paul’s mirrored the famous England win over Germany with a superb show of football prowess.
A beautifully warm day greeted the players and the Wednesday warm-up had secured places for a number of players and we were bolstered by the return of a number of friendly faces and Woody!
Thirteen players proved to be a perfect number for the circumstances and the diversity of choice for the opposition may have been a disadvantage as they tinkered more than Claudio Ranieri to find a suitable line-up to deal with the marauding football of St Paul’s, by which time they were 4-0 down!
Tom proved to be a mercurial captain with a footballing brain not dissimilar to Bobby Robson, i.e. nobody could work out what he was doing but it certainly worked. The line up was organized with Simon B on the left wing which caused some eyebrows to raise and the supportive comment from Woody that “ he hadn’t thought this through!” but Tom was confident in his ability.
The line up was as follows; Kev Church – GK, Rich Church, LB, Matt Y & Tom, CB, Roy, RB, Simon B, LM, Woody, Will & Steve G, CM, Simon J, RM and Tuvvy, CF. Steve J & Nathan beginning on the bench.
Unorthodox but inspired!
The first few minutes was dominated by feet finding by both teams with early touches for the goalies and no real threat but it was St Paul’s that made the first decisive move and after some good harrying in the opposition’s final third a couple of corners were forced. The second was whipped in by Simon J’s right foot and the full back lashed it into his own net from an acute angle, very reminiscent of the Japanese own goal against England last week! This early blow damaged the opposition like Amir Khan in a title fight and St Paul’s built on this early advantage with some scintillating play for the next 35 mins.
Three goals followed in quick succession; a penalty from captain Tom which was saved by their keeper but like a true professional, he followed up his kick and was lashed in by the Captain Marvel; a beauty by Steve J, following a long free kick delivered to the chest of Simon B on the edge of the area and touched down too close to Steve’s right foot so he had to hit it with his left – right into the top left corner of the goal; and a well-controlled lob by Will who kept his head when running through onto a terrific through ball, like Gary Lineker against Cameroon in Italia 90 following a ball from Gazza!
Speaking of which we ought to consult Woody watch – he was his normal combative self, inspired by his retro England top but the miss of the day was his, following a great through ball from Simon B, he conspired to miss by a country mile and was reminded by everyone else of his own high standards!
The rolling substitutions allowed a continuity from St Paul’s and the football continued to flow all through the first half, although 4-0 wasn’t flattering with scuffed chances by Simon B and Nathan. Maybe worthy of note was that there was a little unsportsmanlike barracking of the referee like Arsenal under Wenger on a penalty decision and this did seem to disturb the opposition more than St Paul’s except for Woody who stood up for his brother-in-law like a true family man and did enough standing up for all 13 St Paul’s players. However, refereeing a game is never anyone’s favourite past-time and we should thank Rob for his sterling work enabling us all to play and enjoy the game!
So St Paul’s left the field at half-time happy with our efforts and Tom’s Capello style team-talk was left unopened. Drinks were taken on board as the day continued to be warm despite the initial downpour and the rolling substitutions saw Tom and Roy leave the field for their 15 minute rest.
In the pub afterwards Tom was quick to point out that it was whilst he was off the field that the opposition scored with a well-taken header and Matt Y blamed himself (as always) for losing the goal scorer but the balance was restored almost immediately as the keeper had a rush of blood, came too far and Steve J bagged his second despite the Lee Evans style contortions of their hot-headed skipper.
This proved to be the final meaningful action of the game with Carb’s team looking increasingly industrious and St Paul’s becoming more blasé, particularly captain Tom, pirouetting on the edge of his own penalty area and Roy’s superb control with his backside to avoid a throw-in. Seriously, the fightback never looked likely and the game was seen out comfortably except for Woody whose effusive style appeared to yield a self-inflicted injury so serious that he could not join the team for drinks after the game and later prompted the text message – “ I demand sympathy!”; needless to say it was wholly forthcoming.
Man of the match and Goal of the game both belong to Steve J who was like a young Cesc Fabregas, only better looking, and got the vote from the selection panel at The Sun.
Well done everyone on another victory and commiserations to Phil McBride who thought invincibility was what he brought to the team! Bring on the summer tournament!
Match Report by Simon Bissett
No comments:
Post a Comment