Saturday 14 November
Over 35s 3 v Marinos Papas 1
This was more like it! A hard-fought match played in an excellent spirit and a contest that we never looked likely to lose.
In another break with tradition, we played most of this match in a 3-5-2 formation, and it worked terrifically. Our tendency this season to play the ball long from deep was surprisingly curtailed, for whenever we found ourselves in possession of the ball, there always seemed to be an attractive short pass available. We knocked it about really well in this one.
Andrew Barrett made his debut and looked a class act in midfield, solid and stylish in equal measure. Patrick Newell was there, his ball retention and distribution skills providing us with a great platform in central mid. We had Russell, Chris… and though we lacked Captain Gordon, this was a terrific midfield combination. It was here that the game was won.
The Papas (a better assemblage than that which suffered in the Marinos Towels a few weeks back) could find no answer to our power and guile. And while the game was in no way an overly physical or dirty one, the Papas suffered numerous injuries and painful looking tumbles that seemed as they accumulated to erode the team’s self-belief. Yes, this was a game we thoroughly enjoyed.
Goals for the Fives came from me, a little chip over the keeper at the SPE as he rushed out to claim from my feet; Marc Bailey, of course; and, rather wonderfully, Trevor “the Octopus” Burton-Towell.
Big Trev played his last game for the YC&AC Over 35s up front, and from the kick-off he looked determined to mark the occasion with a goal. It was a long time coming, but it came all right, and in dramatic style, just a couple of minutes from the end. Russell Brown sent over one of his dipping thumper corners from the left at the Paul Blamire Shed End; three or four players rose in unison to clear, but rising above all of them would be TBT, who with a deft flick of his Geneva-bound forehead, guided the ball into the gaping net.
I don’t recall how the Papas got theirs, but the result of this one was never in doubt. We were back to our winning ways.
Anything other than victory for the Fives would have been Papast a joke
Some You Lose
Saturday 21 November
Over 35s 2 v Midorigaoka 3
We stuck with the 3-5-2 in this match, but for a few reasons it wasn’t nearly as effective as it had been the week before. Chief among those reasons would be the fact that Midorigaoka are a good side, especially defensively. Another reason would be that we tended to get sucked in a bit as we sought to win the ball back, thus undermining the width that a central five normally provides. A third reason would be that, with the honourable exception of Patrick, who charged around dropping hand grenades for the duration of the match, we were a bit flat again in this one.
That said, if one or two of the hundred shots—and headed clearances!—that cannoned off the woodwork in this match had gone in, we’d have got what on the whole would have been a deserved result. Good as they were, Midorigaoka weren’t brilliant in the final third, and didn’t create very much more than the three chances they converted.
Our goals came from me, a bullet header from an inch at the SPE, and from Andrew Barrett, who converted a lobbed through ball from me again after I appeared to have controlled the ball with my left arm on the edge of the box.
Injured Captain Gordon got my goal on camera (good work, Gordon!)…
Quality finishing…
He also got a great shot of Dave Fenner unleashing a thunderbolt that presumably went wide or something…
Funny thing is, Patrick Newell also seemed to score, if the photographic evidence is anything to go by.
Patrick shoots…
He scores! By the look of it…
Did this match in fact finish 3-3? Please help out in the comments!
Finally, mention must be made of the unfortunate injury to Midorigaoka’s standout centreback, who had to be stretchered from the field with a broken leg after an innocent looking tumble in the box at the SPE. Get well soon, fella. Drink it all at once.
By Alex Hendy
