Next week can't come quick enough...

COWHC 3s 0-9 Epsom 5s

08th March 2014

Yes, I'm afraid you read the scoreline correctly.  We lost 9-0.

Things got off to a bad start when Mike told us that he'd had two late pull-outs, one of which unfortunately was Paul, which isn't great when you're playing a team who like to hit their shots in the D early.  We also had no umpire, again not ideal, particularly when it was our home game!  So Mike bravely (/foolishly) decided to pad up and Martin, after frantically ringing 90% of the club for extra players, picked up his whistle.

Being short does have a tendency to make life difficult, particularly as we actually started 3 players down as Angus hadn't realised he was playing and so got to the pitch just after we started!   As a result we started with a slightly unfamiliar line-up, particularly given that Trevor gamely filled in at right-back until Angus was ready.  The lack of players did mean that we were quickly overrun.  Any time we did manage to make an interception or tackle and get the ball away it was only for a temporary respite as it swiftly came back to us.  I can't fully recall the details of the 4 goals that were scored before half time.  I think the 3rd came from a break through the middle that left a 2-on-1 against Mike, but otherwise they all sort of blurred into one.

Just before half time we saw the results of Martin's phone calls with Finny arriving to take over umpiring duties and Foz turning up.

So, the second half started with us actually up to full numbers, although we cunningly decided to stick to the idea of mixing up the positions and put Martin out on the left wing!  Unfortunately this fresh tactic didn't work and Epsom maintained their dominance.  Again, the goals have kind of blurred into each other (I was tired alright! I'd been travelling all day on Friday and been chasing shadows for the previous 35 minutes!), there was one that came from a short corner, which I think may have been the occasion when Mike decided to hit Alex on the head.  Suffice to say they scored 5 more and only some good stops by Mike kept the score from becoming double figures.

POM went to Radders for fighting gamely to keep himself afloat in midfield while being swamped by runners from all sides.