COWHC 3s 1-4 Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian 4s
29th March 2014
The sun was out, the sky was blue, the pitch at Croydon High was looking lovely, in short everything was set for our final game of the season. We watched the end of the 1s game and saw some great goals.
Sadly that was as good as it got, particularly for me as I had an absolute shocker, more of which later.
Once again we started the game short, with only 10 players lining up for the push back. That's not great at the best of times, but when the weather is a bit warmer than normal and the opposition have at least 13 available, it doesn't bode too well.
We actually started reasonably well, pushing a high line and keeping Trinity pegged back a bit. But gradually we began to drop back and soon after we won the first short corner of the game (about 10 minutes in), we were in our own 25 defending a free hit. Unfortunately, in trying to make sure that everyone else was covering an opposition player I managed to let my own one drift free into the middle of the D. Sure enough, the ball was played through to him and he finished well.
The game ebbed and flowed quite a bit for the rest of the half. We weren't under a great amount of pressure if the truth be told, and with Trevor and Andrew running hard up front we were able to create a few half chances.
Half time gave as an opportunity to catch our breath and also welcome Qaz into the game, bringing us to the full complement of 11.
As in the first half we had the better of the opening exchanges, and a couple of chances to equalise went begging, either whistling wide or being stopped by the keeper and scrambled clear. Eventually our pressure did count and the goal came from a short. In a change to the regular routine Mike injected and received the ball back from Speddo. His shot was stopped by the keeper, but fell kindly for Radders, who finished with aplomb.
I wish I could explain what went wrong after that, but I really can't. We should have been in the perfect position to capitalise on this, we were looking arguably the stronger team and had the momentum.
Maybe we were pushing too much for the win, maybe it was just one of those days, but it all seemed to collapse around us after scoring. Too many passes were going astray, including one 16 which came straight back at us. I moved to close down the danger man, and looked to be pushing him wide until I slipped at just the wrong moment, leaving him one on one with Paul. I can't say much about how he finished as I was face down on the turf, but suffice to say he did.
Their third came from a bit of scramble in the D and, when I finally got the chance to clear I managed to do so straight to one of their players on the edge, who scooped the ball back towards goal for a volleyed finish.
And there was still time for a fourth. Some will argue whether the short that it came from should actually have been given, but it was. It was probably the best strike that they managed from any of their shorts, with the ball zipping past my stick, possibly with a slight deflection on the way, and between Paul and John on the line.
4-1 probably flattered Trinity, but at the end of the day we weren't good enough to really get anything from the game.
POM was Radders for both his strike and for being the one who managed to try and keep things running in the middle of the park.
Finally, I must add a huge thanks to both Mike, who is stepping down from the captaincy after 7 years or so, and our regular umpire Del, who is moving to the sunnier climes of the South Coast. Thank you very much gents, we couldn't have managed without you!
