| Thursday 25 September 2003 at 7:00 PM |
| Division One |
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| Barnstoneworth |
1 |
V |
2 |
APC Rangers |
Mike Steere
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| Played |
| Squads |
Sean Belcher
Gavin Harkness
9
Kalvin Nicholson
8
Mike Steere
9
John Beams
8
Dan Collins
9
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| Match Reports |
NTL CONNECT FOR LAST GASP WINNER
Barnstoneworth lined up for this one with no subs and a combined age of over 200 years.
We've had some good games against the black and white stripes in the past and
tonight was to be probably the best so far.
Without our recognised 'keeper it was Gavin who chose to take that responsibility with Dan taking over for the last 5 mins. This was an important game for both clubs with the 3 points sorting out a potential play-off place for the winner. NTL, after sorting out who'd be wearing the clubs very nice NUFC shirt, came at us early and had a couple of good chances. They were very well organised in attack and defence and managed to break up our rare early attacks. Gav was heard to mutter 'uh-oh' after yet
another NTL attack, which was about right, things looked bleak.
However we held strong at the back with both Dan and Sid looking good(especially Sid sporting a rakish goatee). With Gav acting as sweeper we kept trying to get something going but found it difficult to hold onto the ball up front. The marking from B/worth was very good and up to the interval we had managed to contain NTL. We had also had a couple of good chances ourselves, most notable was Mike spooning the ball over from close range. Despite Kalvins rash challenge on NTL's nippy forward, trying to clear a ball by driving his boot through the lads guts and conceding a free kick on the edge of the area, the score remained 0-0 at the break. A great opportunity to rest shagged out legs and lungs before the next installment. Gav was, by now, shitting himself in goal under the weighty expectation of the impending attacks. Being unable to get his huge bulk down to prevent a goal, he knew his only chance was to rotate and bring his massive arse into the frame. This would take an immense amount of physical co-ordination between the top and lower sections of his body. Luckily nearly everybody in front of him was playing well especially Sid who, knowing this to be his swan song, was giving all that his knackered old body could give. He made some timely tackles and as the half progressed managed to push forward and get onto the end of some good passes from Dan.
All was going well until, from an NTL corner, their deflected shot rebounded into a space where Kalvin should have been and instead of being cleared, which it would have been if Kalvin was there, it fell to an NTL player. He shot, because he was unchallenged by a
player who wasn't there!, and the ball was driven under the diving Gav and his unfeasibly large arse.
Sid seeing this unfold before him in slo-mo, tried to stop the ball going into the net by charging in with both feet aimed at the ball and Gavs head.....unfortunately he was too
late and missed both. Still, he was lucky not to be swallowed whole by those flailing arse cheeks. 1-0 to NTL and no more than their possession deserved. With a cry of 'heads up' we carried on, Dan tried to take on NTL by himself a couple of times, Mike and Johnny battled very hard to get the break but were thwarted by a resolute NTL defence. The equaliser came as Dan and Sid linked, got the ball to Mike who drove the ball home for 1-1.
Both sides had a couple of good chances to take the lead in the remaining 10
mins, ours came as Sid got the ball on the right, beat his man and slid a perfect pass to Johnny. He fired an unstoppable shot which cannoned off the upright, soooo close! A draw was on the cards, our first for a long time. Then with seconds to go, Sid, with a throw in, rolled the ball to Gav ( still in goal, despite the earlier proposed change with Dan!), he tried one final bit of trickery to get the ball upfield but unfortunately ran into a spot of bother with the tall, blonde NTL attacker. He nicked the ball from Gav and slotted it into an empty net. What a body blow! everybody had played so well, including Gav.
We certainly deserved to get something from this game, but it's oh so cruel. That was the last kick of the game. Bollocks. This was certainly the best contested game I've played in this season, no niggle, just two teams playing good football. This really could have gone either way and I'm sure that NTL would agree. Happy with the 3 points but they still showed a little sympathy with
the manner of the win (and I never did get to swap my crappy hooped shirt with their lovely NUFC one). Good luck lads and thanks for the excellent game.
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