The 20th of September 2009 will go down in Abberley Vale history…..
Not because Pascy lost his bearings in the 2nd half and had no idea where the ball had gone, only to have it drop out the air and smack him on his bald head. Luckily for him, it did actually bounce off in the direction of our keeper Thompson and no harm was done.
Nor was it the fact, that Pascy wore his new boots (studs not moulds) for the first time!
There were actually two other reasons why this day will go down in our magical, rich history…. Vale pulled on their new (NIKE!!!) kit for the very first time. And as a way of saying thanks to the Rose and Crown for helping us the raise the money to buy our new kit, we also made our first post match appearance in The Bridge Inn.
So with the knowledge that we were going to be christening our shiny new kit, it was agreed that we would meet early and have a team photo. Unfortunately like all Abberley Vale plans, this never materialised. No hammer could be found to put the pegs in the ground pre game and any spare time we had was used trying to hammer the pegs in with various rocks, stones….. and Jum’s trainer (Jum’s trainer not being overly successful).
Onto the team talk and the announcement of the starting 11: Thompson stuck with last seasons back 5 and went with Gay on the left (Si was out ill) and Pirate on the right. Sebastian and Goz played in the center and Dirky and Jyla started up front.
With all the lads full of confidence in their new kit, Thompson’s team talk was made easy. All he had to do was give us a few pointers and the kit would do the rest. What we didn’t really want to hear was Thompson putting the thought in our heads that our new kit could be cursed before we’d even kicked a ball in it. “Cum on lads, you’ve got a new kit. Don’t go and lose today and get us thinking it could be cursed”!
The 1st half: As we’ve come to expect now in the majority of our games, the opposition dominated possession and showed a great deal more composure than any of us. Even so, The Crown created very few really decent chances and if anything we came the closet to taking the lead. One of our free kicks going narrowly over the bar.
HT 0-0
2nd half: Just as a few of us were starting to think we could hold onto a clean sheet and come away with at least a point, Silk failed to cut out a Crown through ball, and with him on his arse, watched as their center forward drilled the ball through Thompsons legs…. and through the net into the hedge (definitely need a new hammer for those pegs!).
Five or ten minutes later and it was two nil. Their left winger drifted infield and with defenders standing off him (Silk was the closet) hit a shot from about twenty odd yards that nestled in the top corner. Paul ‘chocolate wrists’ Thompson got a hand to it, but his camp slap at the ball was not enough to turn it round the post!
The Crown enjoyed even more pressure and possession after going two up but we did have a couple of chances ourselves - Gaylo and Pirate missing our best two.
FT 0-2
It was fair to say the best team won! This was underlined by the fact it took us about 65 minutes to force their first goal kick.
Quote of the day: From their player playing the ball back to Thompa, after Harry Powell had stopped the game for an injury. “I’ll try not to lob you”!
