Abberley Vale challenged Forest Rangers to a game of soccer on a day that three different types of weather showed their faces!
As the teams turned up there was rain, when the game was started there was rain and wind, during the second half there was sun and as the game was finishing there was yet more rain!
Vale went into the match wondering what was going on with the results...under the guidance of Andrew Logan results were poor, loss after loss occurred and any draw was enjoyed as if we had won the F.A cup! However, under Bingo Briggsy, Vale have turned this around and found themselves winning on more than one occasion! So, with the squad fully backing him with every decision he makes, Bingo yet again selected another different starting 11.
Tude in goal, Psycho Fez right back, Shaggy left back, Silk and Az in the middle, Sam and Luke keeping their places on the wings with Matt ‘Makelele’ Simpson returning in the middle in place of Steve Nutbean who pulled up in the warm up. Gav Knight, Laan and Dirky all keeping their places from last week.
The match was started in the same fashion as the week before as Vale held the majority of possession. With Gav and Simmo pulling the strings, getting a hold of the game wasn’t too much of a struggle, they passed the ball around with ease on a slick home pitch. It only took 15 mins for Vale to start the scoring as Dirky put away with the outside of his right boot after Laan had headed it into his pathway. This ended up a ‘bitter sweet’ moment as Dirky landed badly on his arm and had to be replaced by Dave Delivers. The re shuffle didn’t appear to affect Vale as they soon made it 2-0 when after 20 mins Laan had a shot that was saved by the keeper only for Gav to follow up and head in.
Vale then held back and looked to pass the ball around and frustrate the opposition, Silk and Az were cleaning up all that came their way leaving Tude to practice cleaning his boots against the post for most of the first half. 5 mins before the interval Vales position in the game got even stronger as Rangers scored an unfortunate own goal, a Vale corner was whipped in and Silk leapt high to meet however mistimed his jump and missed the ball only for it to land at his feet only 2 yards out...his shot was more of a clearance but was somehow deflected in.
The second half was barely a min old when Vale added a fourth when a through ball from simmo saw Laan curl in across the helpless keeper.
With Vale distracted thinking about how many they were going to end up with, Forest battled hard and found themselves controlling most of the second half. They managed to turn the possession into something worthwhile when on 70 mins they punished some slack defending from Will Silk and chipped the oncoming Tude to pull a goal back.
Only 4 mins later the Vale lead was cut in half as Rangers battled through the middle and found themselves one on one with Tude who hesitated for a split second and was punished for the mistake as the ball was fired home.
With Vale starting to panic, Bingo decided he would make a substitution to help the team see through till the end as he brought on Tommo...yes for the second week in a row I did say Tommo!! Tommo, who is now regarded as the best footballer in his family, was wearing possibly the tightest pair of shorts I have ever seen...but strangely looked good ;)
Yet again Bingos magic did the trick and Vale saw out the game to enjoy another 3 points.
Back room staff –
Manager – Bingo Briggsy
Assistant Manager – Gonge
Linesman – Chuff
Head Groundsman – Pirate
Super Cheerleaders – Kieron Bridgewater, Craig ‘Messi’ Bridgewater, Deano, Nutbean and Cookie
Cleaner - Pascy
