Abberley Vale played their first ever game on the 7th September 2003. Six years later, we win five games in a row for the first time. The run has included victories over a team in the league above us, a team that were unbeaten in our league, and twenty two goals!
After last weeks giant killing we were arguably up against even better opposition this week. Mostyn had won six and drawn one (out of seven games) going into this fixture. They had only conceded eight goals in the process also.
So despite our good form, we were still going into the game as 2nd favourites.
Shirley and Northern Ric were absent so Gay and Simmo both came back into the team. Gay took up his role behind Jyla and Simmo played in the middle with Maverick. Goz moved out to the left wing as a result.
The game got underway and before long we found ourselves on the front foot. The midfield got the ball down whenever they could and for periods played some brilliant, composed football which Mostyn had trouble dealing with. The only thing that was catching us out was their high line that they were holding. Time and time again in the first fifteen minutes we found ourselves caught offside.
After the initial fifteens minutes though, we got to grips with their high line and soon started to get players in behind their defence. It was on about twenty minutes when we made our dominance pay. Pirate did well down the right before crossing the ball low into the box where Jyla did the necessary and finished from about the penalty spot to give us a deserved lead.
The big question mark now was, would be stop playing and invite them on to us???
The simple answer was no (unlike in previous other games).
In fact, it wasn’t long until we doubled our lead. Some great football in the middle resulted in Pirate once again, crossing in from the right. This time he picked out Goz who converted from close range.
This lead to the same question again. Would we now sit back on our lead and stop playing?????
Nope….. It was soon to be three nil!!!!!
Guess who, crossed in from the right and although it wasn’t one of his better deliveries, the keeper made a right mess of it and ended up dropping the ball at Gaylo’s feet. Gay and his new white boots did the rest!
HT 3-0
So at half time we had established a three nil lead. Unfortunately though, Fez had picked up a dead leg in the final few minutes and had to be replaced by Pants. Pants went to right back and Simmo dropped in for Fez at center half. Sebby played in center mid for the remaining forty five.
The least said about our 2nd half performance the better. Everything that had been working for us in the first half, we stopped doing in the 2nd! We couldn’t keep the ball and massive wholes started to appear all over the pitch. Even though we were three up, the biggest worry was could we hang on. We stopped doing all the basics and found ourselves defending for the majority of the half. After about twenty odd minutes in the 2nd half, we finally conceded. Thompson had his Sunday morning wonder of his line and sure enough it resulted in him being lobbed!
They kept coming at us, throwing more and more numbers forward but we managed to see the game out and come away with another three points!
To be fair, they missed a couple of chances and hit the bar so they could argue they deserved to score more than just the one. On the other hand though, we missed even more, and even better chances. They were also lucky to finish the game with eleven men, after Simmo was brought down when clean through on goal.
One of the decent chances fell to Gaylo who showed the touch of a rapist when through on goal, and not only missed the chance but also injured himself in the process.
Another stand out chance saw Simmo clean through again, only for the ref to blow for Full Time. Very harsh!!!
Gay was replaced by High Tower after he picked up his injury but that wasn’t the most interesting substitution off the day. Pirate had to leave the field of play with only two minutes left on the clock. ENTER…… Merion!!!!!
Not only did he manage to make a foul for every minute he was on the pitch (all two of them) – he also managed to lose the keys to the changing rooms in the process. If you’re reading this Gonge – he blames you!
