Our first cup away day saw us venture up into the Telscome highlands and playing on well mown, plateaued pitch, against some "string vested" travellers who seemed to just randomly emerge from the sounding trees, with their whelk!
B town took to the pitch and made sure we got in some dreadful warm up passing and shooting... just to get it out of our system, mind.
A controvertial 11 was named and walked out a little nervilly to start the game, which showed in how quiet we were, well, maybe not Miguel, but in general. Some nice touches and passing, saw us begin the routine, which was firmly helped by how little the opposition were getting from our back four, who were calm, composed and dominant. Chances started to begging and frustration looked on the horizon if not for Jacks' opener, started with a Homing missile from Baker, collected on the run and Henry'd, round the keeper to calm and reinvgorate the massive.
Baker and Tom missing nothing and Ray and Tonks letting nothing past, we kept on the pressure with the great attacking talent between the forward runners. Jack drove, McKenna, Chuck and McGranghan hacked and Harry jinked into overdrive, finishing the half, knowing we could have doubled the 2-0 lead, completed by Azza, finishing off a cut back from the lively Jack.
Half time comes and "same again, please" was essentialy the message from Baker, cementing how good we'd been. Chuck, who'd turned up, looking like a 10 year younger, ghost, and had been, more than a little antagonised by their No 6 for the entire first half, went back in for exactly "more of the same" with his 'nemesis, heckler' who'd used classics, such as; "you're shit" and my personal favorite; "you look like fucking, Bambi" ! But other than a couple of stray passes and a little indecision in the first half, continued, with McKenna, to win the ball back and start our own incisive passing. Harry rose, like he'd sat on a pin, to nod in a McKenna corner and set himself up for a hat-trick, the boy was on form, pulling off roulette turns, through crowds of grunting hillsfolk and running them ragged. From nowhere, we flagged and conceded a 4 min period of pressure, with them drawing brilliant saves from Migs or hitting the bar continously. Then a slight hiccup came, the brilliant lino, seemed to lose concentration, signalling the bench, and the hill people saw their chance and capitalised with a stonkingly, offside goal, leaving Migs, shooting daggers and curses to the blushing flagbearer. BTown tutted and moved on.
The subs came on in quick succession and carried on the momentum with more solid defending and good possesion in the final third. Ammar's good running getting him kicked in the air repeatedly and I still can't be sure his heart didn't stop for a second when he lay in the box after a bulldozer challenge. yet again, waved away by the elderly ref. A corpse is a corpse ! and yet, he lived on, producing the run then the pass, to set up the debutant John Seeney, who finished coolly and almost visably agrevated, that it didn't arrive with the chance of a spectacular finish. Finally the impessive Ray, covered well by Harry, bombed on to cap a solid performance with a goal, tapping in McKenna's delivery. A little too easy in the end, but when every player performs... that's the dream, boys. Really difficult shout for motm, but in the end, Brummie Xavi just didn't miss a beat, best of a great bunch.
*since the game, chuck has been to therapy, and is getting back to his chirpy self, one mantra at a time.
