BA Sunday arrived at a freezing Concorde Centre desperate for a win following three successive defeats. Tim, Yeast and Bish all came back into a strong looking 14 man squad. The only absentee was Josh who was struggling with an injury. As last week's performance was promising, the management team decided to go with the same staring eleven. However this minor moment of consistency was short-lived as in traditional Sunday morning style light sleeper Whitey informed us all he'd alarmingly overslept. Bish stepped in to replace.
As it is BA Sunday's 1st season in this division, all of the opposing teams are unknown quantities. Perivale's results had not been great but every game they had played had been close. BA were sure to be in for a tough test.
In true November style just as the game kicked off the ice rain began to fall. Both teams concentrated more on staying alive than controlling the ball and as a result the opening exchanges were scrappy to say the least. However BA were without doubt the better side but they struggled to find any telling passes and subsequently chances failed to materialise. It was no surprise that at half time the score was 0-0.
At half-time 4-5-1 reverted back to 4-4-2 with Dean Leow moving up front and Robbie Blood out onto the left. The BA boys knew the game was there for the taking, all that was required was some deep heat and some form of circulation. Fortunately, as the 2nd half kicked off, the rain ceased and BA's performance improved. Good passing moves saw chances for Dean Leow, Kingy, Robbie Blood and Spleen all of whom failed to test the lummox in goal.
That was all to change after 56 minutes. BA managed to get the ball to the edge of the Perivale box, Dazza poked the ball through to Kingy who turned and shot accurately through a sea of legs into the bottom corner of the Perivale goal for his sixth goal of the season. 1-0 to BA.
Most of the BA fans were now confident that their team would go on and score three or four. Perivale looked finished. A good ball from Spleen on the right found Kingy who dragged the ball back passed the defender and went to shoot, however just as trigger was about to be pulled, the Perivale defender caught Kingy's right foot and he fell like a dead salmon. PENALTY.
Despite being the club's leading scorer (with six goals), penalties had never been Kingy's strong point and this fact was shortly to be confirmed. As he placed the ball in a puddle on the spot it was clear he didn't know which way to go. As a result he went down the middle and his tame shot was easily saved. Not good. Normal penalty taker Whitey was left thinking what might have been if only his alarm had gone off on time.
For 5 minutes Perivale were lifted. A foul on their left winger led to a superb free kick being smashed against the BA bar with Trig beaten. Fortunately the ball bounced clear and BA were saved. The hearts of the BA fans were firmly in their mouths. However it wasn't long before BA killed off the game.
A deep corner from the left was headed back across goal by Mick Howes and Bish somehow thighed the ball into the Perivale net for his 4th of the season.
Three swift changes followed with Tim, Yeast and Phil coming into the game at the expense of Spleen, Robbie and Garlick. The fresh legs helped BA create another 4 good chances to seal the victory, however Tim and Kingy chose the wrong options each time and shot when other team mates were in better positions to score.
Eventually, to everyone's relief, the final whistle went and BA had ended a three match losing run. A clean sheet and strong defensive performance had resulted in a 2-0 win. BA consolidated their third position in the league, after 4 wins and 2 defeats coming from the first 6 games.
