From the day the fixtures came out this was the one everyone was waiting for. Last year’s champions (by some distance) and also one of B&A’s fiercest rivals in recent years. The games have been tight between the two sides and normally bad tempered affairs. Last time B&A won on Southborough turf club mascot Chris Piper ended up being throttled and headed butted by Southborough players. Needless to say they don’t like losing. So going in to this game Southborough were unbeaten in the league for nearly two years. B&A had a strong squad to pick from and opted to change the formation slightly with only one winger and make the game more compact and Matt Wood stepped in in the sticks for the injured Brown Bear. It was a plan that didn’t really work as the two sides played out a scrappy first half with the visitors looking slightly tentative. That said however it was the brave boys in black and red who broke the deadlock. A pin point Spudulike corner smacked Bish directly on the forehead and went in, the net was rippling before the big man knew what had happened. Hay ho Bish, they all count mate xx
The goal gave the boys some momentary confidence and finally got the ball down to play. This was short lived however as a defensive mix up and some sloppy defending let the hosts equalise in scrappy fashion.
Much to the confusion of utility man Paul Hathaway the B&A Sudo gaffer gave the boys a half time bollocking telling them it looked poor out there. Huffers obviously thought they were doing alright and didn’t quite understand the dissatisfaction. Who was right and who was wrong didn’t really matter, the point was it got a reaction from the team and they went out for the second half with the bit between their teeth. An early change saw the lively Baggo replace the muteness Huffers to try to stretch the game out. This was working well until Zac was brought down just as he was hitting warp speed with the ball at his feet and had to be replaced by Gandhi’s ghost. One of the biggest turning points in the game and real shift of momentum was when the Southborough forward capitalised on a defensive mistake and was clean through on goal. His powerful shot was tipped on to the post by Pikey Wood and away to safety, little did he know just how important forgetting to take his acrylics off would be.
Chances were at a premium but the B&A looked like they were winning the trench war in midfield. Tom Bayley, restored to the starting line up for the first time this season was crunching away and niggling the Southborough boys at every turn. Mumma Bear Gerrit would have been so proud to see what his little Woggles has grown in to. R.I.P Gerrit Bear, you had lovely hair.
The game was nearing the final stages and some were thinking a draw away at Southborough actually isn’t that bad when Gandhi’s Ghost picked up the ball in his own half wide on the right. He got his head down and followed the white line so not to get lost, when he hit another white line infront of him he panicked and kicked the ball as hard as he could to his left, at this very same moment Hobbit had made a blistering run across his defender and through himself at full stretch towards the flying pigs bladder. Time stood still as the ball flew past the stranded Southborough keeper and nestled in off the far post. The crowd went wild, Hobbit’s tick went ballistic and Bowlsey tugged Cromwell on the sidelines. The ref signalled 5 minutes remaining.
It was a tense last few but B&A showed some real steal to close the game out and take the points home.
Nothing else happened, The End
