We scraped the bare 11, but due to the tube strike, the oppo only had 8, so we gave them one of our two ringers, Tony from F+P. Possibly a game-changer right there.
Strikers were me and Latch, although I did spend most of the time leathering the ball over the bar rather than into the net. Sorry. Midfield of Stu wide left, Hoff Jnr wide right and the usual Phil/Neil engine room. A back three of Steve, Andy and JP (ex-F+P).
We opened the scoring, a through ball from me to Hoff Jnr, a couple of nice touches from the young'un to round the defender before left-footing past the keeper. Easy peasy. They replied with the utmost efficiency though, our vulnerability from the kick-off expertly exploited, half a dozen touches later and it was 1-1. A well-worked goal, but still - from the kick off? From the bleedin' kick off?! Obviously some remedial training ground work on "how not to concede from the kick off" is required. I can't remember their second, as I was still thinking about wellying the ball over the bar (note to self: try to hit it harder next time). I think Tony scored it. He's dead to me now.
2-1 down at halftime even with a man advantage, and annoyingly so far this year we are yet to turn a half-time deficit into a win.
We had a hatful of chances throughout the game, Stu somehow heading over a bouncing ball from a yard, another certain goal ruled out for a foul by Stu (damn you Stu), I missed a one-on-one (note to self: try to hit it harder next time), Hoff Jnr had one trickle off a post, spin along the line, and nudge the far post before the keeper strolled over to collect. I missed a glancing header, keeper made a couple of good saves, Latch missed a solid header from a corner (we really don't seem good at headers), I blazed a free-kick over (note to self: try to hit harder next time), a few offsides, plus there are no doubt many more incidents I can't recall. I believe the most apt word to describe the performance is "profligate".
It was sweet revenge for ASJS, as last time we played them they had the man advantage but we managed a 3-1 win. Swings and roundabouts - let's really stuff 'em next time.
Solid pub turnout: Me, Andy, Stu, Molby, Hoff Jnr, Ref, Intertoto, Latch. Hoff Jnr was quite excited about IT talk - he's just built a database don't you know. Steve was adamant "there's no facking way I'm talking about work at the pub", I chimed in with a bit of "oh yes, what sort of database? SQL? Access?", but before he could answer Andy cut in,"What the fook? It's almost ten, we haven't mentioned melons once and you're talking about databases?!?"
