A totally injury ravaged Brownhills claimed a superb win against the "Neck-enders" of Edensor. The game began with new loan signing Tim in between the sticks, Golden at centre half, in order to mark the opponents gazelle-like centre forward and Doyley showing his adaptability by playing right back with the same level of (in) competency as he shows between the sticks, although with less eye catching attire, due to injuries to cornerstone stalwarts big Gary and Matt.
The still walking wounded, greatly missed, full back, leader, confidant and friend to all the squad, Ian Stockton, (who was scythed down and viciously injured by his team-mate Greedy Steve who was jealous of Stocko’s Zidane 360 degree turns) was able to show his value to the team as he was installed as Manager in order to give direction, tactical instruction and vocal encouragement to the team in all aspects of their game and definitely not just to time the halves and put the subs on when Captain Read told him to.
BHS had chances, as did the visitors and Idrees actually beat a man and crossed it but in a angel and devil performance refused point blank to acquiesce to the will and superior knowledge of the game held by his manager and caused the team problems by not chasing lost causes, working back, closing down to the detriment of the team and neglected his defensive duties leaving his right back woefully exposed. He still has a tendency to be an enigmatic kind of figure reminiscent of John Barnes. I looked enigmatic up in the Oxford English Dictionary where it was defined as "greedy, ineffectual, lazy tw@"
Edensor took the lead near the end of what was an entertaining first half after a decent shot by their semi-pro was deflected past the wrong-footed Tim by the hapless Ready.
New Manager Stockton decided to bring off Ready, in a display of the kind of ruthlessness that has won Stocko's previous teams a string of championships. Teams which have been committed, organised, supremely fit, well-drilled, highly-organised units of the pinnacle of footballing standards with great disciplinary records and displaying a tremendous spirit of fair play and no little flair and skill, who have crushed all the other teams before them in recent years. Stocko is used to handling 11-16 year old girls, so this rabble of poorly committed, unfit, clueless wasters is quite a come-down from those high standards.
He also substituted Ready as well.
The second half was a scintillating, end-to-end affair in which both sides traded goals. Edensor went 2-0 up when the gazelle, who is rumoured to be a ringer of the highest order, raced clear to chip the diving Tim.
Graham then tripped himself up in the area to claim a soft penalty, which he duly dispatched to give BHS a lifeline at 2-1.
This galvanised Rich who unleashed his secret weapon, launching his "Delap" throws, which Graham capitalised on to make it 2-2, and Fordy, who began to get a grip of the midfield. Edensor pushed on and scored again to make it 3-2 after shocking defending from an off-form Read and so appeared to be cruising. Stevelyn then scored as Gareth went on a mazy run and actually played in Mr James whose scuffed finished deceived everyone including himself as he turned away in disgust as his mishit shot, which was definitely going wide, bounced off the Brownhills worm to creep in at the near post to make the score level at 3-3.
Brownhills did their best to throw it away by defending too deep and resting on their laurels and conceded another. At 3-4 down and with time ticking on, Ash the Bash tried his best to get in his customary maiming of the opposition's best player on two occasions and, luckily for Ash, his advancing years have lead to his late tackles now being so late, that he missed his intended target on both occasions.
Rich then delivered the best left wing cross seen in the ST6 postcode area since Steve Guppy roamed the wide areas at Vale Park and Stevelyn rose above everyone like a salmon (obviously not a Greedy one, as his feet only leave the floor once a century or to cripple a team-mate) and even the crossbar to head home majestically to make it 4 all.
Then, in a managerial masterstroke worthy of Walter Smith, Sir Alex Ferguson and Mickey Adams, Stocko used his tactical nouce to sub the ineffectual and anonymous Ahmed to bolster the midfield by replacing him with Craig, not to see out a draw, but in a game changing decision, he instructed "Data Boy" (who played in the final 5 minutes of a game for the first time as his mummy said he could stop out a bit later because the nights are getting lighter) to get under Rich's herculean throw to unwittingly set up Golden Graham. In the ensuing goalmouth scramble, Andy smashed in a left footed drive from six yards to send one spectator wild with excitement and the other one sickened with disappointment.
Brownhills closed out the game in injury time by weathering the final onslaught and as the final whistle blew, they hailed their mastermind coach with choruses of "Who needs Mourinho, when we have Ian Stocko!!!!!!!!"
