After losing 2-1 to Westwell and then defeating Watton-at-Stone Reserves 6-3 last week, the Mighty Deacs - already in a highly unusual league position (ie: top half) - had the momentum going into this week's fixture away to Ware Lions Old Chavs who were coming off of a 4-2 beating by Elizabeth Allen Old Boys 'A'.
At the proposed meeting time of 2pm there was 1 player in the car park. By 2.05 the number had swelled to 5. At 2.15 we had 7. By 2.35 we were up to 8 and Marco was castigating Gianni for not getting his arse in gear! We eventually kicked off at 3pm with a whopping 9 players, playing in a 4-3-1 formation, with the certainty of Ali turning up at some point.
Knowing it was to be a "backs against the wall" job, the Deacs set out their stall early on with a series of battling challenges and hoofs up the pitch/off the pitch/anywhere that's not here! Despite the lack of numbers there were actually a few moments of good interplay, especially between the midfield and Deano up front on his own.
With the match ebbing and flowing between poor, mildly awful and downright neanderthal chances for both sides were few and far between, with Andy Halliwell not having to stretch himself in goal for the Deacs. The one noticable chance that the Deacs created was a flicked header from a corner by Deano "The Goal Machine" Trussler, that the Ware Lions 'keeper could only palm onto the far post, and then watched it bounce along the line, hit the other post and bounce out.
With 40 minutes played, the Deacs were looking assured of keeping a clean sheet through to half-time, especially as Ali "The Daddy" Maynard turned up, promptly hurling himself into a meaty challenge with the Lions #7
The half-time teamtalk was a very positive affair, boosted by the Ware Lions manager abusing his players!
The second half kicked off in much the same vein as the first - neither team dominating and the ball spending most of the time either in the air or off the pitch.
As time kept rolling on, Deacs became more confident in their ability to get something out of the game and started to get the ball down more and start stringing some passes together, leading to the first time in the game that a team had a decent chance. Good battling from Teoli (the one that turned up) and Yates saw Maynard take possession on the left of the midfield. Looking up, "The Daddy" then played a through ball into the path of the ever-energetic Trussler who dispatched a superb effort beyond the keeper into the roof of the net. 1-0 to the Deacs!!
The delirium didn't last long as Ware Lions launched an attack straight from the kick-off, where a deep cross from the left was ignored by the Deaconsfield defence and poked in at the far post by a Lions player. 1-1 within a minute!
There followed a short period of the usual heads down and feeling sorry for ourselves, but it didn't last long with Adam picking up the ball and finding Maynard who again found the space beyond the Lions defence for Dean to latch onto another good through ball. The keeper came out to narrow the angle, but got it all wrong leaving Trussler with the easiest of finishes, stroking the ball home. 2-1 Deacs.
Once again the Lions roared back with another attack straight from the restart. this time they were foiled thanks to a superb clearance by Ali, which somehow found it's way into the passenger-side window of a Mercedes A-Class much to the amusement of the 40-or so pi$$-heads watching Ware Lions. Once the ball had been retrieved from said car, Lions took a short throw, which resulted in another deep cross, which once again Deacs defence failed to deal with and the ball ended up in the back of the net. 2-2 and much frustration.
All that remained in this craziest of matches was for Deacs to fly back up the pitch and win a free-kick 25 yards out (although Dean'll tell you it was more like 40). From the free-kick Dean unleashed a tame, floating shot that somehow made it's way, achingly slowly, into the top left-hand corner. 3-2 with 30 seconds to play!!
The last 30 seconds was played out, mainly due to some gratuitous time-wasting and Deaconsfield had won their second game of the season against all odds.
A superb, battling performance with all 10 players showing real grit and determination and oodles of character to fight their way back into the game.
Also a much better than average turn-out at the pub, which as you should all be aware is the most important part of any team.
