As the lads from Gabbas Bar got suited up for their first game in their new kit, the mood in the changing room was optimistic of things to come, Gaffa Elwell was a little dissapointed to see only 10 players changed 5 minutes before kick off, awaiting the arrival of Sherwood who he had given a stern talking to over the phone to wake him up and get him out of bed! Upon arrival to then find the Shermanator had arrived with no shin pads!!!! Never the less Gabbas fielded a strong starting 11 with Ant Follows tuening up shortly before kick off for the 12th man and only sub.
The game kicked off and the weekends antics were telling on the Gabbas lads as they were slow to start and quickly came under some pressure from the energetic Hargate Arms' lads, there wasn't much between the two sides as Watson came down the line to clip a ball in (a cross) which luckily came back off the woodwork only to bounce past the oncoming Gabbas forwards. The Hargate lads looked frightening as their first corner was whipped in to see their tall centre half header onto the gabbas defender manning the post and cleared away to safety (a re-shuffle of marking was actioned to ensure the big lads were picked up). All was still square as a ball played through by the hargate midfield lookd destined to meet the ongoing striker only to be pulled back for off side (good line Elwell) Matt Hall placed the ball down, 4 steps back, gets his blackberry out and pings the bag of air high long and over the flapping arms of the Hargate keeper, chants of 'Keepers....ooooo Nothin!' were heard from the spectators much to the amusement of the Gabbas players...1-0 Gabbas.
As the match progressed Ricky Kelly and Steven 'King' Mason were just getting warmed up as the link up play between them resembled nothing less than an in form 90's Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, this much to the frustration of the opposing centre midfield of the Hargate, causing a bit of aggression to brew up from them and a few late and hard challenges to fly in, this obviously was met by a challenge Wilesy's mates from the Green would be proud of by Ricky Kelly, with the ball then falling to the king the opposing Hargate player decided to retaliate and chop the king down, Mason's response to loft the ball towards him was a little feable but did the trick to stir up some competitiveness between the two teams. The resulting free kick fell into the hands of no other than long free kick specialist Matt Hall to pump again into the box this time onto the cross bar dropping into a flurry of Hargate and Gabbas players and who would of guessed no other than Ruud Van Wiles sticks out a toe to poke in the 2nd goal of the game...2-0 Gabbas.
Half time was blew not long after, Elwell made the change to swap a struggling Biscuit with experienced former DCA player Ant Follows, this offered a fresh pair of legs and a steady head on the left wing. The second half started much as the 1st half ended with the sides even to the ball, the tiring legs of the Gabbas lads were showing and as the ball defelcted to the pacey right winger of the Hargate, the shermanator decided to what looked like enter him from behind and bring him down in the box for a penalty, 2-1 Gabbas.
Things resumed as normal after the against the run of play goal, when a corner was won by the energetic chasing down of Ludbrook which was lofted in and cleared by the Hargate lads only to land in the path of Ruud Van Wiles who plucked up a screamer the man Messi would be proud of! A belter that everybody stood watched and couldn't believe that lad had produced...3-1 Gabbas.
The game resumed with not long left as the Hargates fitness began to show when they thread a couple of balls through the Gababs defence only to find Gabbas number 1 Bumble producing a fine parry over the bar to deny the Hargate a goal, it was not long before the Hargate threatened the Gabbas goal again when a ball which looked like bread and butter for bumble was mis-judged and required an acrobatic (for the cameras) flick onto the bar and then cleared away by Sherwood. No other clear cut chances were made by the Hargate as the Gabbas lads used the energy and pace of lively forward Ludbrook to catch the defence unaware threading him through a couple of times but Ludbrook could not apply the finish. These chances could of been made to rue as Elwell stupidly dived in to bring down the Hargate number 9 in the box who slotted away his seceond penalty...3-2 Gabbas.
....and that's how it ended up! In summary, Mason and Kel in the middle = Magic, Ruud Van Wilesy, what can I say, Gevin Schofield, never looked like losing a battle to a forward, Ludbrook, keep getting in those spaces and the top scorer will come your way.
Gabbas Ay We
