Sunday 20th September 2009 10.30 away at Charlton Park v Bostall Old Boys – details that will go down in history as G&S Rovers’ first ever competitive match…. and what a game of 2 halves it was!
The boys were there on time, keen to pay their subs & secure a place in the BIG match! The team was picked & the squad donned their brand new Nike, Argentina style kit. Match card completed, all warmed up & kick off was upon us!
Rovers started brightly, but new they were in a game straight away against a well drilled, physical team. Yet within 5 minutes Rovers had their first chance cleared off the Bostall line – hopefully a sign of things to come.
Oz was commanding in goal & was brought in to action a few times, then disaster! The claret & blue forward was through, in what looked an offside position, the defence stopped (inexplicably) and Oz was calmly lobbed. 1-0 down… was this to be a long season!?
13 minutes gone and at last a response. The lively Ant put the enormous presence of Deji through only to see his striker blast high. Rovers looked nervous, but needlessly so. Clearly the better team they were being outplayed & out muscled. The half was dragging! Minutes left in the first & Deji was through. He crossed & Ant headed over when it might have been buried.
Half time. 1-0 down, not playing well and lacking all the ability shown in all the friendlies. Time for a rest and a talking to.
Second half – totally different.. 2 subs, 4-3-3 & FOOTBALL was being played from the kick off & what football it was!
48 Minutes Robbie curled in a free kick from the right and his ‘cross’ was tipped over by the keeper.
Then the moment the throngs of fans had waited for. 51 minutes and the ball was pumped up to 2nd half sub TJ. He rose to flick on for Deji who turned & crossed for Russs to bundle the ball home for 1-1!
Minutes later & the game was turned on its head. Deji returned the favour of a flick to TJ. He raced down the right, cut in and drilled the ball low & hard across the keeper for 1-2! Then off went ‘Drogba’ for an ‘Adebayor’ slide!
Again only a few minutes later & Deji won yet another flick, this time to Russ who just missed bagging his 2nd. Half an hour left and Russ’ hard work paid off. The Bostall defence seemed to sleep, Russ crossed to his partner Deji who calmly and deservedly slammed home a side foot drive to the keepers left. 1-3!
All the better football and hard work was starting to tell & Deji was through on 70 to shoot just wide. The pressure was soon to tell yet again as the Blues started to tear the clarets apart. Robbie smashed a beautiful cross field ball to the ever available Deji. He controlled it dead, played a lovely give & go with Lakey (making his last appearance before Uni), before crossing for Russ to nudge it home. 1-4, heaven!
Bostall were not to lie down however and showed the fighting spirit Rovers will meet week in & week out this season! A very rare lapse in the solid, dependable defensive line saw the score move to 2-4 and a period of pressure had to be weathered.
Still chances went a begging at the other end too, with Deji shooting over again on 80 & only 2 minutes later when through only seeing his ’lob’ go straight to the keeper!
Then the whistle and the pressure lifted like a champagne cork! The boys had won comfortably in the end having started to get to grips with how they SHOULD play EVERY WEEK!
CONGRATULATIONS G&S ROVERS, BUT DON’T REST ON YOUR LAURELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
