Goal Sports Giants - 3 – Prentice (2), Le'Friett
Fishburn Park Panthers - 2
The Eyres Scaffolding MOM – George Friend (Pictured)
The Everley Fan Of The Match – Paul Hill (Pictured)
Attendance - 5
A short time ago….
In a field not that far away…..
11 purple uniformed heroes, some wearing gloves……
Went to battle against the northerners from Whitby….
Some took the phrase “battle” too far and saw red……
Leaving the remaining ballers to finish the tie and send their names down in folklore……
It was an emotional day for a number of the Giants players as a number of them found themselves post-match with their first ever Semi!
Youngster Tom Hudson, 16, told club reporter and all round babe Gail Hailstorm “I’m so excited, I have waited all my life for a Semi and today I can finally say, after a lot of hard work and effort – I have one!”
It was the same for the rest of the heroes as the jubilant home side celebrated in the showers post-match knowing the day had given them that said Semi after a fantastic 3-2 victory, having played 60 minutes with only 10 men. Cheers Pickard!
The day started, like most Saturday’s – with the worst weather of the week, a delightful mix of rain and wind!
After a none existent pitch inspection - as here at Goal Sports Towers – we just love to play ball! The boys braved the arctic blast and started the game in confident fashion.
Even without the midfield powerhouse that is Seaside Tommy Wilde, who was meeting a Tinder bird in Sheffield, the Giants looked assured in the engine room, mainly due to the re-emergence of Sam Whitehead who was on debut.
The shock inclusion of Whitehead saw the smallest central midfield partnership in the whole of Super League history with said hero, and player coach Plumpton a staggering combined height of 10ft 4inch when on tippy-toes.
The first goalazo came on 16 minutens as returning French dude Kieran Le’Friett acrobatically volley kicked the ball in to the soccer goal interior after some mighty fine wing work from the impressive George Friend on the opposite flank.
Friend has really come in to his own in the last few weeks and like your everyday bog standard postman – he is delivering.
Just when the Rudstonians seemed in control, the game like putty in their hands, Dan Pickard went all crazy for no apparent reason and saw red from the whistle lord.
With the ball out of play, and an overhead throw restart to the Panthers called by the official - Pickard completely lost his head and went ham, throwing the match soccer at his opposite number before calling him, or the ref, actually probably both, the C WORD!!!
In Pickard’s defence his life coach and anger management tutor had been stranded in the floods in Carlisle pre match. Meaning that Pickard was spending the day on his own, as he attempted to keep control, using his counting to 10 and various breathing methods. And failing miserably.
The Whistle Lord reached in to his back pocket, after taking off his gloves obviously, and flashed the red card for an extreme felony. The Giants number 12 was gone, leaving the field to a chorus of boos from the home fans. Rightly so too as he had let himself, his family, his missing tooth and his team mates down.
As Pickard trudged in to the locker room on 30 minutes, using a variety of swear words to describe his situation, the Giants had a rejig and soldiered on without the loose cannoned winger.
Mike Greymar fired high after some more dribbling work by Friend, who was having his opposite number on toast! Neil Prentice on the opposite flank was pulling out some absolutely propa nawty tekkers too, megging his opponent no less than 4 times by the end of the clash – this time though he drove in from the left and trademark spooned one over from 19 big steps out.
The Fishburn Park Panthers finally made inroads to the home sides territory, like a Russian military force seeking blood after a downed airline - and a long over the top through ball saw the big striker called Kane (No relation to Harry, or him off Emmerdale) slot it past Pwilly to stain his sheets and level the tie at one a piece.
There was still time for Plumpton to fire over a twenteen yard free kick (See video, post below) and that was that for the half. The hooter hooted and it was all in to take a much needed drink from the new Lucozade drinks bottles, and remember to treat them correctly after the pre match tutorial.
Half Time – 1 v 1
The Giants came stomping out in a new 3411 formation. Not even Guardiola, LVG, Mourinho or Pardew had pulled out this shizzle before! And it was the home dawgs that found the back of the soccer goal once again, as some neat left winged passing, hang on, passing on the left wing? Wow.
Friend, Whitehead and Plumpton did some slickness and Friend cut in once again and slung over a worldie ball to the back area of the 6 yard extreme danger zone.
Arriving like a Thomas The Tank Engine himself – Prentice prodded him at pace to put his side ahead for the second time.
Only a few minutes later dat guy Prentice was at it again, feeding on the goodness of Friends rasping drive from range, and smashing home the reebies with a head kick to score his 4th goal vs Fishburn in two games.
His first goals in 6 Super League games.
His only other brace since Fishburn in September, and his first goals since he bagged a relationship with his love Dana who he declared to a club source he had strong feelings for.
The source close to Prentice told Randy in the locker room after the tie “He came to me and a couple of the lads and said he had never felt this way before. His heart beating fast, pressing the x on his texts so many times, the emotional pull of going in to work when she is there just to be with her, and look in to her eyes”
“He has really fallen for her good” added our French source who did not want to be named.
The remaining minutes were wet, boggy and turned the once purple uniforms in to real muck tubs but the 10 men left at war soldiered on and played the ball real neatly around the mud soaked park. One onlooker described them as being Barcelona like. “They are the new Goalelona” it was said by literally no-one.
A late debatable death strike was awarded after Stewie Wilson had his hand slapped with the match ball. Although there was very little he could do about it after having his hands by his side. But a death strike was awarded none the less.
The Fishburn forward gave his side a late chance as he slammed home past Pwilly to reduce the scores to 3-2, but it was too little too late as the full time hooter sounded and the boys had indeed secured the much coveted Semi.
A massive big'up ya'self to Fishburn for serving up a cracker of a tie also. Probably one of the only games this season where the other boys played nicely and wanted to kick the ball more than call nasty names and kick people!
‪#OneMoreStep2WorldDomination‬ ‪#MudBath‬ ‪#Goalelona‬ ‪#WeDidIt‬ ‪#SemiOn‬ ‪#YouWotMate‬ ‪#WeLoveIt‬ ‪#YouKnowYouLoveIt‬ ‪#WeAllLoveIt‬ ‪#ScarboroughCupOfNations‬
