The old foes….but with an unusual twist. Grappenhall played 5 lost 5 in all competitions. Mossley Hill riding high, 3 straight wins early on saw them up with the leaders….the outlook was bleak!
Grap reverted to 442…to start with that is…. with a very strong midfield set up….Cullen and Hussain pushed wide to leave Illiff and the returning hero Flity to anchor the middle. A new role for Wright, just off Razor….oh how it worked for that delicious and comfortable first 20 minutes.
2 up….Wright never say die attitude (did I just write that!), followed in a feeble ball, the goalie fumbled and there he was in for a tap in. 2 minutes later Razor made it 2.
But then the turning point of the game came (well maybe…read on if you weren’t there!!!). Lee no. 7 for Mossley, who I have to say I am beginning to quite like (did I write that!!), so fast and direct and neat on the ball…, got behind a previously untroubled back 4, Hadland, the only one with pace enough to keep with him, clumsy from behind both out and inside the box. All looked at the ref….Lee cocked his fist like a cobra waiting to strike….wise move, he didn’t throw it…Ref said, free kick out side and a peculiar hue of orange card was waved in the face of Hadland….but in disbelief we all realised it was a faded red…and actually no complaints! The free kick came to nothing….4-4-1 was the new plan and poor Dixie in his second game, just looking forward to linking up with a fluid attacking line, came on to spend the next 55 mins playing alone and oooh so alone!! As we defended for our lives!!!
But actually until half time, we kept a balance of play, we lost the composure on the ball and had a bit of gasket blow in defence as heads rattled….but this time the heads just ratteld and didn’t fall off. In this phase, we were damned with another hamstring this time to Illif, meaning your leader had to do an 85 minute shift (did I just do that!!!!…..I will know about it tomorrow). But just when it was needed a beautiful curled shot from Hussain into the top corner…what a peach….half time 3-0…surely we could hold this lead….
A subtle twist of formation and desire from Mossley and all changed. Lee bagged 2 and the game looked lost. The first of these was a sublime run, control and finish…outstanding!!!
3-2 with 20 mins to go, legs were failing…what was going to be the final insult….but wait a quality Grap move finished off by an astute pass…Hussain to Cullen…4-2..through the keeper.
Still time for Dixie who has worked SO hard to miss place a pass in front of the Mossley 18 yard box, quick ball, 70 yard passing move and Mossley got back to 4-3…the rocketing he got was very unfair, no one else even MoM Mecrow got through the game without a mis-placed pass or two, but emotions were riding high and this was the old enemy!!! sorry Dixie…it wasn’t fair!!!
17 mins to go…how many times did we ask Ray, how long left and prayed for him to blow the whistle….
Stand up the lieutenants!! Bradders (despite a bad 15 mins in the first half) a rock in bristle, Hussain 90 mins non stop action, Cullen the same and Flity, you bring out the best in the rest…. But thanks too to all, Locke and Wright who played deep wide midfield and worked incredibly hard….Wright and O’Donnell playing a football version of tag wrestling down the left side in the second half, but it worked, Dixie for working so hard up front doing the dirty work, Coyney for just being Coyney ….I loved when he whispered to Lee their fast man up front “I don’t drop those”, when taking a high ball… , VIP who was solid and calm and sensible in all action, Hadland and Illif for being in complete control until, orange cards and dodgey hamstrings saw premature baths and even myself for that last ditch tackle I the last minute, where as someone said, I took the ball, the player half the pitch and still injured myself the most……but most of all credits to MoM Mecrow, who was awesome all game but particularly in last 20 mins when every break in play saw him bend to extend the hamstrings….each time we watched and prayed they didn’t snap…..winning every header every tackle
I don’t think we could have done this against any other team than Mossley, they just bring out the worst in us and they must truly hate us one and all!!!
But after all this the final word goes to “Fee”, when she rang and asked how we got on, she simply said “halle-fucking_lujah…..maybe you will stop being depressed now”…
…...well at least for the next 2 weeks!!!!!
Rob Niven
