Awesome chaps simply awesome. The back pages were full of accolades this morning for the Rooney wonder goal, and quite right too, but tomorrows tabloids' should be filled with similar high praise for this afternoons glorious Grappenhall come back. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat. And it's seldom we can use that particular metaphor in it's correct order.
Stepping Hill were our guests this afternoon at fortress Morley Common. A windswept, rain sodden truly miserable day for our first home game of the year. The tattered nets, flagless corner posts and torn up turf of the preferred pitch number three was the arena for the Grappenhall boys to work their magic. Good team on paper too, bolstered by the late arrival of the author and buoyed by the visit of our injured centre Half Halliwell. Stepping of course have had an indifferent season and are currently languishing at the foot of the table. A tad over confident perhaps as we got under way? Well how quickly did the Stepping boys show what they were made of? A physically big outfit with ball winners in every department. No shirkers too and it was apparent that they had come to battle. Grappenhall's riposte though in the opening salvo's was with pace and passing. Stepping were winning the fight but Grappenhall were creating the chances. Three all told in the first ten minutes and with a different Locke on the field a couple would have been dispatched too, but no criticisms there. One and all were putting it in.
Gregory starting at left back seeing plenty of the ball, faultless. Cullen spritely down the right. Saint Cookie throwing himself into the fray, literally. PEM, who's performances this season have been magnificent and who's standing as a centre half has increased exponentially and on whom the whole team can rely on for steadfastness, sure footedness, calm defensive steel, fluffs a simple back pass and lets the Stepping front man in to score the opening goal. Doh.
Now the Stepping boys liked this. They were leading, perhaps a position a little alien to them this season. It spurred them. And drove them to fight harder for every challenge and every header and every 50 50 ball. And they won them. And they took control. And the Grappenhall boys were a little taken aback by the effrontery of the visitors who were refusing to lay down. Indeed the Stepping boot was firmly on the throat of the Grappenhall neck and they were squeezing.
Ok so we needed to respond. An injection of steel and thrust. Three substitutions saw to that ten minutes before half time. Hussein in the middle, Eales and O'Donnell on the flanks. It raised the spirit perhaps or maybe it was simply fresh legs on the soggy pitch, but the tables began to turn.
Half time came. The usual six voices all speaking at the same time, all going round in circles, then out for some more footie.
Well the tables were turning. Stepping still valiant, but that old enemy fatigue plagued them and as the edge was taken off their attacks O'Donnell injected fire into ours. With the ball at his feet and the occasional glance up, he skips across the ground, running flat out, this way and that. His true course and intention appears to be a mystery with no one really knowing where it may lead him. To the equaliser that's where. Unusually for him on this occasion a beautifully uted glancing header from a precision corner courtesy of Leighton, but the winner was the O'Donnell masterpiece. It's true he levelled the scores half way through the second half and this did cause the Stepping boys to sigh deeply and the Grappenhall boys to dig deeper. It was a winner they wanted, a draw not good enough. So he wove his magic for us. The Blarny stone kissing, Pinot Grigio glugging lunatic, picked the ball up somewhere on the field, where is not important, he ran with it in all directions and fired it passed the excellent Stepping Goalkeeper to break their hearts and fulfil ours. Only The mad Irishman can score a goal like that and only he would put his shirt over his head and skip round the field celebrating. Oh how we love him.
So there it ended. A two one victory for the home team. A courageous fight back. A team ethic where one and all stood tall. Every last man put in a performance of guts and determination. No slackers. A minor error by PEM for their goal otherwise it would have been two nil, yes, buts lets not dwell on that. Thanks Stepping and good luck.
Back to the club for beer and sandwiches.....well beer anyway. More PEM genius.
Stuart Eales
