Sunday morning saw a match of the bottom two in Division 3, in what promised to be a high scoring match.
Dilly had conceded 38 goals in their first 3 games and GWP had shipped 22 in 3 league games.
The game was started under a blanket of torrential rain and a soggy pitch.
Dilly started the brightest of the 2 teams, looking to exploit the long pitch with some beautifully weighted through balls over the GWP defence. Due to the amount of rain that was falling, a large proportion of these passes were skidding away harmlessly, but on the few occasions that they were weighted perfectly Dilly could have scored. They could have been 2 or 3 up by the time they finally opened the scoring with a little bit of luck and a lot of poor goalkeeping/slippy gloves/Lee Jones impersonating a Dean Pavely tribute act in goal.
Dilly were awarded a free kick about 20 yards out on the left hand side. Dilly packed the box with players, but a strong shot was whipped in that slipped out of Jones' grasp, like a well oiled lady of the night evading the clutches of Jack the Ripper, and flew into the back of the net.
Shortly after Dilly extended their lead again through a sharp drive from the edge of the box, which again evaded Jones' grasp...
Despite this set back, GWP reacted well, with Dan Soul and Sam Davis getting more involved in the game and, after a slight change which saw Dean Pavely sit in at centre back, Sven Habenicht was deployed at right midfield to nulify the threat of the Dilly winger.
With the defence now marshalled by Dean Pavely, with the added bonus of his pace and supreme reading of the game, not to mention his dashing good looks, rogueish charm and all round good guy persona, GWP were able to play a much higher defensive line, which seemed to suit his new partner in crime, Paul Haskins, as it meant less running!
These tweaks allowed for a more fluid attacking threat down both GWP wings, with Ant Knott and Nathan 'E-Lie' Pavely doubling up down the left, with Habenicht and Pat Corbett doing likewise on the right. It was this more fluid set up that allowed Nathan 'E-Lie' Pavely to use his blistering pace to devastating effect and subject the Dilly right back to the worst hour of his life (I'm assuming)
The partnership of Paul 'Goz' Philips and Michal Dylewicz in the GWP attack was starting to show more promise, with Dylewicz's tenaciousness and pace complimenting Goz's height and physicality.
GWP were slowly growing in confidence and were beginning to find their rhythm. A pass was played our to Ant Knott who had advanced down the left wing, who pinged a beautiful pass into Sam Davis in the Dilly area, who turned on the penalty spot before rifling the ball into the back of the net.
GWP had their tales up after this goal and carved out a few good chances, none more clear cut than when the ball fell to Nathan 'E-Lie' Pavely in the box, who proceeded to shin the ball straight to the Dilly keeper... who incidently couldn't kick a football properly, but at least he could catch!!
The rest of the half was played out with Great Western Park on top and Dilly looking less composed than they had been at the start of the game.
Half time arrived and the players strode of the pitch absolutely drenched from head to toe... but GWP held their half time team talk at the side of the pitch in the rain, because we're real men!!
The second half started much in the same way the first half did, with Dilly on top and playing with a new found confidence. The Dilly wingers were beginning to get more and more involved, especially down the left, where they were doubling up on Pat Corbett.
Dilly were 'rewarded' for their persistance when the referee awarded them a debatable penalty. Sam Davis was deemed to have tripped the Dilly forward in the box, although the evidence suggested that the foul was made outside of the box...
The Dilly striker stepped up confidently, placed the ball down, took his short run up and... hit the bar with his shot... we all laughed at him!
This seemed to deflate Dilly somewhat, but invigorate GWP, who sensed that this was a major turning point in the game. E-Lie Pavely was having a field day down the left flank. With his scorching pace being put to good use by Dan Soul, Sam Davis, Paul Haskins and Dean Pavely, who were picking him out with ease from the centre of the pitch. By this point the Dilly right back had shrunk into his shell and was genuinely terrified everytime E-Lie was anywhere near him, much like a young woman in the Wally on a Saturday night.
Derek Davies, returning from a fractured ankle which had kept him out of action for 3 games, was brought on for 'Goz' Philips, to partner Dylewicz up front.
Davies made an immediate impact with his link up play leading to a pass being fired out to the flank that provided E-Lie with space to run in to, he left the right back for dead before crossing to Michal Dylewicz, who took about 900,000 touches before nonchantly placing the ball into the bottom corner.
GWP were definitely on top after this, with Dilly offering very little going forward. What they did offer in attack was duly dealt with by the solid defensive unit of Ant Knott, Dean Pavely, Paul Haskins, Pat Corbett and Lee Jones, who had seemingly discovered his ball catching skills that he learnt as a child.
George McDonald was brought on to replace Michal Dylewicz, much to some people's dismay, but McDonald immediately dispelled any negative energy around him with a delightful first touch and through pass for the ever willing E-Lie Pavely to scmaper onto. This lead directly to a Great Western Park corner, which was swung in by Sam Davis and met by a thundering run and header by McDonald, which flew just over the bar.
Another attack down the left flank saw the ball fall to McDonald again, but he failed to make a meaningful contact with the ball.
Dilly won a corner, which was partially cleared by the GWP defence, but the ball fell on the edge of the box and the resulting first time looked to be sneaking into the corner, but E-Lie Pavely was on hand to clear off the line.
The Great Western Park defence dealt with a flurry of Dilly corners with assured confidence and authority.
Paul Haskins strode out of defence with the ball, then fired an exceptional ball out to E-Lie on the left wing (again!) who proceeded to fly past the right back, stop, let him catch up, fly past him again, turn back, run around him twice, pulled the full backs pants down, danced into the box with the ball at his feet, like a footballing Billy Elliot, , teabagged the defender before rifling a right foot effort into the bottom corner from 6 yards out.
Derek Davies was dropping off of George McDonald and allowing Sam Davis and Dan Soul more license to roam forward and start attacks further upfield. Another attack down the left (yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!) saw the ball make it's way to Davies on the edge of the box, who turned and smashed his effort into the bottom corner to make the score 4-2 and give GWP some breathing space.
From another GWP corner the ball fell to Dan Soul on the edge of the box, who fired in a fierce drive which flew narrowly over.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, like a young lady in the Wally on a Saturday night, Great Western Park were happy to invite Dilly to send waves of men to apply pressure to their soaking wet back end.
Dilly duly obliged by carving several clearcut chances in the GWP 6 yard box, but a combination of Lee Jones' reflexes and a Dilly striker who couldn't hit a cow's ass with a banjo meant the scored remained 4-2.
With Ant Knott and the Brothers Pavely (TM) cramping up, Great Western's left hand side was looking like a geriatric, Heather Mills convention, with a lot of limping and falling over, which lead to a simple through ball being slid into the gaping hole for the Dilly striker to finish off and make for a nervous few minutes for Great Western Park (not unlike rape in many respects)
Dilly were launching wave after wave of attacks, which were constantly repelled by the Great Western defence, who were happy to launch the ball into the corners for George McDonald and Derek Davies to chase and hold up. This tactic seemed to be working until Dilly were awarded a corner in the dying moments. From this corner a scramble ensued in the box and the ball fell to a Dilly played on the edge of the box who seemed to have found the corner of the net and bring the scores level, only for Paul Haskins to heroically cleared off the line.
This was met by a thumping hoof up the pitch and the full time whistle.
Finally Great Western Park had won a game.
Unsurprisingly, E-Lie was named man of the match after terrorising the right back, creating chance after chance and scoring.
