The Greensleeves faithful started to ask questions of manager Sam Clark as Greensleeves raced into a 2 goal lead at ICC on Monday night only to let it slip and throw the game away at the death. With new sponsors, fast food giants Burger King, looking to take the club on to the next level, Greensleeves welcomed back fans favourite Josh McEwan. However fans were starting to wonder if Josh had eaten a few too many complimentary ‘Whoppers’ from the potential new sponsers as fitness was obviously not Josh’s best friend after two weeks out.
Greensleeves fans were singing ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ as soon as the teams entered the field. Sam Clark choosing to play himself as striker was not a popular choice. However Greensleeves started at a reasonable pace, but it was the Underdawgs who threatened a number of times in the opening minutes with Eddie making a ridiculous save by parrying the ball over the bar at full stretch when it looked like landing in the field behind. The Underdawgs kept pressing and Eddie continued to keep the scores level with a number of good saves with his feet. It was however Greensleeves who took the lead. Dave started to progress further up the pitch as Sam naturally started to navigate his way back into his own half with blood pouring from his nose. Sam set Dave free after winning the ball and prodding it forward. Dave raced free of the defender and slotted well to put the Green Army one up against the run of play. Soon after, Elliot set himself free and produced a lovely finish into the bottom right hand corner to make the score two nil against the run of play.
The Green Army started to get hold of the ball now and looked comfortable in possession without being threatened too much. This all changed when Sam calmly shielded the ball out of play in the corner of the Greensleeves goal. His roll in was collected by Elliot who committed defensive suicide by passing a soft ball across the pitch, only for the Underdawgz player to pounce and roll the ball under the helpless Eddie to reduce the lead. This caused panic among the Greensleeves players. Veteran Greensleeves player, Steve, tried to rally the troops but fans could hear their hero Josh saying ‘I can’t do this, I’m blowing out my arse’. It wasn’t long before the Green Army were undone again. The ball was lost high up the pitch and The ‘Dawgz attacked as a three. Josh attacked the ball, and it soon become three on one. The ball ended up in the bottom left hand corner. 2-2.
The game started to ebb and flow with opportunities at both ends. Sam had a good chance to put Greensleeves 3-2 up but his attempt didn’t have enough power to really test the opposition keeper. Elliot also spurned many opportunities before the lead was eventually regained. It took a moment of pure brilliance. A long ball was taken down by Elliot on the halfway line and in one movement he has taken the ball down and turned to attack the goal. Leaving the defenders behind, he slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner. 3-2.
The Green Army should have been able to see the game out now. However, they had other ideas. Eddie continued to keep the Dawgs at bay with a string of fine saves. Josh also started to show signs of the defender we have seen throughout his illustrious career. He started to hassle defenders and let them know who the boss was. As the game was nearing its final stages Josh brilliantly managed to hassle the attacker into the corner as he tried to deal with a long ball pumped forward. The attacker managed to somehow get a shot across the face of the goal which hit one post before rolling cross the line to hit the other. The ball then came out fortuitously to the oncoming Dawgs player who slotted home to level the scores at 3-3.
Surely the game would now peter out into a draw. Dave battled well at the back and Josh continued to grow into the game well. Elliot held the ball up well up front but Sam struggled to live up to the high expectation that Matt has set. It became embarrassing for Sam when the Dawgs goalkeeper picked up a backpass. Greensleeves were awarded an indirect free kick that Elliot set up with more pace than the on rushing Sam was expecting. The shot ended up closer to the corner flag than the goal. Sam could see a forth goal and three points and continued to try to press the Underdawgs back line with little success. Dave, who had marshaled the back line well throughout and ran tirelessly to close down the opposition decided to take a rest. Steve and Josh, a father and son partnership, was formed at the back. It was then, with thirty seconds remaining that the Underdawgs pumped a long ball forward that should have been closed down earlier by Sam. Josh and Steve with a combined height of 13 feet could not deal with the ball and the Dawgs attacker raced on to the loose ball and slotted to break the hearts of the Green Army.
The final whistle sounded and lessons have to be learned from this performance. Sam is not a centre forward and looked lost for long periods of the game. Josh’s game will grow as he regains his fitness in the coming weeks. In an interview at the end of the game, Josh commented that he would have played better sitting down.
There were many positives from the game. Every player gave 100% and stuck together as a team. With influential figures in the team such as Josh coming back and Matt coming back next week, things are looking bright for the Green Army. Dave again broke up play well and was a threat going forward and Eddie gave an impressive performance, keeping Greensleeves in the game many times.
