Last week’s freeze out meant that the Hobnob players were eager to get back into the swing of regular football and after the sloppy defeat to H&J Reading, there were a couple of changes to the side to face FC Berksalona. Clifford Davies returned from international duty in Sierra Leone and took his place on the left hand side of a rejigged midfield. James Plant was missing due to day time drinking and with Matt Bolton dropped to the bench, Mike Terry and Dan Hare came into the middle, the latter for his 50th appearance for the club. Elsewhere James Tiltman came back in at left back.
Not for the first time this season Hobnob started sluggishly and on a windy day the defenders immediately had to be on their guard for the ball over the top. Whilst it was proving hard to judge the flight of the ball as they were defending downhill, it was mostly flying on and straight to captain for the day Chris Chapman in goal. The flip side to this was that the home side were finding it equally difficult to clear the ball up the slope. Hare and Terry were busy in the middle but the ball was spending most of the time in the air. The first chance of any note fell to Berksalona when a big long ball managed to get in behind Robertson at right back and the opposition striker instinctively struck it goalwards only for it to clip the bar on its way over. The referee (former Hobnob goalie Matt Bargent) awarded the corner so whilst he was nowhere near it, we’ll chalk it up as a great save from Chapman! With about half an hour gone Hobnob finally managed to break properly through Davies’ surging run down the left. He found Paine who still had a lot to do, jinking his way round two defenders before moving the ball out of his feet to make room for a shot at goal. It was at that moment however that the defender stepped across the Grimbarian’s run, body checking him. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Pulfer calmly slotted in his fifth penalty of the season, taking his overall tally to 17 goals. At the other end Berksalona had a few half chances and a penalty shout of their own but their attacks were very one dimensional and the Hobnob goal never really came under serious threat.
Hobnob were perhaps a little fortunate to go into the break with the lead but they came out for the second half with a renewed vigour. With the message to exploit the flanks more and to keep the ball down, they looked a much more effective side. Luke Walker on the right wing was finding a lot more space and he came so close to making it 2-0 after latching on to Hare’s delicious through ball; the winger hurting himself as he slid the ball agonizingly wide. The counter attack proved to be Hobnob’s best weapon and Davies and Paine were causing all sorts of problems down the left. It was this combination that linked together to produce two good chances. Paine was unlucky with both as the first was struck at the goalkeeper and the second rolled just the wrong side of the post. Berksalona on the other hand were struggling to find any way through. Cheng and Dean Walker were absolutely dominant at the back, winning every header and along with Robertson and Tiltman were doing a great job of being the brick wall that Berksalona were running into. As they pressed on more and more Hobnob again kept looking to break. Pulfer came so close to doubling the lead with a left foot volley that whistled past the post after a sensational long pass from Paine. Even when the midfield changed about with the tiring Hare and Terry being replaced with Bolton and Gale, the side continued to remain organized and never looked like conceding. Right at the end there was so nearly the cherry on top of the cake when Dave Gale was denied a goal on his return to the side by the offside flag. It was his first game in nearly a year for Hobnob and when Pulfer’s shot cannoned off the bar he had the simple job of tapping into an empty net. It was a very dubious decision but in the end it didn’t matter as the Nobbers held on for a well-earned 3 points and rare clean sheet.
In the last few months there’s been a lot of talk about what Hobnob have been lacking and today it was evident. There was more dynamism throughout the side and, second half especially, the kind of organisation and communication that has been absent for a while. In this regard the two Cs of Chapman and Cheng deserve a lot of credit as there was no moment in the game where one or both of them weren’t arranging the defence. If there is a criticism to level it’s probably that it took until the second half to really get going but the important thing is that we did.
I also can’t let this match report go without mentioning Hobnob’s very own Paul Scholes and Thierry Henry. Dave Gale’s almost fairy tale comeback has already been mentioned but just as good was the return of the legend that is Jason Stephenson. Today was his first game since October 2010 and it was if he’d never been away. Although he only had 10 minutes at the end his exuberance and energy is infectious and having both of these two back can only be a positive for the whole club.
