Sticks and Stones
We were prepared to start the game with 10 men then Ben Biggar showed up, much to everyone’s delight. We started brightly with some good passing moves and probing balls. A little physical at times.
The major incident of the first half was Fobby clashing heads with the Ashtead keeper attempting to get on the end of an inviting cross from the left flank. Although unintentional the incident seemed to get under Ashtead’s skin and every time Fobby got near the ball or a player there were various dubious claims against him. I’m not sure he was responsible for all the leave votes but I think Brexit is now his fault too.
Fobby grabbed the first goal to make it 1-0 with a well taken goal just to rub it further in. Ashtead pushed on a few times and won a few corners and at times looked dangerous.
The other major incident of the half was a penalty claim against Pingu which probably should have been given, the Ashtead number 10’s ability to stay on his feet giving the ref the wrong impression of the challenge. You win some, you lose some, soz.
Everybody looked comfortable on the ball, from big Dave in goal to Ben Biggar with some great hold up play and Fobby hitting the cross bar with an outstanding effort but the VAR replay showed the ref was right not to give it.
In midfield there was some brilliant football passing around Ashtead and adding to their frustration and they started to get under each other’s skin frustrated by the lack of progress upfront and some clever Holybourne football – Jenks, Dan H, Dan L and Joe all linking up very well. Jenks was put through down the channel (always the channels boys, works every time – note to everyone: do this more!) which saw the Ashtead keeper screaming out of his goal to stop the Jenks pass to Fobby. The keeper got his hand to it to stop the cross, excellent keeping but unfortunately he was about 35 yards out and had a take a yellow. Not the first time he took something on the chin in the first half.
Overall a solid first half performance from everyone but finely poised at 1-0.
The second half saw an increase in tempo from Ashtead and they started to bring the game to us. They caught us on the back foot a bit and the change in play caused a bit of confusion on a couple of through balls with Jenks and big Dave, still not sure who was meant to have that ball and just to add to the uncertainty and nerves at the back, Pingu was crap. Again.
Dan H and Kim settled it down in midfield and we started to use the flanks more, Deano and Dave S with some great play down the right flank with Dave S earning a MoM nomination for some brilliant football and a solid game.
With Ashtead down by one, the second came mid way through the 3rd period after sterling offense play on the left flank saw our wide receiver blitz past the line of scrimmage for two rushing yards and hail-mary for 22 passing yards on a 3rd down deep towards the end-zone to Fobby (Translation: he took a couple of touches and crossed it) who hit the cross-bar. Again. He followed it up and tapped the rebound. Touch-down. Unfortunately, the frustrations got the better of the Ashtead keeper who assaulted Fobby by trying to kick him up the arse (couldn’t really miss) and started to taking his gloves off to leave the pitch. Was he at the MMA event, Dan H? He was yellow carded. Again. Comedy value, Ashtead down to 10 men.
Ashtead stuck their best player in goal and he made some fantastic saves, especially from Ben who was unlucky not to score. Ashtead continued to get rattled and everyone took the opportunity to bait them.
Fobby (I think) was brought down in the area for a Holybourne penalty to which the decision was taken to give Kim the penalty in his final game for the club. (You should have claimed it anyway, Kim #captainsprivilege). Fobby was on a hat-trick so cheers Fobby for stepping aside, but you really should have scored two in the first half and not hit the cross bar so… Kim banged in the penalty to make it 3-0 HVFC.
To be fair to Ashtead they made a big effort in the second half but it’s always hard when you’re down to 10 men. We had difficulty beating the sub keeper but thankfully one of the Ashtead defenders did the hard work forwards and slotted home before Ben Biggar smashed it in to the onion bag from minus 2 yards. Well done but you didn’t fool us…
4-0, solid performance, good football and a great result to finish on. It was nice to see the post-match was good natured as sharing a changing room could have been interesting. Good luck to Ashtead, a good league finish for them and they are a quality team who will be pushing to win Div 4 next season.
MoM Dan Lucas. Great performance from everyone. Except Pingu.
Best of luck to Kim. If you commute back to play on Sundays for us, we'll waive the match fee...
