Hugin Vikings V Canterbury Eagles – Round 3
Canterbury Manager & Linesman – Mark Dawson
Firstly I was massively disappointed that the league decided this game didn’t require a more experienced referee to manage it.
In what was always going to be a feisty match after the previous two encounters with Canterbury it was evident from the first 10 minutes this was going to be more of the same.
Hugin Vikings started slowly and found themselves a goal down much to the delight of the Canterbury Manager Mark who was screaming in delight when the goal went in.
The Vikings looked nervous in the opening 10 minutes but managed to pull a goal back to make it 1-1. Soon after though Canterbury took the lead again through an own goal as we were unable to clear our lines from a corner again Mark screaming seemed to catch everyones attention.
Some changes were required and we went 3 at the back and bombed on, we made it 2-2, then 3-2 and 4-2 through some great play as we started to take control of the game.
The Canterbury No 7 was up to his usual antics and made a terrible tackle on Ben White who had to come off the pitch due to his injury. Shortly after this the same player then clattered into Reece off the ball for no reason.
When I asked the referee why it was not deemed to be a foul Mark (Canterbury Manager) proceeded to shout and scream about letting the referee do his job, unfortunately for the referee he was not much older than the players and when you have a fired up Mark shouting and screaming, the referee figured it was probably best to ignore Mark and let the game carry on where possible.
Having moved back across to our side of the pitch, Canterbury broke forward with the striker clearly offside, Delroy (Our volunteering linesman) raised his flag to cries of “WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE!!!” Mark was obviously not happy that Delroy had brought his son along to the game and had offered to run the line for us.
Mark clearly incensed, continued to shout and scream “Why is he here, he shouldn’t be anywhere near this ground!”It was all very embarrassing for everyone at the ground.
Half time came around thankfully, I spoke to the lads and told them to play their hearts out to get the result and boy did they.
As Mark made his way across the pitch to switch sides he walked passed me and said “Call yourself a family club, you’re a joke, he (pointing to Delroy) should not be allowed near a kids football pitch” or words to that effect, I then brought to his attention that he was a moron and should not be allowed to call himself a manager of a kids football team and should perhaps step down. I then also reminded him that Delroy was allowed to be at the game as the league and FA had said no different after reading Marks letter that he sent to the FA regarding our last meeting.
The second half kicked off, within minutes we were 5-2, the game was in the bag. Mark and No 7 were beginning to boil over, another nasty challenge from the No 7, this time the referee correctly gave a yellow card, at this point he saw fit to call our parents idiots, this was right in front of the Manager who just looked away and ignored his players dissent.
At this point 2 players squared up, I made my way onto the pitch to break it up and heard some more screaming from Mark, "Get him off the pitch, Get him off the pitch!". I think he was wanting a fight to break out rather than see me on the pitch try and calm the situation down.
6-2 the game was in the bag, Callum got himself booked for a foul on the half way line, time was ticking away, in all honesty I just wanted the final whistle now.
Hugin won a free kick just inside their own half which Reece came forward to take, Reece hit a shot which sailed through the air and bounced before nestling into the roof of the net. Fantastic!! First goal of the season for our Keeper!
Finley Cowell then came on for the last 5 and slotted home the final goal to make it 8-2. A fabulous ending to a great team performance.
That for me was the best performance of the season. To keep your heads whilst many around you were losing theirs just shows how you have all matured over the years.
Even at the final whistle when the Canterbury No 7 went into some sort of meltdown, trying to get a reaction out of our players you just laughed it off, credit to you.
Well played to everyone for this game, it really was a top performance and not just for the football but for your behaviour throughout all the nonsense going on around the game.
Man of the Match – Mateusz for 5 superbly taken goals. Everyone got 10 out of 10 today.
