Mary Dendy FC fans pages
Published by Tom Perry · November 19 at 9:49pm ·
Dendy suffer agonising penalty shoot-out after a game of four halves.
Mary Dendy FC vs Liobians FC – Northern Cup Round 1 (Home)
HT 3-1
FT 3-3
AET 4-4
PEN 3-4
Mary Dendy could by-rights be kicking themselves for allowing a two goal advantage slip away and eventually be defeated by the fickleness of a penalty shoot-out. Yes, fickleness is a word.
What’s nice to see is that week in, week out Dendy bring 16+ players to nearly every game, not including spectators. A few changes to the starting line-up saw returning Ant Ollier taking up his position back in the striker role, supported by Lewis Chisholm, Steve Gallimore and Shaun Cunningham taking up winger positions. A change I found slightly perplexing was that Scotty Jones and Shaun Davey started at center back with Chairman Mutley starting at right back, only to be proven wrong from a stellar, if short-lived performance with a nostalgia of “proper bloke football” from Mutts.
After a long run of away games Dendy were finally back at home playing for an audience of sneezing sheep and cows in the adjoining fields on a surprisingly firm pitch which took a stud despite this week’s rain. The weather was sunny but bitterly cold, dry with a very slight breeze with the grass ever-so-slightly too long.
From the first whistle it looked like this was going to be a good game for Dendy. Liobians seemed to like the long ball over the top and playing down the wings. The Dendy midfield/defence, now well versed in marking to allow Ad Taylor to play sweeper could contain most attacks with Mutley putting in some tasty challenges on both Liobians and Dendy players, namely Adam Wakefield who he pretty much kicked off the field. In fairness to Mutts, he did call the ball albeit a millisecond before kicking it! With a bit of height to aim for in the form of Adam Wakefield and Steve Gallimore in midfield, service from the back was good and there seemed to be a bit more time to pick passes through to Lewis and Ant. One such chance early on fell to Adam Wakefield who latched onto a ball which seemed to pass over the mediocre looking Liobians defence for him to power home Shortly afterward Steve Gallimore was tackled from behind in the box, and after some deliberation from the excellent referee he awarded a Dendy penalty. Our designated penalty taker Ant Ollier stepped up to the mark. Having previously missed his last penalty (that he was specifically brought on to score the other week) he was once again denied by an excellent save from the Liobians goalkeeper who despite his portly appearance was very agile. To add to his embarrassment Shaun Cunningham was deemed to have encroached into the area and a free-kick was awarded against us. Mutley made way after giving everything for 17 minutes for the fashionably late Adam Taylor who took the center back position putting Scott Jones to right-back. After an apparent wrong decision by myself to award Liobians a corner-kick, the resulting clearance broke down to the right and up the field into the opponent’s box which was tucked underneath the oncoming keeper by Ant Ollier for the second goal. Continuing pressure for Dendy made it seem like we could be in for a long overdue goal fest with some brilliant play over both wings and finally some good play in the middle of the field. Unfortunately it would be Liobians to score next. With pressure coming down the right side of the field the defence was drawn too central to the box leaving an unmarked player hovering behind Scott Jones to tuck in an easy goal as the ball was played across the box. This didn’t dampen Dendy’s spirits too much as the game, and decisions *cough, cough* were all going our way. It wouldn’t be until the dying light of the first half that Steve Gallimore would nod the ball home at the far post after a perfectly weighted cross from Ant Ollier from yet more good play through midfield. The half-time team talk was furnished with fresh oranges and bananas in an effort to keep energy levels up and stave off the second-half performance dip seen in recent weeks.
The second half kicked off with what seemed like fresh legs from the Liobians side who still kept trying it over the top. With a regular occurrence of the growing gap between midfield and defence in the second half performances it would only be a matter of time before Adam Taylor would lose a foot race against the Liobians striker, who would nick the ball right from underneath his nose and shoot for the bottom left corner only for it to slowly dribble onto the post. Agonisingly, Scotty Jones would have to rearrange himself after racing back as to not bundle the ball into his own goal and this hesitation allowed the left side striker to scrape the ball into the net. Dendy seemed to have used up their allotted goal scoring quota in the first half as chances were few and far between. A few otherwise goal bound headers were directed away from goal by 50p heads Lewis Chisholm and Adam Wakefield who tried to replicate Steve Gallimore’s finessed and directed header from the first half only to see it go back to whence it came from. Special mention goes to Adam Taylor who saw the goalie off his line and tried a 40-yar shot from the left. It looked good for the first 10 or so yards, but then the spin and flight of the ball took it away from goal. Well away from goal…
A few substitutions were made in the shape of Martian [insert second name here] and Jamie [insert second name here] who both proved themselves to be more than adequate. It was nice to see someone tall in the Dendy back line who can win headers and be a bit stronger than most. Throughout the second half Liobians were getting shots away but for some agile keeping from Stu Davies parrying and collecting balls that would have otherwise been difficult for other goalies (me). 90 minutes was approaching fast and we were hoping to see the game out with a close, but deserved win. However, not 30 seconds after the referee made a highly offensive comment to me that there’s just enough time left for an equaliser, Liobians scored another back post tap in from Dendy not clearing their lines sufficiently. With the light beginning to fade the game would go to extra time yet again.
Extra time started and it seemed Dendy had regained a bit of control of the game with not a lot between the two teams and most of the play in the center of the field, but it would be Liobians to break the deadlock 5 minutes in with a midfielder picking up a loose ball outside the box to which the entire Dendy side-line were screaming for someone to close him down to no avail. The resulting shot looked destined for Stuey’s arms down to his left only for it to take a nasty bounce off a divot and leap up nearly 4 foot in the air and over Stuey who was committed to the dive. Dendy need to invest in some Go-Go Gadget™ arms for their goalies to save the embarrassment of these deviant bounces. Dendy were reeling from the turnaround in the game and desperate for an equaliser they kept hitting the forward men and corner flags. Liobians back line was well disciplined and the referee was doing a grand job of keeping up with play and calling offside with certainty. This would work against Dendy in this second-first half as Lewis picked up a ball over the top in what looked like an offside position but was allowed to continue who squared the ball (backwards) to an unmarked Ant Ollier who tapped the ball in before the referee blew for offside to the disgust of every desperate Dendyman. It transpired that the referee thought Lewis offside and couldn’t let two vocal pleas for offside to mar his officiating. The first period half ended with Liobians staring victory in the face. Dendy now knowing all must be left of the pitch went for it in the final period of open play. A change in midfield with Cronny coming on to shore up the middle of the park saw an improvement in performance. During the half chance after chance went begging with more 50p headers going wide, “can’t miss” chances going squandered, excellent corners floated in under the goalies head coming off defenders backs, and acrobatics from the goalkeeper it would seem like that was all she wrote for Dendy in this cup venture. HOWEVER!!! After a foul was awarded to Dendy with 5 minutes to go and some 25 yard out, Ant Ollier stood over the ball and was eyeing up glory. The referee blew his whistle and to everyone’s surprise Ian Wood put the ball in as much of the top left corner as any ball could ever go. Ant then head-butted Ian in way of celebration. A winner was always on the cards for Dendy if not for the crossbar denying Steve Gallimore’s shot in a crowded box. The referee brought extra time to an end with daylight fading away to a near twilight it would seem.
Now. Penalties. We won our last shootout with 4 out of 5 convincing penalties last time, so spirits were high. Ant Ollier was first up to make amends for his miss in the game and dutifully got some height on his shot defeating the keeper on his second time round. Liobians followed suit and scored. Next was Shaun Cunningham who’s penalty could win the “Shittyest penalty” trophy in an under 5’s football tournament and put it into the goalies hands to his left. Liobians then had their next penalty saved by a good dive to the right by Stuey. Next for Dendy was Ian “Orgasm” Woods who’s penalty could win the “Shittyest penalty” in an under 4’s football tournament passing the ball into the keepers reach to his right. Liobians scored next. The fourth taker was Adam Taylor who stung the keeper’s fingertips to the right side for the goal. Liobians would score their next. Our final taker was Martian second name who put the ball low to the left which squeezed under the goalkeeper who attempted to sucker punch the pitch with impotent rage. Liobians only needed to score their penalty to win, which they did. Stuey guessing correctly was somehow not long enough to get to the bottom right corner and the game was finished.
All penalties were recorded and will be uploaded later.
It was such a shame not to win as it seemed like a done deal after the first half, but team wise the performances were exemplary to keep in the game.
Food at the Egerton Arms was fancy potato egg Crudités and Christmas dinner wraps WITH CRANBERRY SAUCE. Or as Shep commented:
“It’s wrong putting Jam on meat”
Donkey was Ian Woods for vocally climaxing after strenuous exertion chasing down a lofty through ball amongst other comedy moments such as getting on at the ref for not playing advantage AFTER having played the ball out for a Liobians throw in.
Man of the Match was Shaun Davey (I think) after a revote was required between himself and Adam Wakefield was decided by the few returning Liobians players who joined us at the pub. Either way it was one of them.
It’s worth a mention that the support in recent weeks from the side-lines, and chat on the pitch has stopped being negative which has helped performances no end. Another mention is to Liobians, who play in a Liverpool league and were expected to kick us off the pitch. Nothing like a bit of stereotyping and profiling but this was not the case. It was a good tempered game with absolutely no mither or really nasty tackles, which was refreshing to see
