Potten End had three pitch inspectors this week in the form of Dale, Dan & The inimitable Raz, all of us keen to get the game played in what was a massive fixture against a team breathing down out necks in the league. Thank you all for your diligence. Picking the team this week wasn’t easy with a full five up on the bench, including (and I can’t help it - sorry) the return of the Mac. We played our disguised 3-5-2, I say disguised, as it may as well be 4-4-2 sometimes! The perennial problem for us is that we are struggling to solve slow starts. We put Kieran on point this week, asking him to set the tempo and be the voice (he at least achieved 50% of this! - MORE VOICE!). Unfortunately even though we looked pretty solid, a silly free kick conceded by an over zealous Jonny broke the deadlock on 15 minutes. To be fair, it was a brahma of a free kick, that went in off the upright. Has anyone else noticed the number of really great goals that go in against us? I will re refer to this at the end. 0-1. We now put in a sustained burst of pressure, that lasted to the half time whistle. Two very presentable chances came and went, Diego finding himself clean through 6 yards out with little more to do, however the pitch that we were so keen to play on was more suited to hipopotamus or pigs (see what I did there?!) than it was conducive to scoring goals. I’ll come back to this at the end too. At half time, we had nothing to be disappointed with. The balance of play was with us, and we had easily been the better side. I asked for more of the same and insisted that if we got it, IT WOULD WIN US THE GAME. The second period was possibly a more even affair. They certainly pushed, and from set pieces were always dangerous. Our equaliser came from Nolan and Gregor hustling the ball and winning the turnover. I fed Kieran, and overlapped, asking him to sit while Robbie had a wander through the midfield with the ball. The 100 mph pass that he sent me sat up nicely for a spinning shot at the edge of the area, with the keeper fumbling and coming under massive pressure from Diego. His gamble to press and hustle got him goal side, and the pull back/assualt could mean only one thing. The Ref’ obliged and I set off after the tenacious D (I know, I know!), to ask if he wanted the penalty. It takes a fair bit of bottle in such an important game to take a pen, there is a lot at stake, so fair play to Diego for taking and cooly scoring. 1-1. Andy having been asked to run the subs, rolled the dice replacing Kieran with Simmo on 60 minutes. In no time at all this rewarded us with the lead. Simmo shooting smartly and with the keeper unable to hold, The Machine was on hand to smash the spill in from a tight angle into the roof of the net. Not an easy finish, and again under decent pressure. 2-1. More on this too. The end passage of the game became a little desperate, not in the least due to an error of judgement by my good self! Sorry! Dallying on a ball that should have gone out, I tried to take on the closing winger and lost out. The resulting corner produced Maple Cross's equaliser. We didn’t defend the corner man for man, and a clean, free easy header levelled the game. 2-2. What followed will get a mention no doubt at our end of season do: Our fire loving keeper came to stop a back pass going out for a corner, a normal thing you say? NO! on the 6 yard line and falling on a ball that he later insisted had gone out, he contrived to hook it back across the face of goal! He did however get up and collect the ball just millimetres from going in. 51 year old Paul Nolan was still alive 25 yards out, and won a footrace with a 20 year old just in case (very impressive Mr N). As is the Potten way, we refused to give up, and with two minutes to go winning the header down to Jonny who looked up and played a delicious long diagonal into the running path of Dale. FREEZE TIME…….. There have been many a one v’s one with the Machine this year,The success rate has not always been good. Hearts were in mouths, 30 seconds were on the clock. Arseholes were alternating in diameter between 5p and 50p………………. GOAL!!!!!!! 3-2 Rotten! Whistle blows just after the restart, and the game is won! **** I highlighted some passages of play in the above review, and want to tie them off now: * Jonny conceded Free Kick *Diego 6 yard miss kick *Diego Pen *Machine goal to take the lead *Gav cock up *Undefended equaliser (personal battles) *One v’s One Robbie, when you missed the ball and got player, Diego when you fell over, Mark when you tried to score…….. All of you received positive reassurance from Myself, Greg & Nolan (plus your captain from the sidelines). You’ll catch more flies with Honey than Vinegar chaps. I can only tell you how I felt when I lost the ball. What would have happened had Diego and Dale been berated for errors when the pressure time came and they needed to get the job done? Think about what you are doing out there. To paraphrase the great David Rocastle, “remember who you are and what you represent”. You are Potten End. MOM this week was one of the easiest decisions to make all year. Simply Paul Nolan was magnificent in this game. Aggressive and accurate in the tackle. Decisive and positive in just about everything he did today. I hope its a long way away, but we need a Bronze statue of this guy at Potten End one day. Keep it Rotten.
