Following on from last weeks performance Nolan & I were keen to stress the value of a good start and carrying through the good attitude and enjoyment. Judging by the smiles during the game and at the end, we shouldn’t have worried. Whilst we don’t have anything tangible to play for, we certainly have a season to finish, and one to build for next year. A lot has been said about “THE POTTEN END WAY” on Facebook recently. This weekend saw us take on the top of the league side. Some of those boys are old enough to remember a few seasons of Potten End. Now we never have had a team as good as the one we have now, and probably got beat a hell of a lot more than we ever do nowadays, but we never went down without a fight or made it easy. So it was great to win the game this week coming back from one down. In all honesty I couldn’t care if we’d have lost. Before you wonder if I’m losing my marbles - you see the thing is, we win/loose/draw as a team. We suffer each other successes and failures, one gets in trouble, ten plus subs are there with him. So it was this weekend. Oxhey aren’t up there for no good reason, and you all battled and genuinely won the game. 60% of the ball, most of the chances and if there were 300 headers in the game we won 250 of them. The goal we conceded this week came about from trying to play football. Alkie and Gary exchanged passes and got tangled, the ball that broke split Nolan and Christian, a very good striker accepted the chance with little sympathy. There is no shame in trying to play, and mistakes happen, no berating was heard, and everyone offered words of encouragement. Earlier this year Potten End loose this game something like 4 to 7 nil. Not a bit of it this week. We KNEW we were playing well. Heads didn’t go down. Even Christian was bullish about how well we’d played. Any small frustrations at halftime were quelled with a collective belief that we were playing a good game. This is the Potten End Way. It’s not a requirement to win every game, but to play at a good level, ENJOY and compete. We will loose games. It happens. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the game! Top of the table, playing uphill, into the wind and sun; only one goal conceded to their only real chance. This is not a disaster. The second half gave us the climatic and geographical advantages. It also saw us maintain our form and enjoyment. Rob had run his legs off up front, and was tiring due to his efforts. A hoisted clearance from Christian arced forwards towards the Oxhey Goal. Christian had time to commentate to Nolan & I what he wanted to see happen, namely Rob to chase and pressure the keeper: No sooner the word than the blow, as Rob obliged and scared the goalie into a mistake which he nimbly span on and tucked away, 1-1. An injury to Gary, and a reshuffle of position of Rob to cover Gary’s back, gave us the break. Stevie made an instant impact with fresh legs, and for what he bravely admitted afterwards being confidence to shoot, made a massively mature and composed decision to square to the Machine, who accepted the gift with a forceful smack into the yawning goal. 2-1. We still had time to let the opposition have one more chance, but for once luck was on our side and the headed chance glanced wide to keep our victory safe. We don’t get much luck, and as Nolan said, “about bloody time”. We have two more games left against the teams now at the top after our win: Harpenden Ringers and Chav-bridge. Its a big ask to win them, but not to enjoy them! Keep it Rotten.
