Here we go again.....
Starlands welcome Huntington to Aldridge , sitting high at the top of the table....them ...not us I hasten to add !
What was to lie in store ? Could anyone predict? Ok....You can guess - but I am trying to add an air of mystique to what seems to be Ground Hog Day.
The boys set up with the wind behind them, the formation looked set, there were sufficient numbers on the pitch and we even had the lovely Chloe refereeing again. Everything looked perfect !
Then the clouds darkened , the game kicked off and it all changed....
From the off we were up against it, Aran took Rick at his word,.."have him!" And he did ! Pushing the striker to the floor in the box...Whoops. PENALTY.
Ben pulled off an amazing save to keep the score at 0-0 with less than a minute played.
O.K , You got me again...the striker ran up to take the spit kick duffer his shot and it dribbled to a grinding halt in front of Ben K. However the stats don't lie !!!! A penalty save.
Aran got away without a red too! And his Dad escaped a fine. However, RAJ running the line was penalty enough. Dean hustling him into the role with the Ol ' War wound story.
Starlands were making some last ditch clearances to prevent Huntington scoring , Jed and Thomas especially were making some timely interceptions.
There were some interesting running techniques out there today, with Ben P preferring the Cossack Russian dancing stance with arms folded. Not easy to do ! A quick word from Mum put the end to that...
The away team gained a corner, is came into the box and bounced and rolled past at least 3 starlands players....before landing at the feet of the striker who smashed it into the net. Not much chance of stopping that one !
The second soon followed, with Starlands increasingly being second best to the ball. The Huntington player driving in on goal and Ben K un characteristically glued to his goal line seeking sanctuary between the posts 2-0.
Ben K then seemed to spring into life once he knew they were going to lose and it didn't matter.
A cross was dived upon and saved.
It also seemed to give the other Starlands boys a lift! Because Oski was soon bearing down on goal just failing to pull the trigger in time.
This was then followed up by an excellent shot from Kieran that just went over the bar...
And finally Aran ( who couldn't bear to take anymore money off his dad) shot wide.
The first half finished 2-0.....
The second half Ben K was off to a good start, coming off his line to save on a couple of occasions. Followed by a high save from an I swinging corner. The clearances were good too, but the Huntington central defender repelled the ball straight back.
They were just too big ,strong and quick for us. We looked like kick and hope merchants, there was no composure or method in what we did....and as our fitness drained so did our ability to fight for the ball.
The ever lively Jed had to come off at half time due to his knee - and whilst Zak is a competent self assured player, it meant that the team lacked some bite.
It started to become like The Alamo ....wave after wave of attack, and Starlands struggled to clear the ball out of their half.
The third goal came from a failure to clear the ball first time, the fourth followed a poor linesman decision allowing Huntington to clear the ball from their half and breakaway to score.
Kieran briefly stopped the flow, and charged towards goal...everyone was screaming for him to release a thunderbolt shot. Just as he did he was jostled by the back tracking defender and his shot went wide...unlucky ...
A fifth goal then followed, when Ben made a good point blank save but Huntington reacted first to the rebound...
Parents player was Aran. Managers was Marcus.
In truth, Thomas and Jed had safe dependable games...but no one covered themselves in glory.
What we need to try and remember is...we are not world beaters. It is about fun. The boys definitely have that, and we need to try and encourage no matter how frustrating it is...trust me...I want to win...and I get frustrated by lack of effort, but it is up to The Manager and Players to sort it out.
Things will change around.....it 's just a matter of when.... Keep the faith :) it'll happen.
In RICK & ROB we trust !
