With taxi unable to make it this week it was left to Wayne & Terry to take charge of proceedings for the game against Caribb A.
The week started quite positively as it looked like we was going to have 15/16 players to choose from and that is unheard of for the Station! But with it being the Station things are never that straight forward.
On the morning of the game no less than 4 players dropped it out which left us with a major dilemma! Three of the back 5 which we’re due to start had pulled out so we had to have a serious re-think in to if we had 11 players and if so who’s playing where!
Bradley was in between the stick’s again after he’s great display last week , with Terry & Kav slotiing in at full backs again! Due the desperate situation we was in Ben Thompson was called upon to partner wayne at center back! Gary & Barry were the center mid pairing with Danny Lynch and Boo out wide on the wings. That left Darren upfront along side the ever present rooney & Del being our only sub! After playing these a few weeks back we knew what to expect of them, fast and........ well just fast really! That time we ended up on the wrong side of a 4-2 scoreline but we was determind not to let that happen again!
Kick off
From the start of the game we looked up for this despite not having the strongest team. Gary & Barry were dictating the game from the middle of the park & we had numerous chances to break the deadlock. Rooney, Darren, Barry & Boo all had chances to give us the lead we deserved but it never came. One thing that also stood out was the ref didn’t seem to be interested in giving us anything at all. So after controlling the opening 20 – 25 mins in typical Station form we went one down. Gary was fouled in the middle of the park but the ref didn’t blow & Caribb A went on the attack ( probably there 1st of the game ), one pass lead to two then three & before we could get a tackle in there forward sloted the ball into the corner to put them one up. We wasn’t happy with the ref for allowing play to continue after a blatent foul but the game went on.
Our heads never dropped as we knew we was in this and back on the attack we went again. Once again we had the majority of the possession and chances to score but it just wasn’t falling for us. Numerous corners came our way but once again we couldn’t find that all important goal! Caribb were by far 2nd best in this game & as our luck would have it they broke and went on to score a second. They broke down the left hand side at pace got into the box, there lm went to pull the trigger and sliced he’s shot and the jammy **** managed to find a team mate at the back post for a simple tap in! Lucky or what!!! If i’m totally honest i probably should of been on there player who scored but i did have two of them to mark!
Once again we knew we didn’t deserve this and continued to press forward looking for a goal to get us back in the game. With the clock ticking down to half time finally we got the break through we deserved all be it with abit of luck. Gary held the ball in the center circle and played it out wide to Boo, with Rooney in hes brother’s ear the whole game he duely passed it to him on the edge of the box and UNSHEFISHLY Rooney looked up and layed it off to Barry who shot 1st time & with a little deflection the ball hit the back of the net and we was back in the game! Now we knew we would push on but the half time whistle brought the 1st half to an end!
Half time
At the break we all said they didn’t deserve the lead they had & we had to continue the way we was as we knew we could get on top. No arguing what so ever just some sensible talking! WOW ( lol )
2nd half
No changes were made at the break & we started the 2nd half the way we finshed the 1st, on top and looking lively. It didn’t take long before we got our equaliser and boy did we deserve it. Less than 10 mins into the 2nd half we scored in similar style to our 1st! Lynch had the ball down the right handside and skinned there left mid. He cut inside on the edge of the box & like rooney in the 1st half he looked up and squared the ball to Barry who once again calmly stroked the ball into the corner. Great play 2-2!!!
After doing the hard work and getting back on to level terms the only way this game was going was a Station win. But how wrong i was. 5 mins or so it felt after getting back level caribb started to get into the game a lot more and put the pressure on. The defence was holding it together though and playing the off-side trap really well. A harmless cross was floated in from the right hand side and with more than enough players to deal with the threat Bradley screamed his ball so we left it. Unlucky for us though as the ball slipped from he’s grasp & landed on the foot of there striker who tapped it in on the goal line! We couldn’t belive it!
Now we was forced into a re-shuffle as we were losing 3-2 so i went to partner Wayne at cb with boo moving to lb. That left Ben T to move forward into left mid and hope we could get back into the game. Instead of pushing forward like we was earlier now we seemed to come under a barrage of attacks from caribb & as the game went on there pace was about to show. They started to come forward in three’s, four’s and fives and we started to struggle with there pace & movement! 4-2 was quickly followed by 5-2 & every time we tryed to commit forward we found ourselves running back to defend! By now i think we knew we had lost the game and so the effort & commitment we showed early on wasn’t there anymore. 6-2 was soon followed by 7-2 and to our relief the ref blew for full time.
Full Time
The result at full time was a joke & up until 65 mins on the clock we was well & truely in the game and deserved something from it! On another day we might of held out for a point ( if not all 3 ) but it wasn’t to be! Players dropping out last minute seems to be the normal thing for us so we shouldn’t be that surprised but well done to the 11 players out there today everyone gave there all and hopefully we will get it right soon!
Heads up boys we didn’t deserve that scoreline! ;)
