Even though we had a depleted squad with 4 key players missing, we still had high hopes and high spirits ahead of our clash with FC Meta. A new team for the 2010/11 season, Meta had started the new campaign with a 100% record; so we knew they could play. From the warm-up it was apparent that they were a keen and very young side. We knew however, that if we could play our brand of passing football, we could overcome these young up-starts!
From the kick-off we knew that these guys weren’t just young and enthusiastic, they could also knock the ball around nicely. They bossed the first 20 minutes as we found our feet and in that time managed to go a goal up. A sloppy keeping error led to a second goal on the half hour mark but we were still improving and starting to compete.
With 15 mins to go before half time we started to use our experience and strength to try to gain an advantage. Unfortunately, Martin Morin tried too hard and his groin fell off! This was a hammer blow for us as Martin had provided a steady head up front over the last few weeks. Martin left the pitch wondering how he would ever re-build his shattered groin, to be substituted with Tino. With Martin on the side lines we pressed forward knowing that we were getting more possession. One of the few passing moves through the centre of the park presented Corker with a chance to put Luke through for a chance at goal. With his back to the target, Luke twisted and turned but couldn’t get the shot away. 5 minutes later, Fred put Luke through for a one-on-one with the keeper. The keeper was strong and the chance went begging.
Shortly before half time, Luke was again presented with the ball at his feet in the area with his back to goal. With no hope of getting a decent shot on target and inspired by watching Platoon on TV the previous night, Luke threw himself on the deck as though he had been shot by a sniper that was hiding deep in the Chiltern hills! Instead of winning an Oscar, Luke won us a penalty. Corker handed the responsibility of taking the penalty to John Wylie. John promptly got a nosebleed and handed the responsibility to Tino.
With all of the confidence of a man with not a care in the world, Tino struck the ball well and hit the underside of the cross bar and landed over the line. 2 – 1.
Half time brought word of encouragement from our decorated manager Tom Mann. With that we controlled the second half. Although we were light on players and some were playing out of position, we fought hard to pepper the box with balls in order to tease an equaliser out of our strikers. Some great play by Sam on the left and all of the defence (yes, including you Mark) allowed us to push forward safe in the knowledge that our goal was being safely guarded behind us.
No matter how hard we tried we just couldn’t get the breakthrough we needed and when a late chance from Freddie went wide, we knew that our chance of playing extra time had passed.
A scrappy, but gutsy performance had seen us lose 2 – 1 to FC Meta.
Good performances from Sam ad Greig were encouraging as was the performance of the defence as a unit (yes, including you Mark)!
Goal summary:
40 min - Tino (8/10)
A superb penalty. Tino ran up, and with a right footed shot the ball found the net.
