The sun was shining, the pitch was unusually excellent, all 14 Ship players arrived roughly on time and the opposition had 9 men. Things looked good for a morale-boosting win. Come 90 minutes, the Ship were delighted with a point...
Despite missing some key players, another decent match-day squad was assembled and this proved critical as both Ollie and Adil were injured in the opening 20 minutes. The Ship dominated the opening exchanges as expected against 9 men but were unable to find the breakthrough as some last ditch challenges and wayward shooting allowed Wig Army to hold until their 10th player arrived. Even then, The Ship looked comfortable if occasionally lacklustre on the ball and controlled a territorial advantage. However the longer the Ship pressed without scoring, there was always the danger at the other end, magnified by the presence of a ludicrously long-throw in the oppositions armoury. Pete also pulled off a superb and desperate challenge when Si came and missed a cross which justified the fear. Josh was replaced by debutant and final sub Rich Glynn at half-time and the Ship began brightly again. They broke the deadlock when another sub - the lively Chris Garratt - found fellow replacement Anthony Lewin with a defence-splitting pass and he finished incredibly cooly past the imposing keeper to give him his first Ship goal in 24 matches. Tails were up but a lost football and an over-officious, pressure gauge-wielding referee that wanted a fresh ball pumped to exact FA standards ground the Ship to a halt and Wig capitalised as another long-throw and ensuing scramble saw them tap in an equaliser. Things started to further fall apart for the injured Ollie as triathlete Jamie Carter found 70 minutes of football too arduous and pulled a hamstring to even up the teams at 10 each. The Ship were still testing the opposition keeper, albeit from increasing long-range, before the collapse was completed with just 10 minutes left and a bizarrely-casual and ambitious attempt from the Wig striker from fully 35 yards floated into the top corner. Heads went down, shoulders slumped and the Ship stared down the barrell of a second successive defeat. Everyone except Kev. The imperious centre-back appeared to throw caution to the wind at this point and left his fellow 2 defenders to stride purposefully into midfield and begin to orchestrate what seemed an unlikely fight-back. His endeavour was rewarded when he received the ball wide on the right and unleashed an unstoppable and inspirational pile-driver inside the near post to send the Ship into raptures with just 2 minutes left. There was still time for Chris to fluff a great chance at the end which would have crowned a glorious fight-back but the Ship had to be grateful with the eventual point and the fact that they'd been in a good game on a good pitch. Although it seems a stumbling start to the new season, the Ship are not yet at full strength and momentum and it's hoped that a week off will give a chance for an growing injury list to recover.
