A sweltering Sunday set the scene for WPOB’s back to back wins; the team welcomed back from injury Gurj Johal and Chris Scott and the victims Matthew Gendle and Mark Ellis of #DeafRefGate. A few changes were forced upon the side; Anthony Ender was forced to start in goal as Paul Murray hadn’t fully recovered from his operation to transform himself into Cyclops from the X-Men which meant Chris Scott made his first start at centre back since playing with a broken wrist. (Again another victim of #DeafRefGate). The game was at the undulating fields of Walsworth Common, unfortunately the nature of this surface is an ironic leveller in terms of Sunday football, so the idea is not to keep it simple, and play effective not pretty football.
Lining up in our standard 4-4-2 shape and retaining the same centre midfield as we ended our last game and with pace on both flanks provided by Tommy Richards and Mark Ellis we set out our attacking intent from the start. We kicked off and strung 8 or 9 slick passes together looking to attack before their right back decided to clatter Mark Ellis within the first minute. This was very much the plot of the rest of the first half with the only threat offered by North Herts Hatters coming an over hit clearance or long ball. These were easily met, not by the cries of “Enders Up”, but by either a “Scottys” or “Crrrraaaaaiiiiiggggssss” and the ball was marshalled away swiftly through the midfield. Mark Ellis was by this point (5 minutes in) giving their right back a torrid time using the classic slow down then speed up trick to ghost past him who was already overheating; Stuart Norrie was also getting in on the act, putting on his Gareth Bale mask, surging down the left hand side and getting into dangerous positions. Both were unable to produce and quality on the final delivery into the penalty area being let down by the poor surface. Rikki Day and Vincenzo Lorenzo Lomanco were positionally sound for the whole of this half; able to press the midfield at every opportunity and put North Herts Hatters under pressure by taking away their time in their own half. It was from this pressure Jonny Day got his first opportunity, a loose ball broke to him and, engineering his own space by skipping past a tackle, saw his sweetly struck goal-bound shot expertly pushed away John Terry esc. by their defender on the edge of the area. Free kick? The ref saw differently (but it seemed not at all).
Our first break came fortuitously, another poorly struck cross from the left found it’s way to the far side which Tommy Richards guided back into the box and after the ball bounced around off the hard surface Jonny Day rose to bring the ball down on his chest then their clumsy defender decided to clatter into the back of him. With Jonny Day going down easier than a fat bird after 5 WKD’s WPOB were awarded a penalty. Mark Ellis stepped up, and with guile of Beckham in 2004 and the grace of Baggio in 1994 he despatched the ball into the Highover estate across the road. Non-deterred we pressed on, and after more considerable pressure we were awarded with our breakthrough. After pointing out that no-one bothers marking him and at the near post Matt Gendle flicked on Mark Ellis’ low near post corner and storming into the middle was Tommy Richards to bury the ball into the roof of the net to make it 1-0. Big confidence boost all around, the initial breakthrough from the all the pressure is usually the hardest, we had to capitalize and press on. Another poor attack from North Hearts Hatters was broken down easily and Richard Harding picked out Mark Ellis with an inch perfect cross field ball, after one touch to control and another to push the ball past their right back he released a left footed shot that the keeper could only parry and push into the path of Jonny Day. Jonny’s first touch was exquisitely taken, shifting the ball into the only bit of space in the penalty area and rolling the ball coolly into the empty net past the sprawling keeper, another left footed goal from him!
Standard half time for all of us, chat about the goals and sign some autographs, all we had to do from now was keep it simple and minimize mistakes.
The second half didn’t start so well, we were a little off our first half pace and North Herts Hatters began to compete with us and cause some problems. Their long balls were starting to get behind our defence, panicked clearing and last ditch defending was the only thing keeping them from fashioning any chances of note, but on this pitch the ball could bounce anywhere. A couple of long range efforts and tame corners were enough to keep Anthony Ender interested at least. A double substitution brought on Ross Prentice and Daniel Gendle for Tommy Richards and Jonny Day this provided us with some fresh legs to run at and cause problems for their already fatigued defenders. Our third goal came out of nothing, after another scrap in the middle of the park Mark Ellis rolled off their centre midfielder into space and spun a side footed through ball perfectly into the path of Matthew Gendle who coolly and calmly lobbed the ball over the on-rushing keeper. Game over. The sun and the 26 degrees of heat were beginning to have a significant effect on the game as it became increasingly stretched due to tiredness; Gurj Johal came on for Stuart Norrie to give some calm and fresh legs in the centre midfield. With North Herts Hatters looking more exhausted by the minute Dan Gendle was able to find more and more space in and around the area, first of all he saw he crisply struck strike blocked then another expertly saved by the keeper with his fingertips. There was a scare towards the end where a long cross field ball caught Craig Doran out of position and whilst tracking back his lost his footing to style out a face plant. This allowed their aggy number 7 to cross low at the near post which Anthony Ender spilled behind for a corner. Amends were made though as Anthony Ender leaped above everyone and anyone to fist away with gusto halfway up the field their clipped in corner. Matt Gendle took this fist…. Beautifully on the chest and flicked the ball over his head into the path of Rikki Day making a surging run from midfield, Rikki found the energy to run 50 yards with the ball before delivering a cross to the far post where Dan Gendle was lurking. Dan’s first touch let him down and was unable to get the shot off but found support with a simple lay off to Mark Ellis on the edge of the area. Again another poor first touch prevented a shot, but Ross Prentice was lurking to the right where Mark’s square ball found him and with two assured touches buried the ball to the keepers left. At 4-0 confidence was flowing, that was none more evident than when Gurj Johal shot from 25 yards with his shin towards the corner flag. North Herts Hatters keeper did his best towards the end to keep the score line respectable saving first from a vicious volley from Mark Ellis and again from a deflected Dan Gendle effort.
Great team performance, over confidence didn’t get the better of us with such a strong side and we all worked hard for each other and earned the right to play before taking our chances. A little more quality in the final third to make our chances count but that will come the more we play. Our fourth goal summed up the potential that we have this year and has set a marker in the sand for quality of football we can play.
FYI: 9 goals this season and 7 goal scorers. #Variety
