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Orwell 0 – 2 City Life 15/3/08
My apologies for the length but I have had a very busy week.
City Life FC is currently on the search for the quickest member of the squad. Before every game two players sprint from the byline to halfway the winner going on to challenge a future opponent. Last week’s centre-back clash pitched James Mason against Sam Goodall, a race in which Mason triumphed by a country mile. This week saw the dynamic duo of Matt Double and Wayne Perry in a battle that many said would have little more significance than deciding left back for the rest of the season.
Bookies were putting Double as the early favourite. Expert opinions were divided but by and large Double was expected to take this one. Double’s claims he’d recently beaten a 16 yr old future Olympic champion and Perry’s great age were the biggest persuasions. Official stats to date were inconclusive as neither had managed to sprint 50 yds before.
Conditions were not ideal for fast times with a strong headwind of -4.4ms-1 in addition to the fact that the pitch resembled an overgrown jungle and of course this race was between Double and Perry!
The gun fired and Perry exploded out of the blocks leaving Double in his wake. Over such a short distance Double had left himself a huge mountain to climb. Despite the lethargic start Double’s legs began to find some pace, like the wheels of a rusted old steam engine striving not to fail the pride of its former glory. The coal piled on, the furnace burned with fury, the wheels locked in and the charge was on. Perry was ahead but Double was closing. With the gap shrinking, the crowd watched on in disbelief. Perry’s legs were failing, could Double fight back. The short answer was no. Double left it too late and Perry took the winnings. Double later spoke out against his critics saying “I’m more of a 200m man”.
Now that’s out the way, to the match...
The jungle was mainly to be found on the outskirts of the pitch in the domain of the wingers. I don’t like giving excuses but its fair to say that those of us on the wing found this to be a legitimate excuse for any bad control that may or may not have occurred during the match.
In addition to the lack of a lawnmower Orwell were also without much in the way of lawn. The pitch was probably the smallest we’d played on all year and concerns were immediately raised as to the effectiveness of wingers on such a pitch. Again excuses aside this was another reason why the wingers may have been seen to be mildly ineffective in this one.
The bobbly nature of the pitch was best demonstrated by the erratic display by Cathie, Halse and Prior during the initial shooting practice. Had the pitch been somewhat smoother there is little doubt the wingers, in particular, would have produced more shots and hence been seen to be more effective, excuses aside.
Coach Faz took the team talk outside stating clearly that you could only fit 3 people in the changing rooms, well we didn’t hire him for the maths (we got Cashman for that!). Honestly (as I tend to be), I can’t remember any thing else he said so we’ll leave that there.
The game kicked off with City Life knowing they could not afford to drop points here if promotion was still on their mind. The first half was pretty scrappy with balls being ping-ponged from defence to defence. Chances were few and far between. The Orwell keeper made an excellent save to deny Lukes sterling effort as he turned and shot from the edge of the box. Some might say his better option which would have almost certainly ended in a goal was to slide a ball to the unmarked Dave inside the box leaving him to slot calmly past the keeper. Another wasted opportunity for a winger to have been effectively utilised, excuses aside.
Another tightly fought battle was on the cards. Frustration was clearly being shown as both Wayne and Colm clattered in to a few Orwell players. However, City Life kept going and towards the end of the first half the breakthrough came. Matt, adopting the Dalehead stance of long balls into the box, took the throw aiming at the slender, tall figure of Sam Goodall. Sam headed the ball up in the air and then followed up with a well directed header using the back of his head which saw the ball drop and bounce across the face of the goal. An unfortunate Orwell defender, in an attempt to kick the ball anywhere but towards his own goal, kicked it towards his own goal. The keeper had little time to react but managed to allow the ball slip through his hands and City Life were 1 – 0 up.
Sam’s desperation to score a goal for City Life this season was revealed as even through the blatant course of events described to this day he still claims the goal was his.
Little else happened in the first half and City Life went in at half-time 1 - 0 to the good. Mike said something at half-time which again I regretfully admit has been omitted from my memory.
The second half was much the same as the first. City Life had moments where they tried to play football but were frequently let down by their touch and control. Ian replaced Matt 10mins in after a nasty tackle left Matt lying on the floor in a certain amount of pain. Midway through the second half central midfielder and fervent promoter of good football, John O’Brien, realised he had actually become invisible. It some ways it was comforting to know there was a good reason why no-one ever passed the ball to him.
Once again City Life failed to put the tie to bed and were fortunate that Orwell didn’t take one of a number of good chances to draw level. It wasn’t until late on in the second half that Colm found himself with the ball and in space on the right side of the penalty box. The angle was tight and an easier option could have been to utilise the unmarked man in the centre of the goal however Colm’s confidence was high and he managed to squeeze the ball past the keeper into the far corner of the goal. City Life’s second on the day and Colm’s 11th of the season.
Besides the goal there was only one other major highlight in the second half. An absolutely sublime square ball, drilled by Dave, left footed across the field to switch play from right to left, ‘BOOM’. You can’t buy that sort of quality. Sadly Matt was too in awe of the pass to notice the ball coming towards him and it slipped under his foot and went out for an Orwell throw.
Norweigian import Kristian Ernstsen came on for Wayne with 10 mins to go providing a purer European edge than former Belgian Luke Cathie (who doesn't even like chocolate).
A below par display by City Life but a win nonetheless. John O’Brien was most keen on the performance stating afterwards “we were awful, awful, we were awful”, or something like that I don’t always know what he’s saying. And as coach Mike observed poignantly (this I can remember) “Its the sign of a good team who play badly and still win”. Final Score Orwell 0 - 2 City Life.
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Dave Halse, 21/03/2008 |
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