Match Reports
27/01/07
M&B 1-10 Men's 5th XI
A surprisingly sunny afternoon over came the cold of the late January weather at Fortress Deason. The game didn’t start well with late call up’s of players and the even later dropping out of one pubescent mop haired person, who shall not be named, leaving the Ramzy with only 1. Luckily for us the oppo only turned up with ten, cash back!
Also when the opposition decided to smash the ball at each other before the game was under way and a stray ball ended up striking the rock of the 5’s defense Paul ‘Potter’ Ripsher. This left its mark on his shin but merely gave him the drive to win.
Ramzy was looking nervous, this was a key game that could either make or break the 5’s season. Bognor were only residing one place and one point below with a superior goal difference, we needed to win and win well. But as they say, ‘cometh the hour cometh the men’.
The warm up was slightly brief but the practice of the attacking short corners looked promising, with the striking power of Josh driven by his personal cheering squad on the side lines. Matty Sale testing out his new stick was looking on top form following a string of solid performances.
The line up was looking good with the return of young Matt Squires in goal and the unchanged back four of Will Wells, Paul, Matt (Snr) and College, a perfect mixture of youth and experience. The defensive midfield man Dickie was now becoming accustomed to his role and with Ramzy out right and Rob on the left they fed the youth of Josh, Dan and Will up top throughout the game.
The game started with good pressure from the ten men of Bognor but as soon as Brighton got there game heads on this all changed. The commanding calls of Paul and College from the back seemed to spur their comrades into action. Good moves down the right from Ramzy and the over lapping College led to the first goal from Rob, a solid strike in the D leaving the keeper all ends up. A great start! This was shortly followed by goals from Will and when a short corner went wrong and broke for Dickie Barnes he dispatched it to the back of the net accordingly.
3-0 to the mighty 5’s in next to no time left Bognor in a daze, from which they never really recovered. Going forward we looked dangerous and at the back all Middleton attacks were dealt with at relative ease. Then came about the Josh Show as the young man got a first half hatrick with some great positioning in the D and a top strike from the well-worked short corner. The call of the day came from College after Josh’s first when he advised Josh’s girlfriend on the sideline to provide him with a XXXXX XXXX after the game, after the third she was looking worried.
A second for Will during the half left the team in un-chartered waters with a 7-0 lead at the break. The first half also provided the rest of the team with a chuckle as Dan Benson managed to dribble round the whole of the Middleton and Bognor team and lose it in the D a couple of times.
The wise words of Ramzy, College and Dickie made sure we knew we couldn’t switch off. Although the game looked won, they would come at us and with goal difference playing a factor we needed to win the second half as we did the first.
As predicted Bognor dug deep and brought about some pressure forcing a couple of short corners which resulted in nothing. Brighton got the break through though when Dan stepped up to score his first, but this did not deter Bognor. They mounted some more attacks and finally broke the drought with an attack on the right. Although Will Wells dealt with the first player he got caught in possession and when the Bognor player skipped past Potter, catching him flat footed he sent it past Matt in goal and despite Colleges best efforts over the line.
For the rest of the game Brighton dug in leaving Bognor with only two further chances. A top save angling the ball past his far post from Matt (Jnr) brought about praise for the relatively untroubled keeper and the other chance was expertly cleared from the line by College with his shin, but the decision was only a short corner, not a flick? This and other decisions left the Bognor team angling their anger at the stand in umpire Andrew ‘Tumnus’ Hehir instead of each other.
Then came about another highlight of the career of one ‘El Captain’ Ramzy when he found himself in the D unmarked, unchallenged with the ball. With all his might he fired what can only be described as a, rocket net buster wonder strike into the far corner. The sound of ball of on backboard followed by the high pitched ‘YES’ from Ramzy signaled the end for Bognor. Dan Benson got a well earnt second before the end leaving the 5’s with a slightly unbelievable victory score line of 10-1.
Easy!
Performances of notice: Dan Benson continuous running and stick skills always provided a threat; Colleges deadly runs down the right added the teams third dimension; solid as ever were the Matts (Jnr and Snr), Dickie, Will and Paul; the excellent first half performances from Rob and Josh gave the team the fire power along with current top scorer Will. And of course don’t forget the goal machine that is Ramzy.
Goals: Josh 3; Dan 2; Will 2; Rob 1; Dickie 1; Ramzy 1
Assists: Potter 10; 11 including there goal.
Well done boys may the unbeaten 2007 continue!