Match Reports
17/02/07
Sussex Police 1s 4-10 Men's 4th XI
Brighton 4s 10 - 4 Sussex Police
Goals Goals Goals, with a mixture of good finishing and ineptitude Brighton strolled away easy winners. Too many goals to describe but I shall list the goal scorers here Lees 2, Delea 3, Ready 2, Graham, Ben, Dave Taylor
We welcomed the three Ds, Don and Dave D and Dave T and an exhausted looking Ben Williams playing his second match of the day, although his first was a pedestrian stroll for the Vets. Nevertheless what a good club man !
It didn’t look like it would be easy when the Police took the lead in the opening seconds. A comedy of errors from a few players (Shef and Thompo, the prime suspects, with allegations levelled at Reedy and Lees as well) and the Police striker had free shot at goal under the diving Brooksy. 0-1 and it looked for a moment like it would be a long afternoon. Brighton were out for revenge though, after being robbed in the corresponding fixture in the first half of the season. Sleaze was playing like a man possessed and stole in at the top of the D to finish smartly into the bottom left hand corner and Brighton were deservedly level.
Brighton began to look very assured in midfield and took the lead through Dave D. The Police wouldn’t rest and tested the defence and midfield but the experience of Don and Wappy made sure they would receive no change there. The danger man Pagey was being man marked out of extinction by some awesome play. The lead was extended by young Graham, who has started to look a 4s player after languishing in the 6s too long and Brighton looked to be cruising. There was a blot on the team’s copy book though as Wappy was told to “shut it” and green carded and Lees was also green carded for verbals. Sussex Police though earned a short corner in the closing minutes and stuck into the left of Brooksy and they were right back in it.
Half time was subdued with the boys concerned that they were about to throw it away, again, but Wappy and Don calmed the nerves.
Straight from the restart, with the ever chatty Sleaze off the pitch, the lead was extended quickly by two goals and a 5-2 lead seemed insurmountable. Sadly this is Brighton’s 4s who love to give a leg up when they can and the boys in white pulled one back after some slack marking and another short corner to the left of Brooksy and at 5-4 things were looking a little wobbly. Enter our saviour, stage left, the vision that is Reedy, the Long Assassin, the Lurching Warrior. A short corner was awarded and dispatched, another was awarded and dispatched and some breaths of relief were heard across the pitch. Could Reedy do the impossible and get a hat-trick ? We watched with baited breath as Reedy promptly bottled it and switched left and right and did not strike at goal again, jug avoidance I think! Dave Delea began to find the space he craved and with Ben William’s trade mark gallops the space was opening and Brighton were rampant. Three more goals swiftly followed and the rout was complete.
Amongst the melee of goals, Sleaze was able to get himself yellow carded for chat and receive the Thompo hair dryer treatment (I think the score was only 3-2 at the time so we were all a bit nervous still). Dave Delea also stole a goal as the poacher supreme at the back post. There could have been more goals as chances went begging and Wappy even shoved it into the ‘keeper’s pads when scoring may have been easier, (he was a big lad though !). Sleaze could also be accused of jug avoidance after an almighty air swing did nothing but cause of a gust of wind. When Sleaze makes an airshot in Falmer does it cause hurricanes in China?
Brighton’s mixture of youth and experience was well balanced and we ran out convincing and deserved winners and may have just done enough to keep our noses out of the relegation battle.
Awards
Handbag : Sleaze for being yellow carded
Teapot : Sleaze, not sure but think it may have been the very long and slow set up for the short corners followed by a chocolate wrists injection that went nearly 3 yards it could have also been for causing hurricanes in indo-china through reckless stick swinging.
The Dancing Homer : Thompo for his first two touches which did little to stop the Sussex striker from scoring the opening goal.
The bottom half of the table, but with Crowborough and St Francis coming up, those games could be real six pointers.
P pts
BHHC 4s 17 19
M&B 17 19
St Francis 17 17
EG 4 16 15
Crowborough 16 14
Mid Sussex 16 2