Match Reports
19/04/08
Sussex 4th Teams 1-22 Men's 4th XI
The Fantastic Fours Sussex Cup Adventure.
The Fours cup adventure started with a trip to Worthing for our Pool games versus Worthing, Crawley and Chichester.
Brooksy roused his troops for the early trip across town and we arrived with bags of time to prepare. After the disappointment of relegation we were pretty desperate to get something from the season. There were a few bleary eyes though as most players didn’t seem all the keen to be out of bed so early. We were cheered somewhat by Chichester doing a no-show again, just like last year, which meant that the Fantastic Fours only had to see off Worthing and Crawley in back to back games.
With Reedy topping up his quota of Guinness in Dublin it was the erstwhile Swampy who was called up to help out with sweeper duties. With JC on fatherly responsibilities it was left to Bondy and The Buck to run the midfield, which they did with ease against Worthing. As the promised rain held off a nervy Brighton did enough in the first half to edge into a 2-1 lead but the second half saw the quality show with young Alex Coyle and Irish “Weight gain 3000” Andy doing enough to help Dan and Matt Harding to some goals and an easy 6-1 win. Brooksy was called upon infrequently but when he was made a superb diving save, together with BMF combat roll for the cameras.
A short break was enough time for JC to arrive and Bondy to let his back stiffen up and then relax again with industrial quantities of deep heat.
Crawley offered little in the way of attacking trouble for the solid Brighton defence and the final game was a 10-o drubbing, loads of goals to describe but it has been over a week now and I can’t remember any of them. I do remember that we hit the post three times in the first 5 minutes though, so that is a little bit interesting.
Anyway, qualification for a day out in Lewes was assured. A short wait and the news came through that Eastbourne had triumphed over two Sussex power houses in Lewes and EG and would be our foes for the Trophy.
The evils of the Sussex fixture secretary made for another early start and again we were up before the lark had time to get out of his pyjamas. It was a quiet and bleary eyed changing room before the game but the coach Midas along with kit man Williams soon whipped the players up into a frenzy, this was tempered slightly after story time from Thompo where he imparted tales of woe from previous cup finals which had ended in defeat. Lessons had to be learned. With this in mind Swampy was asked to continue in the sweepers role and Ready asked to be the holding central midfield player, although in truth no-one actually told him that, still he soon worked it out. It also transpired after the game that he had expressly disobeyed Brooksy’s orders and was out until 4 am “on the lash”. No surprise that it was not a roaming display from the long-legged one.
Brooksy must surely be shown as setting the best example by taking himself off to Budapest for a spa break to reinvigorate his aching muscles leaving the organisation to Thompo.
Thankfully we had a full quota of 16 players and so with the rolling subs primed we were ready for the off. There a slight problem when Eastbourne’s pocket sized ‘keeper was still in the changing room, surely Brighton could get the ball and score. Eastbourne though played some great “keep ball” hockey and denied us a sniff, in truth it was probably the best hockey they played all game. They were also helped when Swampy decided to aerial the ball over his shoulder and high on to the Southdowns to give the ‘keeper more time to arrive. I would like to say it was a sporting gesture on our part, but it wasn’t. Not even sniffer Williams could locate the ball.
Anyway, a replacement was found and the game could continue. Brighton, when they had the ball, looked sharp and Bondy was showing us his best “scoops and go” on the left flank, with a little showboating for the crowd . It wasn’t long before Brighton took the lead through Dan Benson who was loitering Harding like in the D to score from close range. Brooksy they did a high risk leave which didn’t quite go, luckily the Eastbourne player’s shoes were not up to their job and as he fell the ball dribbled safely over the line. Phew, close shave. Despite this the defence was still resolute and Brighton doubled their lead when Dan Benson took two bites of the cherry to score under the ‘keeper and Brighton were looking good.
Half time 2-0 up. Would the second half curse strike where so often Brighton 4s had led at half time only to go the next 35 minutes without so much as a sniff of goal? Thankfully on this occasion that would not be the case. Brighton pressed and quickly earned a couple of short corners and with Bondy acting as the conductor orchestrated a series of short corners with angles of movement that would have impressed the Red Arrows. It was from one such corner that an Eastbourne player committed an illegal act and a penalty flick was awarded. With a hat-trick on the line Dan Benson stepped and finished weakly, but strong enough, to give Brighton a 3-0 lead a cap a man of the match earning display..
Eastbourne were by no means out of it and as the bandana count reached critically high levels they began to show their skills. (Note to self: buy shares in Eastbourne based haberdashers, they must do a roaring trade in small squares of material in all sorts of luminous and garish shades.) But while they had the skills they did not have the fight and will to win that drove Brighton on.
Brighton continued their potency in front of goal as Matt “goatee less” Harding was found by a beautiful pass in acres of space and was able to finish with aplomb to give Brighton a 4-0 lead.
Not only were Eastbourne lacking the will to win they were lacking two giants of our age in Swampy and Ready. 4 short corners were awarded in quick succession and 3 were batted away off the line with great skill by the aforementioned denizens. One was going so fast that people were bemused into thinking Brooksy had saved it. That just shows how many of them have been to 4s games in the past. Brooksy rarely touches short corner attempts on goal, preferring to wave at the ball and hope that someone else will get him out of gaol. It was the mighty Swampy that saved that one and Brooksy was applauding his brilliance. He did save one though it should be said, albeit a rather tame scoop.
More chances came and went with JC and Ready both going agonisingly close when on another day they would have scored.
As the game was now beyond Eastbourne their heads had clearly dropped. The space that was being left was enough for a speedy counter-attack which left The Buck with a one on one with the keeper which he finished excellently to give Brighton a 5-0 lead. That was soon 6 with Irish Andy taking a moment from stuffing himself with eggs while his mum wasn’t watching, to take a leaf from the Matt Harding school of goal scoring and touch it over the line from a millimetre.
6-0 and the work was done. Nothing feels better than getting your hands on a trophy.
Special mentions should also be reserved for young Potter who had another of his great games at centre back, JC showing his array of wobbling skills and the tiny Alex Coyle who did not look out of place in the heart of the midfield.
All that was left was for a pub crawl back to Brighton . The best cure I have found today for my hangover was a can of shandy bass.
So that concludes the 2007/2008 season, one of mixed fortunes. Relegation but officially the best 4th team in the county!!
Well done to everyone involved in the 4s cup games this season and thanks to Midas, Thompo and Kit man Williams for their help on the day.
See you at the dinner dance for more celebrating.
DB