Match Reports
29/11/08
South Saxons 3s 2-7 Men's 4th XI
South Saxons had been on the rise up the league after losing their first two games of the season but winning the rest so we knew this could be a tough encounter. But after scoring 22 goals in our previous three games we knew that we would always be dangerous going forward. Especially as we welcomed back one of our highest scoring players Willy D, from his sojourn watching England’s inept rugby players for three weeks, what a waste of time. I hope he doesn’t consider doing the same for the six nations.
We did start with ten men again with another full back going AWOL. This time it was Wrighty’s turn to be sat on a bus while the rest of us are getting on with the game. A little reshuffle meant that Vanilla Ice was given the honour of playing at right back for the first fifteen minutes or so.
With only ten men though we still looked the stronger side and when Wrighty arrived there was a brief period where he conducted some rather interesting calanetics before he was ready to join the fray.
With a full strength side it was only a matter of time before we took the lead and take the lead we did. South Saxons showed some quality and with some quick thinking and a rasping shot they were level.
That was the last sniff of a chance South Saxons had this half and our pace quality was proving too much. But sometimes pace needs a helping hand and that helping hand can often come in the shape of some speed of thought and great passing. These three elements came together in the most beautiful fashion for our next goal. Bondy passed cheekily between his legs when just outside our D. Willy D was the recipient of that impetuous move and played a thirty yard pass to Benson (he provides the pace element in the move. Just to be clear I am not suggesting that Bondy or Willy D are the pace part of this story, that would be ridiculous). Benson ran on to the pin point pass from Willy D and beat the ‘keeper with the deftest of touches. With the ‘keeper floundering he finished coolly in to the open goal. It will be rare for you to see a better goal. Take my word for it.
A direct strike from a short corner for Bondy and we were getting a stranglehold on the game.
With the first half about to end we had a burst of controversy as a goal bound shot was illegally blocked on the line and simultaneously the ‘keeper, perhaps over zealously, took out Willy D. The umpires had a little bit of a pow-wow and the penalty flick was given which was dispatched by the on form Benson.
Four-one up at half time and we knew if we kept our heads we would go away with three points.
South Saxon’s tricky dicky midfielder was showing that had some skills and also proved repeatedly that we don’t know how to tackle as some horrendous stick tackles flew in. Smithy and I screamed our heads off to stop people from diving in but this went unheeded and the flow of the game was broken by a number of free hits.
We still had too much quality and a number of short corners were dispatched to give us an insurmountable lead and the victory was ours.
There was time for South Saxon’s to get a consolation before their long journey home as one of their defenders seemed to ghost into the D and waltz past seven miss-tackles before flicking the ball past my slow moving right foot.
Praise is due to Bondy and Benson with both completing hat tricks (and more jugs due!) Great performances from Chris and Smithy at the back shouldn’t go unheralded.
With Penguins losing we also extended our lead to 4 points with a game in hand over the chasing pack.
Big game next week against that nasty bunch the 5s... could be a classic…
Thanks to both Ramzy (no doubt spying on us) and Alan for umpiring.
Team: Brooksy, Wrighty (for the last 60 minutes), Perry, Ready, Smithy, Tosh, Vanilla Ice, Bondy, Willy D, Benson, The Buccaneer.
Goal scorers:
Benson x 3 (including the best goal you’ll never see)
Bondy x 3
Willy D x 1