Match Reports
01/03/09
London Wayfarers 2-4 Men's 2nd XI
Brighton and Hove 4 - London Wayfarers 2
Sunday the first of March and all across the Brighton area the members of the mighty mens two's were waking up with a rather fuzzy pain in their heads after an enjoyable Saturday night on the town. With an alternative meet providing that most of the team turned up at a local pub for morning breakfast, it soon became apparent that the team was not in tip top condition leading into one of the biggest games of the season. Brighton new they could all but mathematically be promoted with a win and after sending a message out to the league by mauling a team 9-1 the day before everyone seemed surprisingly buoyant despite their hangovers.
The mini-bus was full perhaps too full with 'Lego-wags' being brought along to the trip to Battersea. Upon turning up it soon became apparent the size of the task facing the team as Wayfarers were already there participating in a very professional warm up. As a retort Brighton boxed off an area of the pitch in an attempt to warm up and get ready for the game. Dan Hore's favourite game was introduced to the team (not the game involving his white glove) which is essentially netball with a tennis ball. Brighton were quite frankly crap at it and we therefore resorted to shooting at the keeper, this was a rather feeble attempt nevertheless. Finally after hearing Luke tell us about goals scored by and against the opposition the team was ready for the game.
The game started off and against all odds Brighton started with a surprisingly high intensity and soon began to dominate play. This was dictated by Alan Smasher McGuinness and Jamie 'dementour' Hendrick, who together owned the middle of the park and moved the ball wide for Brighton to get around the spread opposition (much like moonie lying on his BACK the night before). Some good movement by Ollie 'I don't like playing with Lego' Poselthwaite and Deller Merricks meant that the opposition were stretched as long as they were wide and this led to space which Brighton's players could exploit by winning a number of short corners. Brighton soon took advantage of this and Brighton scored, Deller striking the ball towards goal only for Hore to steal it at the last second' they all count though!
Brighton soon after went two up as Luke passed it to their striker, only for Moonie to make a huge tackle and for Brighton to play some very nicely worked hockey which resulted in Hardwick picking up the ball and playing it to the back post for Jamie Hendrick to score in Ollie-esq fashion. Against the run of play Wayfarers clawed one back after an exotic decision lead to a penalty flick from a challenge by Moonie. At this point Brighton seemed to still be in control until Dan Hore had a tantrum and raised his stick into the opposition's stomach earning him a yellow card.
At the beginning of the second half Brighton began to play some more nice hockey and a well worked short corner led to them extending their lead further with Sam 'what is this 70 minutes business' Forster sweeping home. The reintroduction of Penfold from the sidelines caused renewed vigour from the Brighton team as they scored again, this time Deller getting the goal he deserved for tormenting the opposition defence all day long. However Wayfarers; facing a problem nearly as intimidating as the credit crunch, started to attack more and despite some solid defending from Dan Hacking, Luke Williams, moon and Dermot and some good saves from keeper Psycho they did manage to score a goal.
Nevertheless this in the end proved to be little more than a consolation goal as the Brighton team worked very hard for the win. To summarise Brighton played well despite not feeling their best; they got abused by a random man in the pub; one member was nearly sick on the bus and Deller's curse on Ollie remains firmly in place.
Written by:
Ross Hardwick