...this match was identified as one of the games where 3 points was very achievable...

Scanning the fixture list at the start of the season, this match was identified as one of the games where 3 points was very achievable. On the day this was certainly confirmed by the weight of possession and territorial advantage we had, but unfortunately a wicked concoction of bad luck and bad refereeing (no, honest) meant that we lost 3 very important points to a side that will be near the bottom of the table come March.

Even with one or two notable absentees we assembled with a good squad. Key question in the vestiares was who would go in goal given Martin’s absence and Sejersen’s elevation to the firsts. Waite attempted to claim the (coveted ?) position by marching into the changing rooms with a pair of gloves waving prominently in his hands. Macdonald showed that he is hewn from the same rock as a long line of legendary Scottish managers who know their own mind and promptly announced that the gloveless McAulay would start ‘in goals’.

So we trotted onto the heavily sanded Astroturf and started our afternoons’ work. After a composed but relatively unthreatening first 10 minutes we were a little shaken by a good Azur move down the right which resulted in a powerful shot being well palmed around the post at full stretch by McAulay.

Firth, who was impressively steady at right back, then got into a dispute for the ball with their skipper. Rather irritated by the skippers’ refusal to give up his hassling, Paul decided to close the dispute with a wayward elbow. Said skipper made a passable imitation of a sack of spuds, Macdonald claimed passionately that as it was ‘pas le visage’ (that’s ok then), Belgian tempers frayed, Eriksen woke up from his slumber on the bench thinking that now maybe now was his moment to make a ‘contribution’, but finally everyone calmed down and Firth was shown a yellow. As the red mist subsided from both teams Glover and Clarke started to boss the centre of the park and we started to turn our superior possession into some reasonable chances.

Francey shot wide after being released by a great through ball from Glover. How then did a Skinner & Baddiel ‘phoenix from the flames’ type thing by re-creating Gazza’s ‘sliding in at the far post to just reach the ball but not get quite enough on it to steer it in’ moment from Euro 96 vs Germany. 5 minutes later another opportunity for How as he hooked the ball over the keeper only to see an aware defender clear off the line. Still, only a matter of time and a goal would come. Alas it was at the other end…

A swift counter attack from Azur reached our area but Morris was there gently shepherding their centre forward away from the goal. ‘ Nothing stupid’ Brian we all thought to ourselves and to be fair to Brian he did nothing stupid. However the centre forward did something rather clever: he fell over with no assistance from Brian. The referee then did something outrageous. He gave a penalty, which was duly converted by a grateful but slightly embarrassed Azur.

We were obviously disappointed but still pretty confident of pulling back a one goal deficit but just before half time they got another. The ball was played into our area from the right and, it has to be said, some rather neat interplay culminated with a clean finish from 10 yards by the Azur centre forward. So, unbelievably, we traipsed in at half time 2-0 down to a clearly inferior team.

The half time team talk was filled with rallying calls that we could still pull this one out of the fire and recalled memories of our match here last year where we turned a 0-2 deficit into a 4-2 win.

This confidence was borne out through the entire course of the second half during which we camped in their half and enjoyed 80% possession as Azur tired. Frequently Edgely would glide passed 2 or 3 defenders and set up a chance for himself or others but a combination of poor finishing or good defending frustrated us. Clarke went off with bruised ribs but still we kept up the pressure. Finally the breakthrough: a free kick 30 yards out was cleverly chipped over the wall by Edgely and Glover lifted the ball from about the penalty spot over the advancing Azur keeper. 1-2

We had (so we thought) a good 15 minutes left to create a second or even a third goal against opposition who were clearly on the ropes and had no further attacking ambition in this game. Glover had a goalband shot blocked, Eriksen started up a series of attacks down the right flank, Edgely threatened every time he had possession and Francey kept the centre backs under pressure. It was only a matter of time…..

Then we were struck once again by the curse of ‘Abssa time’, a curious phenomenon whereby time accelerates or slows down in direct correlation to Vets 1 need to score a goal or hang on to a result. This phenomenon has never been fully mathematically explained but today there was some evidence for the theory of ‘reverse stoppage time’ whereby the referee deducts time every time the game stops for injuries, lost balls etc. Whatever, the referee sealed a very poor performance by blowing the final whistle a full 6 minutes before the end of normal time. An incredulous Vets 1 trudged off the pitch knowing that this was very much 3 points lost.

MOM: Stuart Edgley another fine exhibition of silky forward skills.