Team: Graham (G), Macdonald, Waite, Wrigley, Bentham, Riley, Glover, Ledbury, Eriksen, Lewis, Harbusch. Subs: Morris, Shiono

Having only played once in 5 weeks due to the recent spell of bad weather, Vets 1 returned to Everberg with the knowledge that a win was the only way to keep up the pressure on the 2nd place team in the Division and keep alive our chances of promotion. Alas, it was not to be, as the performance was one of those where it looked as if the team hadn’t played for 5 months rather than weeks.

Things started well enough, with Captain Frank winning the toss, and opting to play against the wind, but with the sun in the first half. After recent problems we have had playing against the sun in the first half, this was a good idea in theory. However, it was not long before Riley pulled up with a hamstring problem (to be replaced by Morris, with the evergreen Wrigley pushing into midfield) and Eriksen was forced to get treatment for a nosebleed. Although he played on, there were times in the first half when the blood from Johann’s nose appeared to be running faster than the rest of us put together! While MacDonald, Waite & Morris seemed to have things relatively tight at the back, we were finding it very difficult to make inroads into a reasonably well-organised Tourrinois defence. Lewis and Bentham tried to take on their defence for pace, but we couldn’t really create many chances and had a number of offsides called against us.

Then, with 10 minutes to go to half time, their best player advanced down their left flank, covered by Morris, and fired in a speculative shot from just outside the box which squirmed under an unsuspecting Graham in goal at the near post. 0-1. Although we continued to have more possession, we finished the first half without having created any clear cut chances. At half-time, a flu-weakened Harbusch – no not bird flu – made way for Sammy Shiono in the hopes that we would perform better with the wind behind us.

Although we had even more possession in the 2nd half, and most of the game was spent in their half of the pitch, we again had problems with that final throughball. The state of the bobbly pitch did not help our usually (?) free-flowing game, but it soon became clear that it was going to be just one of those days.

On one occasion, after good work from Shiono, Glover had a header just 8 yards out which their keeper did well to deflect, and perhaps the closest we came to scoring was when Lewis had a shot at the end of a goalmouth scramble with the goalkeeper already on the floor. Their man managed to stretch just enough to block an equaliser, however.

With Ledbury, Wrigley and Waite all pushing further forward, Tourrinois had a number of chances for attacking us on the break, which Morris and MacDonald dealt with reasonably comfortably. Then with 10 minutes to go they got a free kick on the edge of the box. With the sun directly behind him, their left-footed midfielder again managed to strike a good shot which went in off the underside of the bar. 0-2. Poor Rev Billy in goal. Nothing to do. Two shots, two goals – what will the congregation say?

Again Vets 1 sought to press forward, switching Eriksen into more of an anchor role in midfield. The best chance came when an excellent Ledbury pass enabled Bentham to beat his man and cut in from the side of the box. With the keeper already moving to anticipate the cross, Jez opted to shoot - and his rasping drive rattled the near post and went off for a goal-kick. Somewhat symptomatic of the whole day.

While it was annoying to concede 2 goals against a mediocre team, it was one of those games where we probably wouldn’t have scored even if we had played on for a further 35 minutes. Our hopes for the season now rest on other teams having similar days.

MOMs: Waite and Eriksen