Match Vets 2 vs. Choule Auderghem 7th Sep 2013

Team: Pete Brown, Alex Knott, Bas ten Holter, Dave Leigh, Brian Morris, Johan Eriksen, Chris Riley, Freddy Dehombreux, Tony White, Chris Ffinch, Ali Currie. Sub: Phil Dean

First match of the season and vets 2 were struggling! 13 on Wed night, many away, but down to 11 on Sat, Maza out with a bleeding nose, and waiting for Phil Dean our number 12. We were also playing a brand new vets side whose other team were newly promoted to Div 1 of ABSSA and playing out 1st team! On paper it looked ugly! They looked a lot younger thinner and fitter than us, and from the KO it was wave after wave of attacks. It took us probably 15min before we could mount any kind of move forward, and often these were fizzling out with long balls for Ali and Chris to chase. Even before we reached this point, though, Dave Leigh removed himself from the fray after three hard sprints and his leg muscles telling him to stop before something would "ping”. As PHD was late, we had to play with 10 for a while, with Mustard dropping to cover for Dave. Still we hung on in. They had the legs, but they weren’t always using efficiently their last pass. Above all, though, there was some sterling defending from Brian and especially Bas at the back to keep them from very much.

With PHD now present, we changed the positions a bit, and started to have a couple of attacks. Not much, but still it at least gave the defence an occasional respite from the onslaught. From one of our attacks, though, they managed to score when a throw-in close to their box went to Ali but was blocked by the defender then hoofed forward to their 2 attackers, 2 against 3 defenders, but they contrived to knock the ball through and leave a 1-on-1 with the keeper… goal! 0 – 1 for the bad guys! Damn! Just when we were starting to get a small amount of leverage at that point. We even had a couple of half chances with balls played across their box by Freddy that didn’t quite reach Ali or PHD (Chris Ffinch having dropped to left mid-field to cover).

By half-time, though, we were facing fresh problems with Chris Ffinch feeling his thigh, so for the second half Ffinchy was in goal and Pete Brown out on pitch, and we switched to 3 at the back to get an extra body in midfield. Pete on the left, Mustard on the right, Freddy, Mao and Johan in the middle. PHD and Ali Currie now the sharp end of the spear.

The second half started much as the first had ended. We were getting a bit more of the ball, but they were still strong, but as the second half progressed they seemed to slowly lose control whilst we gained it. Better passes from us meant that Freddy and Mao were starting to win more possession in midfield and give us more opportunities. We seemed also to have a little more time on the ball to use it more effectively. There were a couple of half chances with a glancing header from Ali almost coming off, plus a bicycle kick from Freddy just slipping past the far post (Yes a genuine bicycle kick, by a vets 2 player! Not a slip, collapsing elephant, or any ‘ungainly’ act ill befitting a gentleman of a certain age! NO! A good honest bicycle kick). There was also plenty of "oomph” in the tackling in Midfield and defence, and a fair amount of squealing from the opposition. Top of the pops in the "oomph” section was probably Bas with his right leg sweeping tackles at the back (the Grim Reaper and his Scythe springs to mind). They were still a threat coming forward, as they still had the legs to come in numbers, but we now had their measure and the defence were keeping it very mean (Finchy too in goal even though injured was a safe pair of hands). Though we had more possession and more composure in the second half, we were unable to convert our chances, and life was getting ever harder with Pete getting injured and then Johann starting to tighten up!!! We finished the match with at least 3 players on the pitch who were injured.

With a scratch side, last minute goalie replacement, only one sub and 4 injuries…. We can be actually pretty proud we made it such a tough game!! It might have been a lot closer if we’d had a couple of extra subs!

MOM went clearly to Bazza (Bas ten Holter), who played a massive game at the back of a solid defence (the back 3 garnered nearly all of the votes!). Jaap Stam of the Vets!