This was actually not a bad performance from vets 2 but sometimes you just have to admit that the opposition were better and worthy winners.
Team: Mazurkiewicz, Wrigley, Knott, Macdonald, Morris, Riley, Brown, Gallagher (Hughie), Boyadjiev, White, Ffinch.
Subs – Talib, Gallagher (Dermot)
Vets 2 arrived in Auderghem confident that this could be the day for a first victory of the season. Fresh in the memory was the come from behind 3-2 victory there in January, which gave confidence that a repeat was possible. That was the day of the famous ABSSA tablet cock up when both teams managed to mess up the team sheet and both lost the match 0-5. Only possible in ABSSA world!
The game itself was on Astroturf this time instead of grass on the pitch with the sideways slope. Brian Morris was convinced this was a pitch that he had never won on, which was a potential bad omen.
The opening exchanges saw us take a while to get our formation sorted. Hughie, normally one of the most disciplined in sticking to his position, was convinced that the opposing captain wearing the number 2 shirt was the man he should pick up. However, Hughie was supposed to be playing centre midfield and his opponent, as the number 2 suggested, was at full back. Maybe this was a cunning attempt by Hughie to get himself into a more attacking role on the wing but captain Chris had other ideas and Hughie was told to move back into midfield.
It became clear early on that this was a much better Choule than the team we had beaten just a few months earlier. They were younger, fitter and had some more talented players and we could see we would be in for a tough afternoon. They moved the ball about well and had a playmaker in midfield who was their key man.
After a decent performance at withstanding the pressure for most of the first half, we were blitzed just before half time and lost 3 goals in quick succession to reach the break a bit shell shocked.
Half time: 0-3
The second half was a different affair as we had much more possession and caused them some problems. George, in particular, was buzzing round to good effect and came close with a shot after we got forward down our left wing. Choule were perhaps feeling comfortable to sit back on their lead on what was a warm day.
Their centre midfielder continued to dominate possession. Being small and quick he caused Chris Riley a number of problems. So mobile was he that Chris was even struggling to get close enough to get a kick in never mind a tackle. Inevitably, after getting in the ball again and putting in a through pass they were able to score a 4th despite the scorer looking suspiciously offside.
Late on, a bit of slackness saw a cross into the box being unchallenged resulting in a 5th goal conceded.
This was actually not a bad performance from vets 2 but sometimes you just have to admit that the opposition were better and worthy winners.
George won the MOM vote for a very committed performance in midfield, where he had to track back a lot more than planned but he did that for that team as well as getting forward when he could.
MOM – Georgi Boyadjiev
