Chris, David, Bas, Paul, Chris R, George, Mike, Mark, Adi, Phil, Tim, Hughie

25

Oct Vets 2 Away at Entente RACB 2

Score 4 - 3

The question " any volunteers for goalie ? " posed by the captain before the game quickly resulted in captain Chris Ffinch volunteering to go between the sticks in the first half.

A depleted squad with precious few defenders (including goalie) dictated three at the back, two up front and five in between. After agreeing that the opposition provide a ref, the ref detailed for the game turned up just before kick off which was fortunate since the young lad turned out to be one of the best refs we have had in years (he was delighted when I told him so after the game).

The game started with our midfield working well to stop them pressing forward on our three man defence (albeit against ten men in the early stages). This was quickly rewarded with a goal for the good guys when Timmy took the ample time he had to steer a low poke nicely to the left of their keeper from about 14 yards out.

Sadly our joy was short-lived after they broke back at us from our goalie's slightly hurried goal kick which also saw him caught a few yards of his line. Pity, because it was the only real error our stand-in goalie made all afternoon.

So 1 - 1 after 10 mins and their side now at full complement meant we had a good game in store in which was turning out to be a nice sunny Saturday afternoon.

From the touch line your reporter gave well merited vociferous encouragement to each and every player as they went about their job.

This was particularly true of the midfield which worked hard to not only keep but also win back possession. The only downside was perhaps a number of in - attentive passes going astray when we were in good possession (an area indeed which needs to be worked upon - in comparison our opposition did not err so).

Some hard work saw us standing level on 1 - 1 at half-time.

Although keen to leave his new role, our captain heeded your reporter's advice that to change goalie now would prove a tad delicate. So he gallantly stayed put and we agreed to keep our only sub in hand in case anyone got injured.

The restart saw our opponents strengthen their formation with a couple of good players who had got the kick-off time wrong. This changed things a bit and they went at us with a bit more energy as the game resumed.

Despite this, it was the good guys who went in front again with a nice free kick from Tim receiving a lovely lob header finish from Mark, reminiscent (he said) of the Benzema header for Real in the Champions League earlier in the week.

The back 3 of Paul, Bas and David made a good job of conserving this lead for a while and it looked more likely that we would add another goal rather than concede. Despite a few good chances though, Tim was unable to increase his tally and when they got in behind David on the left it was two apiece.

Having picked up a knock, David went in goal, Your reporter replacing him at right back with Chris moving outfield and up front in place of Phil (who put in a good shift making good use of all the ball he got .... which simply means not losing possession ......others should take note !).

Their reinforced side applied more pressure on our back 3 and we went behind when they took advantage of a quick throw-in on the left.

Discussion in the bar after, pointed to their long kicks taking out our midfield and leaving the back 3 a little exposed. So a 4th for the bad guys followed.

Vice-captain Bas, had been faultless all afternoon....until shouting across to his co-defenders : "just trust me, watch me and hold the line" ...perfect advice until the ball flies over that steady, watchful but this time two inches short Dutch scalp.....with our new stand-in goalie unable to run for a ball, that was normally his, we go 4-2 down.

Sun still shining though..

But RBBFC do have a tradition of ‘never say die’ and we nearly, just nearly, squeezed out a draw, which would have been a fair reflection on the afternoon's play.

And it was Mark who personified that Trojan attitude after picking up a good ball from Mike, got tackled going right, got tackled going left, then proceeded to fall and when the opposition thought danger was over, falling to the ground, he lashed a low shot home despite very small odds.....a great goal full of determination.

We hit the woodwork and their goalie made good stops to deny us our draw.

Despite the result a great afternoon, thought many of us, including Chris Riley (who worked well) , pointing out in true diplomatic NATO style, that it would have been handy to have a real keeper even if we could not avail of one.

The October sunshine produced yet another nice pleasant troisieme mi-temps....which at our age is surely (nearly) what our football is all about.....discussing the game ad infinitum seems to come a near close to playing it.

A well deserved MOM went to Mark.

Editorial note: for reasons difficult to explain this reporter was not second man of the match ....straying from normal Vets 2 protocol....hopefully not a precedent, although the Editor comments that the quality of this prose is so impressive that a repeat cannot be excluded...