Oh, how it hurts! Yes, worse things have happened at sea but it is never nice to lose a match and the first loss of the season is something we don´t want to become accustomed to feeling. There is a buzz and a bounce in one´s step when your team is winning, a confidence that comes from each consecutive victory but when you suddenly lose you feel somewhat deflated. Today that happened, as FC Twenty capitulated for the first time this season. When you take the lead in a match, as we did, it gives you some kind of expectation that you can go on and be the eventual victors but when you lose your lead it is a mountain to get back up that hill and reach the summit.
The day started in a slightly uncertain manner because the clocks had just fallen back overnight, oh how we love daylight savings (better than the daylight robbery that happens in spring when you lose an hour!). In an Allardyce/Redknapp/Matínez(delete transfer-happy manager as you please)-esque effort to bolster our squad I had talked a colleague into joining the team. The meeting place was arranged and he knew the spot, he could even tell me that there was a "Cash Converters" not 50 yards from the spot. I got to the meeting place and was waiting for the potential debutant, then I waited and to top it off I waited some more. There was no hide nor hair of him. I needed to get myself along to the cracked concrete pitches to see if the others had turned up yet. On my way I got on my "dog and .." and tried to make contact, no response. The others arrived in dribs and drabs and about 12 minutes after scheduled kick off we had our 5 ready to play against another team, Madrid Reds, who also only had 5 players. The opposition were lacking a recognised goalkeeper, this would mean that the outfield players would take it in turns to "put the gloves on", this situation is usually to the advantage of the opposition. I eventually got through to the errant debutant to find he thought it was just after 11am, when in actual fact it was just after twelve. He had somehow managed to turn his clock back a full two hours instead of the regulation one, a combination of mobile phone automatically turning itself back plus human turning back an hour on top of that. Anyway, he was on his way and hopefully he could join in for the second half.
The game which ensued was a tight affair and other than slightly haphazard defending on the oppositions part for our second goal there was no clear evidence that they were at a disadvantage due to their lack of a regular keeper. They were aided and abetted by the sturdy posts which did a sterling job of keeping out a few of our efforts. The game went back and forth with neither team fully dominating but both teams creating chances and half-chances. Frustratingly for our team the opponents took 3 of their chances in comparison to our haul of 2 in the first half.
Half Time: Madrid Reds 3 - 2 FC Twenty
We were slightly despondent during the half time break but a one goal deficit was not unsurmountable (or is it insurmountable), the game was still open and anyone could win, or even a draw was a possibility. The second half went on at least 10 minutes with neither team adding to their tally. Clearly the opponents were dead set on defending their slender advantage and sat deep with bodies behind the ball and were looking to counter attack when they could. We had a lot of pressure on their goal area and wave after wave was rebutted and thwacked away. They did manage to fashion a few counters and they even managed to slot away 2 of these chances to give themselves a 3 goal cushion. The game did not seem beyond us but our task had just got harder. We pressed and pressed and eventually found our way through and cut their lead down to two goals. As we were chasing the game we all made a concerted effort to push up and push on. Alas, the ball fell to their lead striker plum in the centre of the park and he noticed the keeper was off his line and he lobbed the ball straight down the middle like a Jack Nicklaus iron shot and into the back of the net. This technically was the last play of the match but we had to restart and could technically win if we scored 4 goals without the ball leaving the field, unlikely but maybe possible!?! Well as was likely, this did not happen. We restarted passed it about a bit then it fell to the opposition who tried to build something and skewed the ball wide of our goal with a long pass and that was it. Oh and by the way our debutant did turn up at half time and came on, giving some of the tired legs a break.
Half Time: Madrid Reds 6 - 3 FC Twenty
Onwards and upwards, chin up, it´s all water under the bridge these clichés and more need to be applied before our next match in two weeks´ time. We really just need to retain possession, pass to feet, create opportunities and score them. Simple, isn´t it? Oh yes and not concede any goals would be good. A clean sheet that is something which would be a thing of beauty and enhance our chances of winning the next match. Let´s see what the future brings.
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