Football update + Match Reports
This has been a remarkable season so far, with the 1s, 2s, 4s and vets either promoted or within touching distance of promotion..
Hi guys
A quick update from me. As you recall our 4th XI played in their first of two cup finals on Saturday versus West Wickham. Unfortunately, the lads came away second best, drawing 2-2 after full time and losing out on penalties. A bitter pill to swallow, but the lads did a remarkable job. Also, we wish the 4th XI centre back and last years player of the season, Michael Hart, a speedy recovery after suffering a dislocated ankle, an injury sustained in the first 5 minutes of the game. Still, the lads can make amends this week, by playing in the 2nd cup final against Old Thorntonians.
The 1st XI won 1-2, and by all accounts could've scored a bucket load more. This result is buoyed by the fact the the 3rd and 4th position teams drew! Promotion still on the cards! the 2nd XI clearly let their hair down having already won the league and with a lot of absentee's from the side, losing 5-1 to Tenisons. The 3rd XI Won 7-3, pretty much securing their safety from relegation. The vets also had a screamer of a day at the clubhouse for the VIP day - winning 3-2 in 90+7 to effectively secure the championship! The vital goal scored by Luke Roszkowski and in the words of Mike Garvey it went 'bonkers'. Great scenes at County Road!
Also, big shout out to Darnell Fearon who represented the league U21 XI. Well done Darnell!!
This has been a remarkable season so far, with the 1s, 2s, 4s and vets either promoted or within touching distance of promotion, not to mention the chance of the 4th XI to lift a cup. The committee and chairman, including Eddie O'brien, Colin Garvey and Dave Leathem, have all asked me to extend their congratulations to the football section. Well done boys.
I'll leave you to read Stani Alves' match report of their cup final last week, please take the time to give it a read- very very proud of the boys. They have another cup Final on Saturday please get down to Roehampton Vale for a 1:30 Kick Off.
Cheers boys.
Macca
West Wickham 4's 2-2 COXA 4'S (West Wickham win 3-0 on pens)
Josh Browne, Stan Christoforou, Michael Hart, Liam Thornton, Conor Keable, Dom Taggart, Ben Dakin, Jacob Browne, Joe Hart, Tom Macgregor, Sam Michael. Ben Obrien, JJ Thornton, Josh Ewin.
This was a classic cup final. It had plenty of naughty challenges, some crowd trouble, a red card, a broken ankle, 2 disallowed goals and went all the way to a penalty shoot out. It wasn't short of talking points that's for sure. As a group, we were confident going into this game, we had dismantled every team that had been put in front of us this season and had never really been challenged over 90 mins. It was clear from the first 30 seconds of the game that this would be a different story, as the ball was played back to Dom he was absolutely clattered by their front man. This should have been the referee's first yellow card, it was an opportunity for him to lay down a marker, John Doe however had other ideas. The first 5 mins of the game were extremely scrappy, no football was played, it consisted of a few clearances, a few big tackles, and some headers. It really was a stereotypical final, there was an air of panic about the game and it took a while to settle down. As most of you reading this already know, we lost last years player of the year Michael Hart to a broken ankle just over 5 mins into the game. It goes without saying that we all wish him a speedy recovery, he embodies everything that is good about our team, he is committed, brave, a great communicator and a brilliant football player and it is a great shame that he will be out of action for such a long time as he is one of the reasons we reached two finals and are still in with a shot of winning the league.
This was met by a long delay as we awaited first aid assistance and then an ambulance to take Harty to the hospital. I will spare the details of Harty's injury as it isn't pleasant reading, but I must thank firstly Crin for being quick on the scene from the touchline and calling an ambulance, and also to all three ambulances and their staff as they were quick on the scene and took good care of Harty. It shook the team up, and also stiffened up plenty of muscles (the reason why at least 4 of our players are carrying slight pulls and strains) it was a nightmare start to the game.
However, though we hadn't played much football, we took the lead through none other than Hatry's brother Joe Hart! A nice move down the right wing met by a dummy from Tommy Mac and a neat finish into the bottom corner by Joe. This was met by a huge celebration, the boys were pumped up and determined to get the job done, especially after what had happened to Harty. Unfortunately, we let the oppo back into the game, a misplaced pass at the back was intercepted and they finished to level the game 1-1. This deflated us slightly, but this is normally what happens in big games and finals. Our frustration then doubled as the opposition took the lead after a long throw in bounced off one of our boys knees and shot into the bottom corner. We were 2-1 down and the opposition had barely put three passes together let alone troubled our keeper Josh. It was infuriating, but we had to go on. There continued to be a series of meaty challenges in the middle of the park and our boys were coming off second best, we were giving as good as we got, but the ref was booking our players, he didn't seem to fancy booking theirs however. Jacob Browne in particular was fowled at least 4 or 5 times in the first half and every time he queried the ref he didn't want to hear any of it. Half time was approaching and a great set piece from Jacob (who put in many fantastic deliveries) led to us equalizing just before half time, however, the linesman ruled it out for offside, 'it was tight' we were told by the opposition, make of that what you wish.
We spoke at half time of how we needed to calm down and not be overwhelmed by the occasion, we were 2-1 down but we hadn't got started yet, it was a manic half for us and we needed this 10 mins just to take a breath and evaluate what was going on. The second half started much like the first, a few big challenges, a few long balls and some scrappy football. The second half was a half of few chances, I didn't feel through the whole 90 mins that the opposition would score, and to be honest for the first 20 mins of the second half it didn't look like we were going to score either. The game was in danger of petering out. Our chances then took a huge blow as our other CB Liam was sent off for 2 bookable offences, at this point I thought all hope was lost. Strangely though, we started the play some football with 10 men, we were more relaxed and the oppo's press dropped off. These last 20 mins were our best spell of the game, we were getting the ball into their penalty area and for the first time in the game we looked dangerous. We managed to score, a scrappy finish inside the box to give us hope of cup glory, however, the ref couldn't tell you anything about this passage of play as he had turned his back on it to deal with a member of the crowd.. just at the moment we put the ball into the back of the net. Nobody, fan, player or opposition could really comprehend what had just happened. Luckily, we did manage to equalize, a classic spin from front man Sam Michael led to us getting a penalty. Jacob Browne stepped up and smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner with nerves of steel. Somehow, after losing one CB to a broken ankle and another to a red card we had managed to scrap ourselves back to 2-2.
With Harty's injury, we had no time for extra time so had to go straight to penalties. As you can see we lost the penalty shoot out, their keeper making three good saves and their penalty takers scoring their penalties. I do not for one moment blame those who missed penalties for us, and I wont name them, if anything I commend them, there were plenty of scared faces who didn't fancy a penalty when I had to draft our 5 takers, so to the three who stepped up and took them, you should be proud of yourselves.
We are extremely lucky that this game wasn't our last chance at glory and we have another final this weekend to put this right and bring home some silverware. We are more determined than ever to get the win, driven by our personal disappointment at this weekends result, to do COXA proud, and for Harty.
Our game is at old Thortonians, in Roehampton Vale and is a 1:30 kick off, it would be great to see as many people there as possible. A big thank you to those who made the journey to Chiswick last week, it was much appreciated and we promise we will put it right this weekend!
Last but not least, Up the Clapham !!
Cheers Macca.