Old Thorntonians – 3            &n bsp;        
Old Ignatian - 1

LOBS Cup 4/11/17

Scorer – Tom Martin          &nbs p;         &nbs p;
Assist – Eoin OG

MoM – Matty O & Porter
Muppet – Renaldo

In a distant land, far far away, across the
River Thames and 17 trains later, we ended up
in Richmond on Saturday to face up against
premier high flyers Old Thorntonians. We
lined up with Ryan in goal, Jordan, Liam,
Matty O and Porter completing the back line,
Renaldo, Tom Martin and Alex Youngman made up
the midfield trio and Conor OG led the line
with Gaffey and Steven English on the wings.
On the bench and devastated after being
denied a place in the starting line up by the
late arriving Tom Martin was Eoin OG – I’m
sure he left for uni at some point? - . Jason
also made an appearance… eventually.

We started the game very brightly and was
pushing the opposing team backwards from the
off but just seemed to stop short of creating
those incisive chances we were craving. Old
Thorntonians clearly realising they had
started slow cranked up the work rate –
especially off the ball – and before long
they managed to break the deadlock. Ren
decided the ball was his to keep and after
some not-so-silky step overs on the edge of
the 18-yard box, and a clearance or pass to a
teammate firmly lodged in the back of his
mind, the opposition had stolen the ball,
released the winger and the cut back was
dispatched past a helpless Ryan. 1-0.

Old Thorntonians were definitely buoyed by
the first goal and not so long after the
first, they had the ball in the back of the
net again. A neat chipped ball straight down
the middle left the striker 1 on 1 with Ryan
and a smart finish piled on the pressure. 2-
0.

A shake up was needed and on came Eoin OG in
front of the midfield trio to stop the
oncoming flood of Thorntonians. Some neat
feet and nicely worked passing ended up in a
corner on the far side. Eoin OG stepped up
and after a wicked curling ball in, an on-
rushing Tom Martin volleyed home. 2-1.

Second half started similar to the first in
which some good football was being shut out
by a relentless effort from the opposition.
Soon after we found ourselves under the cosh
and after haplessly watching the opposition
striker do the cha cha slide around the
entire Old Ignatius defence, Ren decided
enough was enough and with his best Tom Daley
impression, dove straight in – I know you can
all imagine the gaffer’s reaction on the
sideline – and the ref blew for the free
kick. The worldy into top bins to seal the
win is below for all to see. 3-1.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?
story_fbid=1478453758889781&id=16670059673177
7

All in all a tough day at the office, a lot
to be learnt from the intensity that the
premier boys played with for the full 90
minutes and positives to take from being able
to play our football for periods during the
game. Matty O and Porter picked up joint MoM
award for impressive showings at the back and
Ren was a clear winner for muppet.

With Eoin finally heading back off to uni –
we think – and Gaffey and Liam OG chucking on
pretend plaster casts to skip playing in the
cold of November, the squad may see a small
shake up for next week. I even heard rumours
of a return from a certain Jake Watson…

Next week we get revenge on Salvo’s at home.

Steven English