Old Bealonians 5 – 2 Old Ignatian’s 1st X1
Scorers: Jake, Renaldo

Man of the Match: Conor OG

Muppet: Ryan Barker

Line-up: Ryan Barker, Daniel Porter, Matty
O’Sullivan, Peter OG, Sean McDermott, Liam
OG, Tommy Martin, Alex Youngman, Renaldo
Gracias, Conor OG, Jake Watson
Subs: Jordan Grey, Kane Morrissey, Steve
English

Old Ignatian’s made the short trip across to
East London on a bitterly cold afternoon for
their final away league game of 2017 against
Old Bealonians X1. The boys, having had an
increasingly frustrating afternoon the
previous week in the cup, were determined to
head into the Christmas break on a high,
however, they knew they had to bring their A
game to break down a strong Bealonians side
who were currently sitting second in the
league.

The boys arrived at the game in high spirits,
although the same could not be said about
Liam O’Grady, who somehow managed to turn up
despite pictures being circulated of him
being put to bed by his missus accompanied by
a sick bucket the night before! The gaffer
opted for a change in formation this week,
going with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the idea
of the two wide men - Conor OG and Alex
Youngman bringing some width and flare to the
lone striker – Jake Watson.

The Old I’s made a bright and promising
start, they moved the ball well around at the
back and fed the ball into the attacking
areas to the two wide men, notably Conor OG,
who was involved almost from the off. Conor
had a couple of opportunities in quick
succession – having one cleared off the line
after a neat pull back and another from long
distance which sailed just over. Bealonians
were quiet, and made no real threat going
forward – much to Peter’s delight. Old I’s
challenging work and persistence paid off
when they deservedly took the lead after
20mins. A throw in on the left was held up
well by Renaldo, who exchanged a neat play
and go into the path of Alex, who chopped his
defender and cut it back to Jake who riffled
the ball into the roof of the net – 1-0 at
the break.

Having easily been the stronger and more
dominant side in the first half, Old I’s were
slow out of the blocks in the second half and
struggled to get a grip of the game. A large
pile of Bealonians pressure was punished when
they managed to get themselves back in the
game early in the second half– 1-1 and game
on.

However, despite not having much attacking
threat early in the second half, Old I’s
retook the lead. Conor OG fizzed in a
dangerous cross from a corner which fell to
Renaldo on the edge of the box, he took the
ball down on his chest and whipped in a shot
towards goal which took a mighty deflection
and sent the ball into the complete opposite
corner that he had aimed at – one for the
dubious goals panel but Ren will claim it no
doubt.

Having retook the lead, Bealonians only found
themselves level again in a matter of
minutes, an unfortunate intercepting
clearance was met by Peter OG who put the
ball past the helpless Ryan – very unlucky.

The gaffer decided to bring on fresh legs
whilst the game was evan. Jordan replaced
Ren, Kane replaced Jake and Steve came on for
Liam. The lads struggled to get the ball down
and play and were frustrated by Beals for
large periods of the second half. Beals had
come out for the second half a completely
different team and were once again rewarded
for their persistence going forward. An
unfortunate mistake at the back gifted Beals
their third goal – taxi for Ryan Barker on
his kicking for that one.

The three subs struggled to get in the game
as Beals made it hard for Igs to feed the
forward man, especially in the midfield
areas. In parts, the game became very scrappy
and on two occasions hand bags were thrown
around – no doubt Tommy Martin and Matty O
were at the full-frontal of it all. Old I’s
pushing for an equaliser in the last 10 were
done on the break – the game seemed dead and
buried by this point. There was still time
left for Ryan to make a top draw save,
tipping over from an audacious volley on the
edge of the box. 5-2 it finished.

Man of the Match went to Conor OG for his
excellent hold up play and dribbling going
forward. Muppet (and arguably the first ever
clean sweep) went to Ryan for his two
unfortunate mistakes – maybe he shouldn’t
have changed his boots half way through the
first half after all!

We face Queen Mary at home next week for the
final match of the 2017 calendar year. Boys,
let’s take the positives from Saturday and
build on them to finish strong going into
2018!

Kane Morrissey