1st XI v Clapham  ¨C LOB Cup (Away) 27/02/2010

Won 4-3 on pens after 5-5 draw!

Scorers: Renaldo Gracias, Brendan Brien, Peter O¡¯ Grady, Conor O¡¯ Grady,  Steve Franklin

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After recovering from my ¡®dance off¡¯ with Davina, I headed off to meet the lads south of the river for an LOB cup-tie against premier league side Clapham.

 

Pre game entertainment focused on the Bridge/Terry ¡®will he or won¡¯t he shake hands¡¯ saga and knowing Renaldo he probably had a few quid riding on the outcome

 

With the rain causing most other games to be postponed throughout the AFA, it was somewhat of a surprise that the match was on and even more of a surprise to find a pitch that was fairly firm and dry.

 

With Martin back from Cuba, we started with a back five of Martin in goal, Jim and Tom at full back and Dan and skipper Matt in the middle. Renaldo and Conor assumed their positions out wide with the two Steve¡¯s in the centre of the park. This week Brendan was accompanied up front by the evergreen Peter O¡¯ G with Joe Connolly on the bench.

 

Having lost our last two games ¨C both quarterfinals ¨C we were keen to get back on a winning run. Although very eager to get some more league games under our belt - as we have fallen way behind the leaders in terms of matches played ¨C we wanted to beat Clapham to test ourselves against Premier pace setters Minchendenians in the next round.

 

The lads started well, keeping hold of the ball, creating plenty of chances but not able to find the net to take a lead their football deserved. To the surprise of none of us anymore, we once again fell behind in our customary fashion ¨C another mistake punished by a Clapham forward from close in. I¡¯m sure we have gone behind in almost every game this season so being in a position we are accustomed to, there were no signs of panic and all credit to the lads for playing their normal short passing game which was soon rewarded with two goals. The first saw Peter thread a lovely ball through to Renaldo who deceived the keeper with a drop of the shoulder to leave him to finish from close in and keeps up his good scoring record.  This was followed by a long through ball from Steve Franklin to Brendan who showed a Berbetov touch to bring the ball down and slot home from the edge of the box ¨C another excellent finish.

 

Just as it looked like we might pull further away, the Clapham number 11 - their best player, found some room about ten yards outside our box and floated a delicate chip over Martin into the top corner. Clapham then had a good ten minute spell before half time when we started to dive in a bit and lost our concentration. The refs half time whistle was timely.

 

Overall not a bad first half but again we weren¡¯t able to keep a clean sheet. Jim Kerr stood out as having an excellent half. One Hoddle-like pass that dropped over the back of the defence and found Brendan was exceptional.

 

Matts jelly babies at half time seemed to have the desired effect as we started the second half at a better tempo and a mistake by Clapham at the back was punished when Peter ran through from the half way line. Another shoulder drop saw him round the keeper to give us a 3-2 lead.  This was soon followed by the goal of the game in terms of a team effort when a flowing move down the right involving a number of players ended up with Conor playing a one-two with Steve Gallagher and finishing low into the far corner.

 

We were well on top. Joe came on for Brendan and soon after, Dan found himself up front steaming towards goal with Steve Franklin screaming for the ball at the far post. A couple of tricks from Dan, a few rebounds and more shouting from Steve saw the ball eventually crossed to the far post for Steve to finish well for our fifth.

 

With I¡¯s totally dominant and 5-2 up, it was just a matter of how many we would score  - surely game over. Yet again, these thoughts were soon banished when Clapham scored a third when a lack of communication at the back saw Matt score an og. This was quickly followed by a fourth, by which time panic had set in and there was a certain inevitability that Clapham would score a fifth, which they duly did after a scramble from a corner.

 

Once again, another crazy15 minute spell saw us give away poor goals and we ended up drawing a match that we should have won comfortably. Despite the score line, for the majority of the game the side played well. Martin pulled off some great saves and his distribution set up many quick attacks. Tom and Conor are working well together on the left and Tom coped well with the speedy Clapham winger, getting himself prepared for the Capliss/Connolly sprint showdown in a few weeks. Jim and Renaldo are forming a good partnership on the right. As usual, Matt and Dan played well at the back and the two Steve¡¯s in the middle put in good performances. With Brendan and Peter always looking likely to score, (which they did) the fact that this ended at 5-5 reinforces again that as soon as we take our foot off the pedal, we get punished - which has been proved time and time again. In fact it took some blinding saves from Martin to ensure we stayed in the game!

 

Anyhow extra time was played out with no goals although we dominated the second period but couldn¡¯t find the winning goal despite a Bergkamp turn from Joe (the one against Newcastle) that the keeper did well to save. Whether Joe meant it or nor was subject of debate in the bar afterwards!

 

And so to penalties!

 

To be fair, it seemed like the whole team put their hand up to take a pen, but a process of random elimination saw us pick an order of:

1. Steve G    2.  Conor    3.  Matt     4.  Dan    5.  Steve F.

 

Outcome:

Steve G     ¡Ì     Clapham    ¡Ì                                            1-1

Conor        x     Clapham    x   (save by Martin)               1-1

Matt          ¡Ì     Clapham    ¡Ì                                              2-2

Dan          ¡Ì      Clapham    ¡Ì                                              3-3

Steve F     ¡Ì      Clapham    x   (save by Martin)                4-3

 

So a win on penalties sets us up for Minch next week in the next round of this cup. Matt asked for a good turn out at training and for the team to do some additional fitness work themselves.

 

MOM went to a team vote with Renaldo just edging it from Martin.

 

Dave O¡¯ G