3rd XI v’s Latymer Old Boys 2’s
Date: Saturday 6th March 2010
Result: Lost 1-2
Competition: League
Scorers: Matt Weinert (penalty)
MOM: Stephen Casey
This week, it was a real struggle for the club to field four teams, due around 25 players going on Dave O’Brien’s ‘stag do’ in Germany. For me personally, I had lost three players going to Germany, but the rest of my team were lost to the 2’s, with one no-show in Dave Cadney.
Each day, I had lost another player to Pat’s second team, with the end result being we had only two regular 3rd team players – one being young Jake and the other being me! It meant a collection of players brought together who had not played with each other before. Considering this, I want to take this opportunity to THANK EVERY SINGLE PLAYER WHO PLAYED FOR THE 3’S ON SATURDAY. IT WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN AND YOU ALL DID YOURSELVES PROUD.
Proud, because we pushed a Latymer reserve team all the way and deserved something more from the game – at least a draw. However, I am not disappointed, as I told the lads beforehand that they had nothing to lose and there was absolutely no pressure on them and to just go out and enjoy it.
The team saw a number of people making their debuts for the club and when it comes to next season, this will hold them in good stead. We had the bear 11, which saw Steve Thorn (a friend of mine) make his debut in goal, with a back four of Chris Harrington (from the 5’s) at right-back, myself at left-back, Ant Upali (from the 5’s) and Flapper Farrance (from the 4’s) as centre-backs. In central midfield saw young Stephen Casey (from the 4’s) paired with Danny Rhon (another friend of mine), with Lawrence Klemper (another friend) on the left and young 16 year-old Michael (not sure of his surname) making his debut on the right. Up front were Matt Weinert and young Jake.
We were playing at Botany Bay, on a beautiful day for football and on a fantastic pitch, which looked like a carpet – much better than anything we have played on this season. We began with a simple 4-4-2 formation, which everyone could understand and we up against it at the start. Latymer were the better team for the first 20 minutes and had two clear cut chances to break the dead-lock. One shot was straight at Steve in goal and the other shot clipped the post. We then got into the game more and more and I have to say that some of the football we played was superb, considering we were a team who had not played together before. Our first chance fell to Weinert who headed over from a Rhon corner. One excellent moved down the right saw the ball squared or Danny Rhon who unfortunately screwed his shot wide. A few minutes later and we had a similar move down the left. A similar cross saw Jake also screw his shot wide.
Latymer were quick on the counter-attack and although we were excellent going forward, we were a bit slow to defend as a team. A ball through our defence saw the Latymer striker round the keeper and put them 1-0 up. Our heads never dropped and Steve Casey then went on a mazy run from midfield. He beat three players before being tripped in the box. It looked a clear penalty, but the referee saw it otherwise – very frustrating!! Two minutes before half time, Latymer won a corner. We left a man unmarked at the back post and unfortunately, his header down went into the back of the net to make it 2-0 at half time.
As a few of the boys enjoyed the break to get their breaths back (including me), we spoke at half time of the need to pick up players better at corners and also to defend better as a team when Latymer hit us on the counter-attack. These were the two areas we needed to improve on, but most of the talk was very positive and that we were still in the game, especially if we could pull one back early.
We started off the second half much brighter and it was as if everyone had got used to playing with each other by now. Steve and Danny were working hard in the middle and breaking down a lot of play, while the whole back four of Chris, Gareth, Flapper and Ant made some crucial timely tackles. Not one of Chris, Flapper or Ant looked out of place at this level. Matt was holding it up well up front and Michael and Lawrence were working hard on the wings – especially with tracking back. Jake was full of running and he had the next chance, but unfortunately, the keeper foiled him from a tight angle on the right.
We dominated for about 20 minutes and after a succession of corners, Matt was tripped in box. This time… PENALTY!! Matt took control and wanted it himself and he calmly slotted into the bottom left hand corner to bring us back into the game and make it 2-1 now to Latymer. Steve then had a long-range effort which went over, before Latymer hit us on the break again. Their striker rounded Steve in goal, but Fosberry ran back onto the line. The striker lined up his options and in front of an open goal, the skipper chose correctly to somehow deflect the ball away for a corner and this gave us another lease of life. It remained 2-1 with 20 minutes to go.
In the last 20 minutes, we dominated possession, with Michael coming into the game more and more down the right. Jake then made a burst down the right, but his cross was just too far away from Matt in the middle. One more Latymer shot went wide, before we went with a back three and pushed Flapper up front for the last few minutes. One header (a half chance) fell to Jake in the last minute, but the score remained 2-1 to Latymer at full time. They knew they had been pushed to the limit and considering they had only lost one league game all season, this was a fantastic effort from the lads!!
Without any substitutes and with it being such a hard game, we were all well and truly knackered at the end!! Latymer were very sporting at the end and we enjoyed some food and drink at their clubhouse afterwards. MOM this week went to Steve Casey.
To conclude, this was a really frustrating week for all of the captains and I really hope this sort of thing does not happen again, but I can’t fault the commitment, skill and the fight of the lads that played for me today and I want to just say ‘thanks’ once again. My personal thought is that if any Old Ignatian has a ‘stag do’ in future, they should try and do it in the off-season (May to September), as this would be better all round.
Gareth Fosberry.
