AA1 Match Report v Olympic Eagles 25/04/10

Float like a butterfly, Sting like a Barton

The pre-game vultures were gathering after the previous weeks 2-2 draw against Locomotiv Cove, after being 2-0 up with 20 minutes left. Dave Rooney and Sean Mc, 3rd and 2nd team managers sensed the opportunity to pinch and steal a couple of 1st team casts off and were on hand from the side lines to see who they fancied.

The opposition this time, some outfit called Olympic Eagles or something or nothing. Their goalie clearly didn’t subscribe to the Olympic ideals anyway. The sight of Rooney & Sean Mc and the customary talk of being a ‘bunch of fannies’ had the desired effect – the lads knew they needed a performance. Things started brightly with wave after wave of attacks in the opening exchanges and with Olympics back line, including goalkeeper, believing they all had the ball control of Dirk Diggler. The mid-field pressed the ball ,and Louie playing up top this week worked hard to create a few chances.

It was the Eagles, however, who netted first. A mix up in the back line with a new centre back pairing, lead to big Tom in goal being more exposed than Ben G in the Toolshed and their striker was left with an easy finish. 0-1 down, Sean and Rooney were licking their lips, but not for long….

Five minutes later an inspired Birchey popped up on the left wing and after a bit of fancy foot work skinning a couple of players he put in a great cross to the near post where Andy Batstone was on hand to sweep in from fully four yards! The writing was on the wall for the Olympic boys, or so we thought. Again cruising and in control of the match the Barnstoneworth boys paid the price for a lapse in concentration and suddenly found themselves 1-2 down, against the run of play. Shocker! Again the lead did not last long and a great corner from debutant John, who had a top game at left back, found the head of some clueless defender and the ball nestled gently into the bottom left corner. Billy the Kid, just off the bench was trying to claim it for himself, but really he would have had to be wearing a Paddy size shirt to have even got close to it.

So 2-2 at half time, and the Sky Sports info bar was showing 80% possession to Barnstoneworth, but the score were still level.

Fired up for the second half after some fanny bashing from Eddie and Rab, the lads set about the task of going on to win the game. Again it was all one way traffic and the pressure for the midfield three of Simba, Richie and Bren began to tell. Constant pressure lead to a bit of a goalmouth scramble of blocked shots and last ditch tackles, the ball eventually dropping to Billy the Kid who was left with a simple side foot finished from about 8 yards to take the lead.

Surely we couldn’t let them in again…. We had them in a strangle hold, their on mass support were starting to chirp up, clearly sensing that we were gonna stream roller them. And that’s exactly what Andy Barton did. A great tackle on a particularly acne ridden Eagle forward lead to a little kerfuffle. Fair play to the lad, he did step up and give Andy a two handed shove in the chest, but this resulted in a Batman style BANG, SMASH , WHALLOP and SEE YA. A left, right, left combo floored Acne boy, while his team mate who jumped into lend a hand, took one more right hander, DONK before bricking it and running away. Everyone and their cousin got involved or so it seemed and Andy a little harshly (I didn’t see it Arsene) was sent from the pitch.

Cue… new belief from the Olympic boys who thought they could turn the game back around and get back into it against ten men. Well it didn’t happen, a great display followed, Tom made some great saves, the 9 outfield players ran their wee rings off and with 5 mins to go, Louie came off the bench to smash in a 4th from the edge of the box.

Happy days a well earned 4-2 win and some tired legs to back up for Sundays game….