AA2 v Glebe 19/05/13

AA2 Match Report – Barnstoneworth v Glebe Wanderers 19 May 2013

What promised to be a chance to get our season back on track at Heffron Park ended up being another day of disappointment for the AA2 boys.

The game got off to a good start for Barnstoneworth and we were on the attack pretty much from the kick off. Glebe were forced on the back foot with the new look strike force of Adam and Baker giving their defence all sorts of trouble. Adam didn’t even kick a Glebe defender for at least 10 minutes!

Dan and Cathal were bossing the midfield and with Gerry and Ian providing the service from the specially painted channels which Barry had done night before things were looking good. The defence was rarely bothered during the early stages of the game and the grumpy old men had the giant number nine under control while Steve and Dave were seeing plenty of ball in the Glebe half and were creating plenty of chances.

It felt as if we were finally going to put in one of those performances that could kick start our season unfortunately Glebe had other ideas and went up the field and hit us with a sucker punch.

The first goal for Glebe came after they won a soft free kick on the edge of the box. Nobody thought the old guy lining up to take it could kick the ball ten yards never mind eighteen so didn’t bother forming a wall. Little did we know that that this guy was some sort of free kick specialist who played with Downer in the over 35’s back in the 70’s. So while everyone stopped to scratch their balls, the old guy had other ideas and planted the ball into the top corner. Bang – one nil to Glebe

We didn’t let this set back upset our play and we managed to get an equaliser within five minutes of the Glebe goal. Following an intercepted through ball from Barnstoneworth a Glebe defender decided it was a good idea to go on a mazy run out of his own box without realising Baker was standing right in front of him. ‘Micky’ Baker duly won the ball and following four or five pirouettes he managed to plant the ball in the bottom corner. One each, back in the game!

We continued to press for more goals and created a few more half chances before the ref blew up for half time. The boys were pretty confident and after the half time team talk we came out for the second half looking to pick up where we left off in the first.

For some reason we couldn’t maintain the tempo that we set in the first half and Glebe managed to get back into the game. Glebe was enjoying long periods of possession and started to put a bit of pressure on the Barnstoneworth defence without really creating too many clear cut chances. Following a flurry of free kicks and corners, Glebe finally managed to find the head of their seven foot number nine and he scored with a bullet of a header. Two one to Glebe.

The heads went down for a while and Glebe continued to press for another goal to kill off the game, however following some shuffling of the pack and some choice words, Barnstoneworth gradually got back into the game. We were unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions with Dan Taylor blazing a header over the bar and Barry, Tom and Baker combining for another good chance that unfortunately came to nothing.

We continued to push for an equaliser and then with five minutes to go, Glebe caught us on the counter and one of their midfielders ran from deep and scored with a shot from the edge of the box. Glebe had killed off the game and there was no way back for Barnstoneworth with the ref blowing up for full time a few minutes later.

Man of the Match: Dave Thompson