Goal: Steve
Defence: Chris, Andy, Danny, Rich B
Midfield: Mike, Ian, Jacko, Mani
Attack: Sam, Nick
Subs: Jim, Richie, Ioan, Eustace
It took so long to begin this report it almost feels like an obituary. Like a theatre critic going proudly, hopefully, to see his son play Vladimir in Waiting For Godot only to forget all his lines and keep bumping into Estragon. How to write up such humourless corpsing? Performance-wise, Barely Athletic did not die yesterday afternoon, but they spent a good bit of time on the gurney looking dazed. What's your name? How many fingers?
In fact basic math is not the only thing Barely are struggling with. If their traditional slow start now applies season-wide then some remedial classes might be in order. For this is relegation form and Barely's long stay in the top tier will be in serious jeopardy if they cannot pull something out of the fire, to mix a couple of metaphors.
On a brighter note, though it seems perverse to say so this was in some ways an improvement on the opening day defeat to AXA - the ludicrous soundbites from the Barely dressing room afterwards ("We played some good stuff") did have a germ of truth in them, desperately straw-clutching though they were. Though defensively little needs to be noted other than a glance at the scoreline, Barely had their moments going forward, especially after Richie and Jim joined the fray in the second half. By this time Barely were 5-1 down though (the goal coming courtesy of Mani coolly slotting home Mike's deep cross) and Reunion had been pretty much granted freedom of Bristol such was the space they were afforded. Barely's second half showing was an improvement, with Richie reshuffling the team to a large extent (and making an impact himself), but Reunion were still the better team, and punished Barely mercilessly with a late salvo of goals as Barely faltered in the heat and the midfield found it exponentially harder to chase back after any attacks broke down. It might have been much worse too but for several interventions by Nick, playing the game of his life in goal, and some last-ditch blocks from Danny and Rich Batten in particular.
At the other end Jim and Richie both shot narrowly wide and the former so nearly got on the end of a Richie cross as Barely did their best to penetrate a well organised, but not hugely mobile, defence. Sam forced a stretching save from the keeper with an improvised chip after nicking the ball from the centre-back, and the Reunion sticksman also denied Richie again with two saves pushing the ball out for corners as he and Andy combined to good effect on the left. Steve, having a spell up front, managed a couple of neat turns but couldn't free himself enough for a finish. At the other end, however, the home team were proving clinical with a series of precision finishes.
Richie (who shared man-of-the-match with Andy) and Jim have some job on their hands building morale, not to mention ekeing out a result - even a draw - after this. The Barely Reporter will hazard a guess and say the work starts at the back, though as Nick pointed out, starting the game against last year's champions with their two best players on the bench might have been misplaced loyalty (or worse, faith) on Jim's part. But that's part of Barely's creed after all, and the day the managers approach the game from a purely mercenary perspective, then a little something will have died after all.
And on that slightly pompous note, your correspondant signs off, looking for a very stiff cup of coffee.
Monday 29 September 2008
Monday 15 September 2008
Barely in 5-goal Thriller!
Barely Athletic 0 AXA 5
Unfortunately Barely's role was that of straight man continuously slapped around the face by his 'hilarious' master. And frankly it could have been worse. With crowd favourites Tom Pinnell, Andy Lillford and Rich 'the metronome' Jackson all absent, it was always going to be a tough game against a big and composed AXA side. Barely began like this:
Goal: Steve
Defence: Chris, Danny, Phil, Rich B
Midfield: Mike, Jim, Richie, NIck
Attack: Mani, Sam
Subs: Gareth and Eustace.
It was a warm and curiously dry day, though the pitch was heavy with dew after the first cold night of the impending autumn. How Barely must have wished the dawn had never came. But for an hour they were in the game. They began, like almost every match report in the Barely archives surely echoes, on the back foot. AXA had a degree of passing and movement that tactician Richie can only dream of, if indeed he has nothing better to dream about, and they put the Barely defence to work from the word go. However, in the early stages they generally found them impassable on the ground, and turned instead to hitting in crosses at great speed, with mixed successes. Steve was occasionally beaten, but these efforts weren't hitting the target.
Instead the goal came rather freakishly when Rich Batten hit a goal-kick straight at the opposing attacker, who belted the ball in off the underside of Steve's body. It says much about Rich 'The Body' Batten's character that he shrugged off this gaffe and turned another man-of-the-match performance, narrowly seeing off Richie in the voting.
Meanwhile though Barely shoe-horned their way into the game with the odd swift - for them - counter-attack. Jim, put in by The Body, saw a shot smothered by the defence. Sam hit an effort from the edge of the box just past the right-hand post. Richie went narrowly wide of the left-hand. And the break came with Barely 1-0 down and well in the game, if they could keep the AXA attack at arm's length.
Gareth and Eustace both put in busy appearances in the second-half, as did Nick who took up position between the sticks. But between his fine saves AXA hit a second around the hour, and the Barely house of cards collapsed. Man-for-man a few years older than their blue-beshirted counterparts, Barely were going backwards through the gears as time took it's toll and AXA took advantage, breaking again and again as Barely looked for a consolation at the other end. It wasn't to be. Everything was in place - the crisp weather, the tingly sensation of a opening season, the delightful 'thwack' noise a ball makes when you strike it just right - but for Barely, it was merely the silver lining to a very dark cloud.
Credit must go to both teams for playing the game in the right spirit - the fire in Barely's bellies is of the cosy hearth variety and they don't tend to throw tantrums when they lose. But that's now history. Somehow they must shake off this defeat and return in two week's time - nobody appears to be taking next week's cup game as anything more than a convoluted friendly - with a clean slate. Otherwise their long tradition of occupation in the highest Casuals division could be in danger of coming to a dramatic close.
Unfortunately Barely's role was that of straight man continuously slapped around the face by his 'hilarious' master. And frankly it could have been worse. With crowd favourites Tom Pinnell, Andy Lillford and Rich 'the metronome' Jackson all absent, it was always going to be a tough game against a big and composed AXA side. Barely began like this:
Goal: Steve
Defence: Chris, Danny, Phil, Rich B
Midfield: Mike, Jim, Richie, NIck
Attack: Mani, Sam
Subs: Gareth and Eustace.
It was a warm and curiously dry day, though the pitch was heavy with dew after the first cold night of the impending autumn. How Barely must have wished the dawn had never came. But for an hour they were in the game. They began, like almost every match report in the Barely archives surely echoes, on the back foot. AXA had a degree of passing and movement that tactician Richie can only dream of, if indeed he has nothing better to dream about, and they put the Barely defence to work from the word go. However, in the early stages they generally found them impassable on the ground, and turned instead to hitting in crosses at great speed, with mixed successes. Steve was occasionally beaten, but these efforts weren't hitting the target.
Instead the goal came rather freakishly when Rich Batten hit a goal-kick straight at the opposing attacker, who belted the ball in off the underside of Steve's body. It says much about Rich 'The Body' Batten's character that he shrugged off this gaffe and turned another man-of-the-match performance, narrowly seeing off Richie in the voting.
Meanwhile though Barely shoe-horned their way into the game with the odd swift - for them - counter-attack. Jim, put in by The Body, saw a shot smothered by the defence. Sam hit an effort from the edge of the box just past the right-hand post. Richie went narrowly wide of the left-hand. And the break came with Barely 1-0 down and well in the game, if they could keep the AXA attack at arm's length.
Gareth and Eustace both put in busy appearances in the second-half, as did Nick who took up position between the sticks. But between his fine saves AXA hit a second around the hour, and the Barely house of cards collapsed. Man-for-man a few years older than their blue-beshirted counterparts, Barely were going backwards through the gears as time took it's toll and AXA took advantage, breaking again and again as Barely looked for a consolation at the other end. It wasn't to be. Everything was in place - the crisp weather, the tingly sensation of a opening season, the delightful 'thwack' noise a ball makes when you strike it just right - but for Barely, it was merely the silver lining to a very dark cloud.
Credit must go to both teams for playing the game in the right spirit - the fire in Barely's bellies is of the cosy hearth variety and they don't tend to throw tantrums when they lose. But that's now history. Somehow they must shake off this defeat and return in two week's time - nobody appears to be taking next week's cup game as anything more than a convoluted friendly - with a clean slate. Otherwise their long tradition of occupation in the highest Casuals division could be in danger of coming to a dramatic close.
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