Barely 2 AXA 3

Goal: Nick

Defence: Colin, Tom, Ian, Rich B

Midfield: Lee, Sam, Jacko, Richie

Attack: Mani, Lefils

Sub: Chris

Barely were left frustrated yesterday after a performance that had everything but goals - and, obviously, the result they wanted. With quite a few few regulars missing Sam's mate Chris was drafted in as sub, and Rich Batten went for a mildly experimental 4-1-3-2 line-up with Lee parked in front of the back four. And it proved an astute bit of thinking when Lee began winning everything in the air and Barely took total control of the game from the off. Jacko dictated the tempo as ever and Bats and Richie started combining well down the right. Again and again they carved AXA open, and it was surprising the goal took as long coming as it did. After bossing the game for twenty or so minutes another left-wing move culminated in Lefils shimmying past a defender and planting the ball neatly in the far corner. One-nil. Shortly afterwards the second came - or so Barely thought. Sam crossed from the right, and after the ball hit the bar and was cleared from the goal-line in a melee, Barely eventually scored only for the linesman to give an offside decision. No-one could quite work out how he had come to that conclusion, but we must give him the benefit of the doubt in this instance as he obviously had the best view of events.

Shortly after though the ref gave the benefit of the doubt to AXA after not one but two dubious challenges on Richie went unpunished in the box. To be fair the ref could argue at that point that the defenders took possession of the ball using their bodies - but if so why did a similar challenge by Tom moments later result in a free-kick for AXA? It felt somewhat partisan and Barely were irked. Especially when AXA scored from the free-kick. Sam - who had the type of day at the office that might result in a written warning - was outjumped by the AXA midfield to head in their equaliser. Perhaps shaken by that, a minute later the diminutive midfielder-cum-imminent-bench-warmer gave away possession in midfield cheaply and AXA strode forward to put themselves ahead. Chris - now on for Lee - got back to make a challenge, but the ball ricocheted back off Nick to the striker, who had a second go. This time it hit Nick and went over his head, and after a horrible "it's behind you" moment, the striker finally got the goal his efforts deserved. But it was a stinker from a Barely point of view.

The second half was more of the same - Barely on top in terms of possession, but AXA understandably reluctant to cede any ground near the goal. With Chris now on the right wing, the debutant put in a good shift, regularly beating his man and getting crosses in, but Barely just couldn't find an equaliser. Headers went wide, corners were cleared, and shooting was disappointingly wayward. To make matters worse, AXA marked one of their counter-attacks with a good goal, chipping Lee (with Nick now in midfield) to put the 'away' team 3-1 up. At that point one could literally see the shoulders slump in Barely as everyone sensed it simply wasn't to be their day. But credit to manager Bats then, already sporting a bloody nose from one of several rumbustious challenges from the AXA number 8, who charged into the box and whacked the ball into the net to make it 2-3, after the umpteenth attack from Barely.

Inevitably though, the whistle blew for full-time before Barely could launch any further assaults in search of a point. The statistics of the game will make comforting reading - all except the important one, that is. An unnecessary defeat down to silly mistakes meant the post-game drinkers couldn't even bring themselves to vote for a man of the match. *Sigh*...