Goal: Matt
Defence: Ian, Batts, Danny, Colin
Midfield: Fisch, Richie C, Mike G, Sam
Attack: Lefils, Jim
Sub: Sean
Finally the season is here, but any burgeoning optimism about the coming campaign was flattened by a bruising encounter with Mathern, who came back from a goal down to put Barely comprehensively to the sword.
A reasonably feisty encounter, this; Mathern are one of those sides who gee themselves up by trading insults and run a kind of ongoing critique of each other's failings - and the ref's, and Barely's - throughout the game. The tone was set when Mathern, having delayed the kick-off for over half an hour, told Richie to "fuck off" when he tried to hurry them along. Not quite the Casuals ethos, but whatever.
Barely themselves were, as ever, scratching for numbers, and thankfully Jacko's brother Ian and Matt "the Cat" stepped up to the plate, along with Wednesday regular Fisch making his 11-a-side debut. And Barely looked a decent unit, seeing off some early Mathern pressure to put together a tidy move that ended with Jim sweeping them into the lead from just inside the box.
With Barely on top, Rich took the opportunity to bring on the fresh (and fast) legs of Sean, Sam taking a break on the touchline. Mathern kept the pressure up, however, and though their hopes were oft-dashed on the rocks of Barely obduracy, they found the breakthrough from a corner, a bullet header giving Matt - who moments later pulled off the save of the game, tipping another header over the bar - no chance and the scores at half-time were 1-1.
Second half began with a bit of attack and counter-attack as both teams looked for the breakthrough. Mathern for the time being were forced to try their luck from distance and Matt snapped the efforts up easily. At the other end a great move involving Sean and Richie ended with Jim hitting the ball narrowly wide. Lefils was having a great game but was on the receiving end of some hefty challenges and was becoming increasingly irate - could he keep it together until full-time?
Running personal duels were rendered meaningless however when Mathern finished the game - as they had last season's encounter in Wales - the stronger; firing in not one, but two goals to give them what Barely must concede was a deserved win for their persistence. There was still time for Fizzy and the Mathern number 10 to trade insults at length, and also throw the ball at each other's heads from close-quarters. You don't see women doing THAT in a nightclub, do you? A bit of appreciation for the late drama, everyone please.
Matt shaded the man of the match award with the voting spread wide: Batts, Richie and Mike shared runner-up position, though to be fair there were no weak links today - everyone played very well, but Barely just ran out of air before the 90 minutes were up.
So hats off to Mathern for the win. Wouldn't want to spend Christmas with them, though.
