Masters Pass Muster

Barely Athletic 2 PAS Masters 5

Goal: Nick
Defence: Batts, Jacko, Danny
Midfield: Ian J, Mike, Richie, Paul L, Sam
Attack: Adam, Paul T

No subs.

Barely's first league game of the season began - pre-whistle - in slightly ramshackle fashion, as the management scraped together just enough players to make a team and had to ask the opposition manager to referee. He charitably agreed,  and Barely kicked off facing away from the sun, which was just beginning to burn through the morning mist that lay heavy over Frys.

Barely began uncharacteristically sharply, with Paul and Adam striking up a good understanding in attack and Richie quick to support them. For the first ten minutes Barely were completely dominant, and it was no surprise when they took the lead; Adam deftly chipping the goalkeeper from an angle to capitalise on incessant Barely pressure. One-nil.

But just as the earth must turn away from the sun, every team in the casuals league will have it's moment, and for Barely a long night was looming. For some unfathomable reason the early form Barely showed swiftly dried up, and the Masters took control of the game, from a scoring perspective, until half-time. A cheeky header from a free-kick got them level, but there was an element of fortune about their second as the ball squirmed under Nick as he tried to snaffle it up. Then a welly home from a corner put Masters well and truly in charge, and the break came with Barely trailing 3-1. With no subs available Danny could only make tactical changes, with Mike going between the sticks, Nick into defence and Jacko pushed into midfield. Barely's adventuresome 3-5-1, with Ian and Sam as nominal wing-backs, stayed in place.

Again Barely started the half well, put a large amount of pressure on the Masters back line and Adam in particular targeted for some serial heavy challenges. But when the goal came Adam made it from nothing, controlling a ball as it dropped and then spinning to finish in the one place the keeper couldn't get to, just inside the far post. 3-2 and Barely were back in the hunt.

However as the scoreline shows as far as hunting went, that was it for Barely. They still had their moments - Paul Tovey's pivot and welly sailing just over - but the Masters defence held firm, and just as with the last game, as Barely chased more desperately they were open to being picked off, which Masters did with aplomb. Danny handled under pressure, and though Mike got close to the ball, the net billowed from the resulting penalty. 4-2 to Masters now and with time ticking away Barely saw their swashbuckling ball-winner Paul Loftus limp off after twisting his knee in a challenge.

Had this been a Hollywood movie someone would have stepped to the fore and had the game of their life to drag Barely by the scruff of their collective neck to victory. But Adam couldn't quite manage it and hence missed out on man of the match despite scoring two excellent goals. While he was failing at that Barely conceded the sort of comedy goal you see in beer ads, as they spiralled in confused circles, dazzled by the PAS Master give-and-go, and watched Mike saunter across his goal as the ball went in - having realised, as he correctly asserted later, that he wasn't going to get to the ball.

5-2 it ended then, and as was noted afterwards it wasn't really a 5-2 - something of a recurrent theme with Barely. When they eventually go down maybe they can console themselves that they "Aren't really relegated".

Apart from Adam's salvo and Paul Loftus' mostly-horizontal man-of-the-match performance (other m-o-m nominees were Richie, Jacko, Sam and King Of The Slide*, Batts), the other main highlight was Ian's newly-christened Gripe of the Week, which from a mixed bag of indignant protests he chose a throw-in taken from the wrong place. Our personal favourite was the time-wasting tactics at 4-2 down... what with Ian's entertaining skit on the wing, and a seven-goal battle in what eventually became blistering sunshine, football was the winner today. But sadly that doesn't get Barely any points.

*sliding tackle. Not the playground slide.