Barely Grab a Lifeline

Bathelona 1  Barely Athletic 3

Goal: Tom
Centre-backs: Ian, Danny, Batts
Wingbacks: Colin, Mike
Centre-mid: Jacko, Richie, Paul
Attack: Adam, Chris

Sub: Sam

With three tough games remaining the odds are still very much against them, but Barely handed themselves a lifeline to first division survival today with a long-awaited and much overdue first win of the season.

The team selection was a bag of pluses and minuses - still without long-term injury absentees and Barely stalwarts of the like of Sir James Fry, Mani, Jim Banton, Colin and Danny also had to contend with the absence of Jim Siemens, Barely's first choice striker. (Into his stead stepped Chris, partnering Adam upfront) On the other hand the presence of Tom in goal is always reassuring, as is the sight of Paul Loftus haring around in midfield staying - usually - just the right side of mayhem.

The home team kicked off but in short order Barely were on top. Playing very much unlike a team without a win in months, Barely - arranged in a possibly ambitious 3-5-2 by Danny - were first to every ball, it seemed, whether in the air or on the bobbly ground. They pressured the Bathelona goal without quite having the cutting edge to get the goal their play deserved. One feared that the storm would blow itself out with no reward, and Barely's season of pain and frustration would continue. But with 20 or so minutes on the clock Richie scuttled past a challenge to the byline and hooked the ball across the face of goal - it was the easiest of tap-ins for Chris, the right man in the right place, and Barely were one up.

Danny started the rolling subs with Sam coming on for Colin and right wing-back, but at this point Bathelona managed to capitalise on one of their occasional sorties forward. Having forced a corner on the right, the ball was swung into the far post where it was headed deftly into the top-corner of the goal, beyond the despairing dive of Tom and above the not-particularly-elevated head of Sam.

One each.

And so the scores remained until half-time, when Colin returned in place of Mike and Barely confirmed among themselves that despite the disappointment of conceding an equaliser, there were points to be had from this game. They just didn't suspect they would come in quite so spectacular a fashion.

When the second half started the teams were about honours even in terms of possession and goal threat, but as the minutes ticked by it was Bathelona who finally were having a period on top. They even celebrated a goal-line clearance by Sam as though they had scored, which was wasn't exactly the type of incident that Mark Lawrensen would say he's "seen them given". However Bathelona's purple patch was nullified by probably the finest Barely goal you'll have seen this season (admittedly there haven't been many). Chris took up possession in the middle of the Bathelona half and strode forward past a challenge, releasing the ball to Adam. Adam pushed it wide, past his marker and into the box, reaching the ball first and flicking it across into the danger area, where Chris was running in. It looked like the move might actually end there, as the ball came behind him, only for Chris to flick up a heel and knock the ball up over his own head - and the goalkeeper's grasp, coming to rest in the Bathelona net.

2-1 then and Barely's belief was reinvigorated. Suddenly they were back on top, with Chris and Adam combining well with Richie's surges forward. The Bathelona threat was still there, but with the clock ticking away so was their energy, and it felt that if there was another goal in the game it would probably come from Barely.

And so it was, with Chris completing his hat-trick with a cool finish over the keeper as he engineered some space for himself in the box.

The final whistle blew and a game played in great spirit, by and large despite the ref rather than because of him, concluded. Barely decamped to the pub to discuss the likelihood of survival, and the vote for man of the match was forewent as the universal agreement was that it should go to Chris. Not, as Mike authoratively clarified, simply for his goals, but for his all round play and drive on the day - serially clearing the Bathelona corners, pestering the Bathelona back line and at one point even popping up at centre-back, which is a rarity even when he's allegedly playing there.

But though Chris' award was just for all the reasons given above, it was a good day for the whole team, with Barely's first half performance in particular coming under the umbrella of 'vintage'. And who knows, with a win and three points under their belt, perhaps they have given themselves a chance of pulling off the great escape and prolonging their 1800 year stay in the Casuals top flight. The word on everyone's lips may still be relegation, but they've shortened the odds just a little...