Danny
Batts Mike Ian Laurie
Sam Jacko Paul L John T
Richie
Paul T
Rolling subs: John R, Nick.
It was an idyllic day for football. A slip nip in the air in a two-hour gap between downpours and Axbridge's scheduling was spot on. If only the same could be said of their crossing...
With no recognised goalkeeper, Danny, Mike and Nick gamely took the gloves and did respectively one half and two quarters each of the game. Barely went with a 4-4-1-1 formation with Richie playing just behind Paul Tovey. They began very well... in fact, although they lacked the composure in front of goal to bemoan the result, they played very well throughout. But they were hit by a series of goals so freakish as to imagine Axbridge had some kind of pact with the footballing Gods.
Three times intended crosses looped over the Barely keeper and into the net - and two of them came in the first half, which ended with a slightly bewildered Barely team trudging off 2-0 down. The away team had had their chances, with both Paul T and Richie shooting narrowly wide, Jacko heading a fraction over and Sam clipping the post. But they had been not so much sucker-punched as twatted on the head with a plank of wood, Keaton style.
The talk at half-time was to carry on as they had been doing, but although Barely did that, creating more chances, they left themselves open to the counter-attack and Barely's back line had to be alert. Barely carved open more chances but couldn't quite take them. Paul T headed and shot just over the bar. John T and Sam couldn't quite get half-chances on target. Even when they got something on target - Mike's long-range effort; Nick's drilled attempt - it was snaffled up by the keeper.
Meanwhile Axbridge accidentally scored a third, got a face-rubbing fifth when a shot heading wide diverted in off a defender, and in-between times scored a decent goal, a sublime finish from outside the box. The ref mercifully called time and, in a wide spread of votes Paul Loftus was a clear man-of-the-match winner.
Nobody had a bad game and indeed, Barely could play this well and win. It was a game played in the right spirit by both teams too. Sometimes you just don't get the rub of the 3G.
