The Hundred Club

Barely Athletic 0 Cardiff Accies 1

Gareth

Colin       Danny       Batts      Laurie

Al        Paul L        Richie          Sam

Adam        Darren

Subs: John R, Mike

What a shame that for the hundredth post on this blog Barely couldn't hang on for a winner!

However, a hard-fought 89 minutes followed by an at-the-death capitulation does seem more apt. Possibly they threw the three points away, in a gallant and sacrificial nod to thematically-appropriate results.

Batts started with a 4-4-2 with Adam and Darren leading the line. Cardiff went for the same formation. From the get-go the game had a high tempo with both teams looking to break quickly. However both back lines were in unforgiving mood, and neither keeper had much to do for long periods. When Gareth was called upon the Accies efforts were fortunately straight to him. What he did offer though was a willingness to come for crosses and, breaking with Barely tradition, reach them. Only Mike would even attempt anything like that.

With the teams fighting out a tediously dull tactically tense stalemate Batts began rolling the substitutions, taking off Danny - who'd taken a knock - and putting Mike in at centre-back. The big guy was involved quickly and rose to the challenge - often literally. Despite never looking like a man in a hurry Mike was regularly first to the ball as the occasional attack from Cardiff broke down.

At the other end it was the same story, and Batts shook things up a bit at half-time, going to 3-5-2 to give Barely an edge in midfield. But despite seeing more of the ball, Barely simply couldn't seem to break through and give the Cardiff goalkeeper any meaningful work. Adam, Batts and Sam all had half-chances they put either over or wide, and other efforts were charged down. And when Cardiff finally got past the Barely defense at the other end, they found Gareth well-positioned and with safe hands. The game had all the workings of a drab shrewdly-balanced nil-nil, until that is the inevitable happened and Barely succumbed to a cross.

With the clocking ticking down to 90 minutes Barely cleared a corner only to have it come straight back at them. It was nodded on in the box, and at the far post an attacker nodded it deftly down and over the line - despite the attentions of Colin and the presence of Sam and Gareth on the line.

With the wind out of their sails Barely pushed for an equaliser in the last few seconds, but it simply wasn't on the cards today. They didn't deserve to win, but even the most biased Accie would probably admit they were unlucky to lose.

The team trooped off with heads hung low - a real gutting result compared to last week's fateful penalty shoot-out, which despite knocking them out of the cup had felt like a great performance. Paul, Batts and Richie picked up some votes but Gareth was a resounding man of the match.