Barely Athletic 1 Nailsea Old Boys 4
Sub: John T
The sun shone blisteringly down on an unseasonably warm September Day as Barely kicked off the new season in style - Barely style, that is: with just the one sub and the patented lethargic start, as they pretty much gifted Nailsea a two goal lead inside the first ten minutes.
With that out of the way, Barely began to smell the coffee and remember that they can, when they put their minds to it, play a bit of football. Batts went for a fairly compact midfield, with Mike patrolling in front of the back line, Paul Tovey holding up the ball behind Nick, and Chris doing a fair amount of work in-between them. Sam and John Rossetti looked to find space down the wing, but mainly found themselves out of breath.
Nonetheless Barely did put one or two moves together, and managed to keep Nailsea at bay until half-time. John Trimble, who had gamely refereed the first half, gave the whistle to Nick and took his place up front. Barely began the second half with a much more robust display; snapping into tackles and moving the ball forward a lot quicker. John Rossetti had already pulled a save out of the goalkeeper when John T was sent through on goal - with a composed finish he got Barely right back in the game at 2-1, with the majority of the half still to play.
However, that was as good as it got for the home team ultimately, as despite the odd flurry - one lovely five-pass move bamboozled the Old Boys entirely before petering sadly out - they concentrated solely on staying upright, as tired lungs and even tireder legs protested against the ongoing punishment. Even the exhortations of Gareth in the Barely goal couldn't quite raise the tempo - what Barely really needed, of course, was three or four subs to keep things ticking over. Without them it was always going to be a struggle - and as the half wore on, Nailsea capitalized on increasingly desperate defending with two more goals to seal the points.
A disappointing start to the season, then, but there were some morsels of promise here if only Barely can get the numbers out to sustain themselves over 90 minutes. Man of the Match saw a smattering of nominees but with Batts and John T tied on three votes each, the gaffer took the executive decision of handing the gong (a metaphorical gong, but a gong nonetheless) to John for not only his goal and pester value up front, but volunteering to ref. Good work!
Next up: St Brendans, on the 25th.
Gareth
Colin Danny Batts Laurie
Sam Mike Chris John R
Paul Tovey
Nick
Sub: John T
The sun shone blisteringly down on an unseasonably warm September Day as Barely kicked off the new season in style - Barely style, that is: with just the one sub and the patented lethargic start, as they pretty much gifted Nailsea a two goal lead inside the first ten minutes.
With that out of the way, Barely began to smell the coffee and remember that they can, when they put their minds to it, play a bit of football. Batts went for a fairly compact midfield, with Mike patrolling in front of the back line, Paul Tovey holding up the ball behind Nick, and Chris doing a fair amount of work in-between them. Sam and John Rossetti looked to find space down the wing, but mainly found themselves out of breath.
Nonetheless Barely did put one or two moves together, and managed to keep Nailsea at bay until half-time. John Trimble, who had gamely refereed the first half, gave the whistle to Nick and took his place up front. Barely began the second half with a much more robust display; snapping into tackles and moving the ball forward a lot quicker. John Rossetti had already pulled a save out of the goalkeeper when John T was sent through on goal - with a composed finish he got Barely right back in the game at 2-1, with the majority of the half still to play.
However, that was as good as it got for the home team ultimately, as despite the odd flurry - one lovely five-pass move bamboozled the Old Boys entirely before petering sadly out - they concentrated solely on staying upright, as tired lungs and even tireder legs protested against the ongoing punishment. Even the exhortations of Gareth in the Barely goal couldn't quite raise the tempo - what Barely really needed, of course, was three or four subs to keep things ticking over. Without them it was always going to be a struggle - and as the half wore on, Nailsea capitalized on increasingly desperate defending with two more goals to seal the points.
A disappointing start to the season, then, but there were some morsels of promise here if only Barely can get the numbers out to sustain themselves over 90 minutes. Man of the Match saw a smattering of nominees but with Batts and John T tied on three votes each, the gaffer took the executive decision of handing the gong (a metaphorical gong, but a gong nonetheless) to John for not only his goal and pester value up front, but volunteering to ref. Good work!
Next up: St Brendans, on the 25th.
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