Barely Athletic 1-2 St Brendans
Subs
Mike
Laurie
Bob R
Paul T
John R
Kev
A balmy sunday morning at Frys and what better way to celebrate the changing of the seasons than a game of football? That is, if by 'celebrate' you mean 'acknowledge' and by 'football' you mean 'lots of grown men getting a bit out of hand'. If so, then all boxes ticked, as Barely took their usual (ignoring 2017 - as we will have to throughout this report) beating at the hands of St Brendans.
Just as in the past, the damage was done by those long, exocet-like throw-ins coming with pace and spin into the Barely box. Three times in the first half it ended up in the Barely net, although one was chalked off by the ref for a push. We are impressed he spotted the push - not many did - as there were several more silly challenges throughout that went unpunished, not least the most obvious case of obstruction since Ian Goodenough last graced the team.
But we get ahead of ourselves. Before the day even arrived, Mike inspired the troops with a digital team-talk via email that was all based around his penchant for Rod Stewart (presumably early Rod, when the lyrics were dubious but the music wasn't). Mike charitably didn't play himself for the whole game either, but he did do the pre-match address in song, before his memory failed him and he had to resort to more traditional methods.
Either way, it was a pretty strong team considering the absentees and with a healthy subs bench too. And Barely had their moments - the first one of note was Rob's cracking equaliser, almost direct from the kick-off. Play went down the Barely right before Richie clipped a ball over the defence. Rob ran on to it, took a touch, and billowed the net to make it 1-1.
The game was already getting a wee bit feisty but of more concern to Barely were those throw-ins; causing panic on every occasion and leading, inevitably, to a second goal for the away team. A let-off for the third but also more moments of panic for St Brendans too as Rob sent an effort fractionally wide.
Half-time came and went with the rolling subs now in full effect, as Gareth dropped into midfield to win some headers and Chris pushed out to right wing. The Silver Streak (-Chris) showed a clean pair of heels thrice in succession as he charged past the left-back, but unfortunately Barely couldn't convert his crosses.
St Brendans came back as another raft of subs seemed to cost Barely momentum, as a rash challenge by Dannyt led to a penalty for St Brendans, which, had it gone in, was surely game over. On the sidelines Batts said Allan would save it - and he was correct, as the keeper hurled himself to his right to turn the penno around the post. Then - so nearly a grandstand finish as Gareth - turning in a man of the match performance - so nearly prodded in an equaliser from close range as Barely turned up the heat again.
By now the sun was back out, and time was also out for Barely as well. A much-improved performance on the last two outings, this correspondent would say, and Allan and Gareth shared Man of the Match honours. But the points went AWOL. Questioned as to their position in the league, Batts provided the succinct answer that forms the title of this report.
No pain, just receding.
Allan
Dave H Batts Danny Colin
Sam Chris Richie Jim B
Gareth Rob
Subs
Mike
Laurie
Bob R
Paul T
John R
Kev
A balmy sunday morning at Frys and what better way to celebrate the changing of the seasons than a game of football? That is, if by 'celebrate' you mean 'acknowledge' and by 'football' you mean 'lots of grown men getting a bit out of hand'. If so, then all boxes ticked, as Barely took their usual (ignoring 2017 - as we will have to throughout this report) beating at the hands of St Brendans.
Just as in the past, the damage was done by those long, exocet-like throw-ins coming with pace and spin into the Barely box. Three times in the first half it ended up in the Barely net, although one was chalked off by the ref for a push. We are impressed he spotted the push - not many did - as there were several more silly challenges throughout that went unpunished, not least the most obvious case of obstruction since Ian Goodenough last graced the team.
But we get ahead of ourselves. Before the day even arrived, Mike inspired the troops with a digital team-talk via email that was all based around his penchant for Rod Stewart (presumably early Rod, when the lyrics were dubious but the music wasn't). Mike charitably didn't play himself for the whole game either, but he did do the pre-match address in song, before his memory failed him and he had to resort to more traditional methods.
Either way, it was a pretty strong team considering the absentees and with a healthy subs bench too. And Barely had their moments - the first one of note was Rob's cracking equaliser, almost direct from the kick-off. Play went down the Barely right before Richie clipped a ball over the defence. Rob ran on to it, took a touch, and billowed the net to make it 1-1.
The game was already getting a wee bit feisty but of more concern to Barely were those throw-ins; causing panic on every occasion and leading, inevitably, to a second goal for the away team. A let-off for the third but also more moments of panic for St Brendans too as Rob sent an effort fractionally wide.
Half-time came and went with the rolling subs now in full effect, as Gareth dropped into midfield to win some headers and Chris pushed out to right wing. The Silver Streak (-Chris) showed a clean pair of heels thrice in succession as he charged past the left-back, but unfortunately Barely couldn't convert his crosses.
St Brendans came back as another raft of subs seemed to cost Barely momentum, as a rash challenge by Dannyt led to a penalty for St Brendans, which, had it gone in, was surely game over. On the sidelines Batts said Allan would save it - and he was correct, as the keeper hurled himself to his right to turn the penno around the post. Then - so nearly a grandstand finish as Gareth - turning in a man of the match performance - so nearly prodded in an equaliser from close range as Barely turned up the heat again.
By now the sun was back out, and time was also out for Barely as well. A much-improved performance on the last two outings, this correspondent would say, and Allan and Gareth shared Man of the Match honours. But the points went AWOL. Questioned as to their position in the league, Batts provided the succinct answer that forms the title of this report.
No pain, just receding.
3 comments:
Loving it!
It strikes me that these physical teams are quite happy to continually foul and sometimes give away free kicks because, being physical, means that a dead ball situation is an advantage to them... Especially with our ref...Jeez.
We could use a new ref. Although that would also mean we need a new set of excuses :-P
Post a Comment