WORLD PUT TO RIGHTS AS 1’s GET UP AND RUNNING

I woke with excitement on Saturday as the prospect of playing against newly promoted Woking seemed like an ideal opportunity for the team to get some much needed points and boost confidence given the frustrating last three weeks.

The sun was shining and the changing room was full of high spirits in part due to the music choices of Charlie Spiller. A highlight was Billy Joel’s anthem “Piano man”, which resurrected the master musician (singer and pianist) inside Eddy Forshaw and try as he might he couldn’t contain himself from belting out a few choruses with his mate Billy.

So let’s get on with the game, which started brightly for the BOEHC 1st team. The signs were encouraging with the defence playing with confidence and composure. In particular Tom Harden aka Sheep was like a well-built ram surrounded by a herd of ewes. He chased everyone down, tackled and distributed with assured style throughout the whole game. There was also a notable performance from James Morrison, who drove into the opposition with skill and confidence to be awarded two or three short-corners in the first half. (One of the was defo Eddy Forshaw, but who could tell)

The second short-corner was where we opened our account on the score sheet. A well worked move with Captain Chris Harden who linked up superbly with the focused and composed David Lawrence who timed the return pass to Chris, giving him plenty of time, to flick the ball precisely into the top right hand corner. 1-0.

The next goal came from another short corner won by Eddy Forshaw. Tom Archer stopped the ball with precision at the top of the D, allowing Chris Harden to effortlessly dance around the advancing first defender to slot the ball pass the flailing keeper. Goal Chris Harden, Assist Tom Archer!?

The only other excitement in the first half involved two incidents with the author of this account. I pressed the centre back, dazzle him with my loaned (let’s not go there) fluorescent stick, tackled the ball leaving me with a clear run into the D, one-on-one with the keeper. Despite getting a good goal bound shot off under the diving keeper, the ball was deflected wide by the faintest of nicks from the keeper’s stick.  

Pressure on the defence continue to be high and again I found myself challenging for the ball at the top of the D. I pushed the ball into space behind the defence with the opportunity to go one-on-one again with the keeper, again, only to be felled by two defenders in a pincer movement usually seen in NFL games. The crowd, fellow players and even the opposition could see it was at least a short-corner possibly a flick. However, this honest medical practitioner clearly needs to attend the Neymar School of going to ground. Instead, I hit the ground like an old granny who has lost her grip on her zimmer frame! Nothing awarded play continued.

The second half was a scrappy affair with the exception of one individual moment of class from our superb new recruit Laxman Karan. He skilfully drove into the opposition’s D passing three or four players before sweeping the ball reverse stick into the goal from the tightest of angles. He maintains this was a shot and we should believe him! Final score 3-0, but should have been more. Woking were a great opposition who were passionate, friendly and exuberant.

London Academicals next week and more effort to keep these results coming is required. This performance against Woking highlights many positives, but still plenty of improvement required.
 
MOTM - Sheep
DOTD - Dr Slack