2 little, 2 late

There's a saying in football - "We don't want our players to be monks. We want them to be good football players. Monks couldn't play football at this level".

This is entirely irrelevant.

However, there is another saying in football - "It's a game of two halves". And this was most certainly the case for the 5s this week.

Facing Deal, the league leaders and unbeaten in five matches, the 5th team turned up for their match at College Meadow at 12.30. Unfortunately, the match started at 11.50, and Deal were already 3-0 up. Thankfully the match before was delayed for 20 minutes, otherwise we'd have been in real trouble.

I'm being unfair - one player was on it from the beginning, Sam Hannon pulling off some fantastic saves from the first ask, literally keeping the 5s in the game. For the rest, every pass was to a yellow shirt, every ball was halfway in between two players and neither took it, and every first touch was heavier than a lead elephant.

Half-time came, and calm, firm words were spoken. We weren't supposed to be watching the classy Deal players dribble past us and flick the ball in. We were supposed to be playing.

And boy, did we play in that second half! Deal came out expecting their second 8-0 drubbing of the campaign, but from the whistle BOE fought for every ball, pressed hard, passed quickly and cleverly. The form striker, Paul Baker, pulled one back, but then immediately pulled a hamstring as well. 3-1 - was our brief resurgence over, with 25 minutes to play and 10 men on the pitch?

Was it hell. We pushed and pushed and pushed, Zac Gauge bellowing us forward and finishing powerfully from a short corner for 3-2. As the pressure built on the Deal defence, the match developed a bit of an edge, but the calm marshalling of Rob Hughes and Golbey, backed with a couple of greens kept control.

We threw everything at them - but Deal are top for a reason, and we just couldn't undo the damage the first half had caused. We came off the pitch at the end a different team from half-time, disappointed but proud. We can match any team in this league - now we have to prove it!

MOM: Alex Muntus

Many thanks to Golbey and Rob, who did a great job.