| The Argonauts Res. (1)
4 |
Bellcelona Res. (0) 3 |
- Holbrook 3
- Mullholland (pen)
-
|
- No. 7 (pen)
- No.10
- No. 3
|
Att: 3 and a dog
Starting line-up:
N. Gardiner
R. Scott Mullholland Holmes Nash
Tuck M. Scott Bromley (c) Lewis
White Holbrook
Subs: Procter
McMullen
Mitchell
S. Gardiner
It wouldn’t an exaggeration to say that
the season so far has been a disappointing one for The Argonauts Reserves. Before this
game, we had only managed 3 draws and a host of defeats despite not being entirely
outplayed in many of them. Recently however, bar the 15-0 drubbing at the hands of Temple
United, performances have been improving and anyone watching the side (not that there are
any other than the players) would realise that it was inevitable that our first win would
come soon! And on Sunday, it finally arrived.
The conditions were almost perfect as the
ground was soft but not muddy and it wasn’t raining. The only complaint anyone could
have had was the strong biting wind, which whipped diagonally across the pitch (in fact,
one team member did complain about the cold – even the pub after the game was too
cold apparently!).
As kick-off approached, the team seemed focused and confident
that we could roll over a team who had only denied us victory thanks to a comedic last
minute equaliser. The referee, obviously from some strange Bristolian backwater judging by
his accent and beard (either that or he was a pirate), called the captains over for the
toss. Keith Bromley, who was wearing the captain’s armband for the first time lost
the toss, but thankfully, Bellcelona obviously hadn’t thought about the possible
consequences of playing with the wind in the first half and chose to do just that, maybe
half expecting to steamroller the bottom of the table side immediately. The first half, as
expected, was a struggle against the wind, without being overly taxing. The defence were
performing solidly against an admittedly weak Bellcelona attack ("how did they score
3 then?" I hear you ask - more on that later). In fact, the only chances o
f note that Bellcelona had in the first half was a rasping shot, which
went between the post and Ben Tuck’s spectacular attempted overhead kick and a good
low shot, which Neil Gardiner held on to well. Despite not applying as much general
pressure, we were opening up their defence more directly when attacking and our first
effort yielded our first goal. With no apparent danger around, their left back played a
casual pass back to their keeper. As dawdled on the ball, Paul White and Ross Holbrook
both ran in to apply some pressure. This, incredibly, caused their keeper to backheel the
ball straight into Holbrook’s path, who, on his landmark 50th
appearance, calmly placed the ball into the top right hand corner of the empty net! 1-0!
We were hoping to add to our lead in the 1st
half, but the few chances we had went begging. Some good link-up play between Matt Scott
and Bromley set Wh
ite clear, but he scuffed his shot while under pressure. Later
on, White and Bromley managed to scramble an opening, but Bromley’s low shot was hit
straight at the keeper.
The end of the first half was only notable
for a couple of injuries. The Argonauts’ impressive centre back Darren Holmes
(acquired from the first te
am) received a knock and had to go off, meaning Bromley dropped
back into defence, while Andy McMullen came on into midfield. For Bellcelona, their
attacking midfielder was injured by Richard Scott (I think) and had to go in goal 2nd
half (they didn’t have any subs).
Half time: 1-0
At half tim
e,
everyone felt we deserved to have the one goal lead and there was an air of confidence
that we could go on and grab a comfortable win from the game. The 2nd half,
however, despite the wind behind our backs, didn’t start well and we found ourselves
on the back foot. After 5 minutes or so the pressure eventually paid off, but in a
completely unfair way! A hopeful long ball came over the defence from their midfield and
the impressive George Mullholland looked like he was again going to clear the ball to
safety until the sneaky no.14 decided to give him a shove in the back. This caused
Mullholland to stumble and the ball hit his hand. Much to our chagrin and amazement, the
referee didn’t award a free kick to us but a penalty to Bellcelona! After the
warranted protests had calmed down, their no.7 stepped up and sent Neil
Gardiner the wrong way. 1-1.
Locked at 1-1 and having lost our momentum
at half time, it wouldn’t have been unlike us to let in another couple of goals soon
after. That was never really on the cards though, as apart from the penalty, the back four
of R. Scott, Mullholland, Bromley and Nash were comfortably dealing with most of what
was being thrown at them. We weren’t getting through their defence that easily either
though and their flag-happy linesman was proving to be slightly more than a nuisance. At
this stage, a tactical switch was made as Paul White was replaced the normal first choice
striker Andrew Procter. At this stage, it was difficult to predict who might make the next
breakthrough, but a couple of pieces of individual brilliance broke the deadlock. A
hopeful punt forward from their defence resulted in Gardiner coming to claim the ball
before the striker got there. He then threw the ball quickly out to R. Scott in space who
went on to take it past their left winger before catching their defence flat-footed by
delicately chipping the ball into the path of Holbrook, who had finally evaded the keen
linesman’s eye. With the ball bouncing in front of him and the keeper rushing out, Holbrook
kept his cool and lobbed the ball into the now unguarded net! 2-1! It was
an excellent goal and a great platform for us to build on and we knew it.
Not long after the 2nd goal, some
sterling work in the middle of the park by the inspirational player/manager Matt Scott
resulted in us winning a free kick just inside our own half. The ball rolled to Bromley,
who took the free kick before Bellcelona had time to reorganise. Andrew Procter was
already on his starting blocks, however, and ran the ball into the area. With a quick look
up, he saw M. Scott and Holbrook in space and laid it nicely into the path of Holbrook,
who tidily completed his hat-trick on his 50th appearance for the club! 3-1!
This was the kind of cushion we wanted, but
we really wanted to finish them off and sure enough a couple of minutes later, the
excellent Mullholland went on a marauding run from the halfway line right into the penalty
area, before he was cynically brought down. Mullholland himself stepped
up to take the penalty and finished it with aplomb. 4-1!
We really then should have gone on to take
the game by the scruff of the neck and finishe
d them off. They really looked dead and buried and
we were all over them. Two huge chances then went begging as first, Andrew Procter, who
had done well to get clear of his marker, shot straight at the keeper when through on
goal. Then, Ross Holbrook blighted his copybook by selfishly going for a fourth goal when
through on goal when no less than 5 other players (M. Scott, Proctor, McMullen, Bromley
and Tuck) were supporting in better positions in the box. Holbrook went for goal though
and blazed over (it was 6 on 2!).
These misses may have given the opposition
some confidence and with 15 minutes to go a mix-up between Lewis and McMullen, who had
both been having solid games, resulted in the ball being lost in the middle. A good
throughball from their midfielder then resulted in the Bellcelona no.10
nipping in between Bromley and Gardiner to finish from an acute angle. 4-2.
The goal had the obvious effect of giving
Bellcelona some belief. We made another change at this stage as Matt Scott ordered a toss
of a coin to decide whether Stu Gardiner or Andrew Mitchell should come on for Tuck, who
was tiring on the right. It was fate that the third substitute Andrew should come on
really as Mitchell won the toss. Soon after though, another attack down the left side
resulted in Mullholland missing the ball in the box. Unfortunately, no one came out to
close the no.3 down, who fired in an unstoppable shot into near enough
the top corner of the goal. 4-3.
It was disappointing to have let in 2 very
preventable goals in the closing stages of a game, but it still wasn’t over and there
were chances at both ends near the end. A quality free kick by Nash on the left resulted
in a mistake by their keeper and Mullholland shot over the bar while off balance and an
opening created by M. Scott resulted in a weak shot directly at the keeper. At our end,
Gardiner was called in to make a couple impressive saves including one parry right in the
bottom left hand corner of the goal. There were also a few scary moments with their
strikers running through onto long balls, but the back four dealt with those without too
much fuss. There was still time at the end of the game one last Mullholland run into the
box. He managed to jink his way past 3 players but spooned the ball over the bar when
trying to square the ball across the box! The 5th goal never came, but it was a
massive relief when the final whistle came! We had finally won a game and in fairness, it
was richly deserved.
- Player summaries:
- N. Gardiner – quick thinking for the 2nd
goal and made some important saves near the end
- R. Scott – excellent contribution for 2nd
goal and had a very good game (2 nominations for MOTM)
- J. Nash – solid game although he would
prefer to play on the wing
- G. Mullholland – excellent game at the
back and also going forward (5 nominations)
- D. Holmes – excellent game before being
injured
- K. Bromley (c) – good game in the
middle and in defence though partly at fault for their 2nd goal (1 nomination)
- M. Scott – great game getting stuck in,
at the heart of a lot of the moves (2 nominations)
- B. Tuck – some nice link-up play with
R. Scott (1 nomination I think)
- G. Lewis – good game linking up with
Nash, though quiet by his recent high standards
- P. White – battled well for
opportunities, though after 2 MOTM performances a little quiet by recent standards
- R. Holbrook – a hat-trick on his 50th
appearance. Nuff said. (6 nominations) – Man of the match
-
- Subs:
- A. McMullen – good display in the 2nd
half
- A. Procter – deserved a goal for his
efforts
- A. Mitchell – not enough time to make
an impact
- S. Gardiner – unlucky not to play after
his stunning goal last week
As kick-off approached, the team seemed focused and confident
that we could roll over a team who had only denied us victory thanks to a comedic last
minute equaliser. The referee, obviously from some strange Bristolian backwater judging by
his accent and beard (either that or he was a pirate), called the captains over for the
toss. Keith Bromley, who was wearing the captain’s armband for the first time lost
the toss, but thankfully, Bellcelona obviously hadn’t thought about the possible
consequences of playing with the wind in the first half and chose to do just that, maybe
half expecting to steamroller the bottom of the table side immediately. The first half, as
expected, was a struggle against the wind, without being overly taxing. The defence were
performing solidly against an admittedly weak Bellcelona attack ("how did they score
3 then?" I hear you ask - more on that later). In fact, the only chances o
f note that Bellcelona had in the first half was a rasping shot, which
went between the post and Ben Tuck’s spectacular attempted overhead kick and a good
low shot, which Neil Gardiner held on to well. Despite not applying as much general
pressure, we were opening up their defence more directly when attacking and our first
effort yielded our first goal. With no apparent danger around, their left back played a
casual pass back to their keeper. As dawdled on the ball, Paul White and Ross Holbrook
both ran in to apply some pressure. This, incredibly, caused their keeper to backheel the
ball straight into Holbrook’s path, who, on his landmark 50th
appearance, calmly placed the ball into the top right hand corner of the empty net! 1-0!
