Posted by Mick Harris
on September 17, 2009, 4:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Goal Keeping crisis"
82.110.109.210
Corsham Town Vets 5
(Yates OG, Curtis N, Munday, Kilmurry 2)
Abbey Wood All Stars 2
(Bye, Ankah)
With anticipation in the air and the smell of deep heat, tiger balm, Vick rub and WD40 the big game kicked off prematurely at 1920 down at the Southbank. The early kick was at the request of Sky so they could squeeze in a re-run of Cocoon prior to the next due televised game between Pudong Zobon and Yunbian in China League 1.
The game started much like a chess game with both sides assessing one another and the pace was also comparable. Corsham looked the most threatening, getting down the flanks and delivering crosses into the box but these were comfortably dealt with by the resolute ABW defence. Both sides kept the ball well with fine football being played on both sides with ABW countering at pace to stretch the Corsham back 4.
The first break through came after 18 mins when a well delivered cross from the right was met by centre forward Kilmurry who had finally been able to shake of Easterbrook and Yates. From 8 yards out he crashed the ball against the bar with his head when it was easier to score but Yates wasn’t going to make the same mistake and smashed the ball into his own net from the rebound.
ABW drew breath and pulled shoulders back and thrust chests (stomachs) out. Within 5 minutes some fine possession football from back to front released Garry Bye down the right who was thrusting and overlapping from his right back position and calmly slot it past the keeper. His strike was so deft the ball didn’t even touch the back of the net. It must be noted that Bye obviously took absolutely no notice of pre match instructions which were that defenders were not supposed to step out any further than 25 yards!
On 29 minutes a piece of magic, strength and pace saw ABW’s centre forward Ankah roll his defender 40 yards out, much like Wayne Rooney (or was it Mickey), out hustle the centre half like Alan Shearer (or was it Carr) and then at pace charged into the box and calmly slot the ball past the advancing keeper like Michael Owen (or was it Sid). ABW 2:1 up but in theory 3:0 up!
This shocked the Corsh who then upped their game and pushed up to compress the midfield. ABW coped well but from a goal mouth melee the ball was cleared and from the resultant corner James Dalgliesh, ABW’s keeper exhibited Jesus Christ like tendencies in that he doesn’t like crosses either. He came, flapped and landed in no-mans land and although the first ball was cleared, Nige Curtis with much to do smashed in the second ball on the volley from 16 yards out when the good money was on having to ask Lord Methuen for the ball back. 2:2 game on.
It looked like the break would come with honours even with both sides looking like 2 punch drunk heavy weight boxers in the 15th round. On minute 42 with the ABW back 4 stroking it around like the 74 Dutch team 40 yards from their own goal (once again ignoring previous sit deep instructions) a lapse in concentration and a comedic collision between 2 ABW defenders saw the ball drop to Kilmurry who raced (ambled) 40 yards to calmly slot Corsham 3:2 in front.
Half time came with Corsham fortunate and ABW with some soul searching to do. Corsham used the time wisely to recharge the batteries with a fag or two while Sven Goran Fensome made some wise tactical substitutions by taking Bray off because of his corners, Ford because of the ball that bounced over his head and Davis because he manages Calne Res. It was hoped in the ABW changing room that the normal sustainability of the players could be stretched from 60 to maybe 80 minutes but once back on the field this unfortunately was not the case with the engine room blowing up on minute 46. O’Shaughnessy was carrying a poorly knee from a first half tackle (stumble) but this was compounded when his thigh and head gasket went. Shortly after, Jones had catastrophic failures of 3 of 4 pistons in his 2 stroke engine. The defence stayed resolute with also some great keeping from Dalgliesh but a sweeping Corsham move down the left saw Steven Curtis receive the ball just inside the box where the young fresh faced Easterbrook showed his inexperience with a poorly timed tackle which resulted in a penalty. An unsavoury exchange then occurred between Curtis and Easterbrook which was out of character for the game but subdued quickly because both players were knackered. The resultant penalty was superbly pushed onto the post by Dalgliesh diving to his right but the rebound fortunately rebounded to the sporney Kilmurry who pushed it into the empty net.
The remainder of the half saw Corsham showing that they have played together for many many years by keeping the ball and stroking it around the park for fun which kept Waldorf and Statler from the Muppets who were in the stand entertained. ABW huffed and puffed but that was probably more to do with years of Embassy No 1’s and late night mid week drinking. The ever young John Ireland came on and looked to be forming a credible partnership with Ankah but it was a shame that Ankah didn’t realise. But that said there was always the threat of a break away counter with Neil Jordan’s speed on the left threatening and exposing Godley’s Stennah stair lift pace but it would have needed a few Honda C90’s for the rest of the ABW team to catch up.
The next goal was always going to be important with the game sat at 4:2 but Jones got caught in midfield whilst turning like the Ark Royal (and I don’t mean the new one) and Corsh broke releasing Munday on the left who scored from an acute angle.
The game petered out much like a 19 year old Spaniel with its hind legs gone when it would have been more humane to switch the lights off or take a visit to the Vets. And I was thinking of Davis, Godley, Chapman and Brown when I mentioned the visit to the Vets not the Spaniel.
MOM. Chris Brown for the Chilli.
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