Ashtead FC
Match Report
(Match report by Matt 'Elvis')
Last Sunday we took part in one of the most memorable games I’ve played in. We should have adorned loin cloths and gladiatorial weapons, as this was an EPIC battle…
Following our last game against Royal Admiral we reverted to a 4-4-2 formation, for tactical reasons, and because we were missing Chris and Jack. At first this made everything feel very comfortable at the back, and soon it looked like this match might even be a walk-over.
Within the first 5 minutes we had a breakthrough. Max (playing up front) latched onto a lofted ball, charged into the box, and invited a clumsy challenge. Well played Max! Penalty. Pat stepped up, and as composed as ever converted it easily. 1-0 Ashtead.
After this the game remained tight. Our midfield bull, Michael, had clearly been identified as a threat, and he had to contend with several outrageous tackles. I can’t believe they didn’t get more yellow cards for their challenges! This obviously hampered our midfield. It wasn’t long before their midfield managed to create enough space to thread a through-ball down the middle. Pat and Louis stepped-up for the offside, but myself (and Dan) were finding it hard to track our wingers whilst watching the line. Their striker managed to break free and scored easily enough. 1-1.
It wasn’t long before they tried a similar move again, with a diagonal through-ball to the wing. This time I tried stepping-up, but I didn’t get the decision :( The little runt stole 5 yards off me and finished with a powerful shot at the near post. 2-1 Royal Admiral.
This obviously left the team pretty deflated, and it wasn’t long before James decided to have one of his tampon tantrums. A verbal tirade resulted in a yellow card from the referee. This didn’t shut him up though, and he must have been a whisker away from seeing a red. I recall a few lines of their conversation…
“Look at me when I’m talking to you” says the ref
“Where in the rule book does it say I have to look at you?” says James, whilst looking directly at Michael.
But we made it to half-time with 11 men, and I reckon that James may have inadvertently done us a favour by pushing the ref to the limit. Straight after half-time we won a free-kick outside their box. One of their players said something he shouldn’t have and got a yellow. Then a second yellow immediately followed for more back chat! Royal Admiral were down to 10 men and looked rattled, and we could smell victory…
Unfortunately we hardly noticed that they were down to 10 men. Either we started to play worse, or they upped their game. I’d say the latter. The game remained close, and we had some meaningful attacks, but they scored the next goal. We didn’t deal with a bouncing ball in our area and they tapped in. 3-1 Royal Admiral.
James did very well to prevent another goal; a free kick taken at the edge of the box looked destined to go in off the cross bar, but the gangly Swede somehow managed to get his hands to it. He was happy now he had his Kodak moment! But it wasn’t long before they did eventually score another. I was at fault, too relaxed watching one of their players chase a ball to the touch line. He somehow prevented the ball going out, turned back on himself and found space in the box to have a free shot at goal. 4-1 Royal Admiral. Sorry about that one guys :(
Surely this game was lost now? We’d recently bounced back from 2 goals down, but this time we only had 15min left to score 3 goals! Surely that was too much for this Ashtead team, battered from relentless winds, legs heavy from a rain soaked pitch??? Well sit down children… here begins the story of the comeback kings!
Leigh continued to prowl for any opportunities, especially in areas around their dodgy keeper. It wasn’t long before their keeper fumbled at the edge of the area and gifted a chance to Leigh, which he happily took. Deserved goal for his efforts. 4-2 Royal Admiral. 10 min to go….
By this time some second half substitutions, Kane and Alex on the wings, had brought more pace into our counter-attacks. Kane made an immediate impact; a text-book dribble into the box past one, then two, then a third player, who went for the slide tackle in the box. Kane knew what he was doing, and it was always going to be a penalty. Pat stepped up again…scored! 4-3 Royal Admiral. 5 min to go….
Now we needed some luck to create an opportunity with just a few minutes to go… and luck is what we got. Leigh was again gambling on anything directed at their keeper, and soon an attempted clearance by the keeper rebounded off one of their defenders and gifted Leigh with an open goal! 4-4!! Unbelievable! There was now just 2 minutes left, but we still pushed for a win until the final whistle.
The final whistle blew; against the odds we had made it to extra time! Unfortunately this final period of play didn’t live up to the second half. I’ve got to give credit to Royal Admiral…it felt like we were the team with 10 men, but we defended as if our lives depended on it. We weathered a bombardment of counter attacks, free kicks and corners. We made it to penalties!
You can watch all the penalties at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJoer11
We didn’t get off to a great start. They scored, and then Andy found the keeper on our first spot kick. The next 3 penalties for each team were converted easily, but then they had their final penalty saved brilliantly by James! We were back in it, and Kane converted our fifth with ease. Sudden death! At last they buckled, their 6th penalty taker sending a Waddle over the bar. It was now up to Max…………..he shoots….he scores!!!!!!!!!! Ashtead through to the quarter finals, and we all live happily ever after :)
Following our last game against Royal Admiral we reverted to a 4-4-2 formation, for tactical reasons, and because we were missing Chris and Jack. At first this made everything feel very comfortable at the back, and soon it looked like this match might even be a walk-over.
Within the first 5 minutes we had a breakthrough. Max (playing up front) latched onto a lofted ball, charged into the box, and invited a clumsy challenge. Well played Max! Penalty. Pat stepped up, and as composed as ever converted it easily. 1-0 Ashtead.
After this the game remained tight. Our midfield bull, Michael, had clearly been identified as a threat, and he had to contend with several outrageous tackles. I can’t believe they didn’t get more yellow cards for their challenges! This obviously hampered our midfield. It wasn’t long before their midfield managed to create enough space to thread a through-ball down the middle. Pat and Louis stepped-up for the offside, but myself (and Dan) were finding it hard to track our wingers whilst watching the line. Their striker managed to break free and scored easily enough. 1-1.
It wasn’t long before they tried a similar move again, with a diagonal through-ball to the wing. This time I tried stepping-up, but I didn’t get the decision :( The little runt stole 5 yards off me and finished with a powerful shot at the near post. 2-1 Royal Admiral.
This obviously left the team pretty deflated, and it wasn’t long before James decided to have one of his tampon tantrums. A verbal tirade resulted in a yellow card from the referee. This didn’t shut him up though, and he must have been a whisker away from seeing a red. I recall a few lines of their conversation…
“Look at me when I’m talking to you” says the ref
“Where in the rule book does it say I have to look at you?” says James, whilst looking directly at Michael.
But we made it to half-time with 11 men, and I reckon that James may have inadvertently done us a favour by pushing the ref to the limit. Straight after half-time we won a free-kick outside their box. One of their players said something he shouldn’t have and got a yellow. Then a second yellow immediately followed for more back chat! Royal Admiral were down to 10 men and looked rattled, and we could smell victory…
Unfortunately we hardly noticed that they were down to 10 men. Either we started to play worse, or they upped their game. I’d say the latter. The game remained close, and we had some meaningful attacks, but they scored the next goal. We didn’t deal with a bouncing ball in our area and they tapped in. 3-1 Royal Admiral.
James did very well to prevent another goal; a free kick taken at the edge of the box looked destined to go in off the cross bar, but the gangly Swede somehow managed to get his hands to it. He was happy now he had his Kodak moment! But it wasn’t long before they did eventually score another. I was at fault, too relaxed watching one of their players chase a ball to the touch line. He somehow prevented the ball going out, turned back on himself and found space in the box to have a free shot at goal. 4-1 Royal Admiral. Sorry about that one guys :(
Surely this game was lost now? We’d recently bounced back from 2 goals down, but this time we only had 15min left to score 3 goals! Surely that was too much for this Ashtead team, battered from relentless winds, legs heavy from a rain soaked pitch??? Well sit down children… here begins the story of the comeback kings!
Leigh continued to prowl for any opportunities, especially in areas around their dodgy keeper. It wasn’t long before their keeper fumbled at the edge of the area and gifted a chance to Leigh, which he happily took. Deserved goal for his efforts. 4-2 Royal Admiral. 10 min to go….
By this time some second half substitutions, Kane and Alex on the wings, had brought more pace into our counter-attacks. Kane made an immediate impact; a text-book dribble into the box past one, then two, then a third player, who went for the slide tackle in the box. Kane knew what he was doing, and it was always going to be a penalty. Pat stepped up again…scored! 4-3 Royal Admiral. 5 min to go….
Now we needed some luck to create an opportunity with just a few minutes to go… and luck is what we got. Leigh was again gambling on anything directed at their keeper, and soon an attempted clearance by the keeper rebounded off one of their defenders and gifted Leigh with an open goal! 4-4!! Unbelievable! There was now just 2 minutes left, but we still pushed for a win until the final whistle.
The final whistle blew; against the odds we had made it to extra time! Unfortunately this final period of play didn’t live up to the second half. I’ve got to give credit to Royal Admiral…it felt like we were the team with 10 men, but we defended as if our lives depended on it. We weathered a bombardment of counter attacks, free kicks and corners. We made it to penalties!
You can watch all the penalties at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJoer11
We didn’t get off to a great start. They scored, and then Andy found the keeper on our first spot kick. The next 3 penalties for each team were converted easily, but then they had their final penalty saved brilliantly by James! We were back in it, and Kane converted our fifth with ease. Sudden death! At last they buckled, their 6th penalty taker sending a Waddle over the bar. It was now up to Max…………..he shoots….he scores!!!!!!!!!! Ashtead through to the quarter finals, and we all live happily ever after :)
Player Ratings:
James 9.0 (loves a tantrum, but did well to stay alert in the second half and of course, there was the penalty save!)
Dan 8.9 (defended well against decent wingers)
Louis 9.0 (had an intimidating menace about him that day..someone had their Weetabix!)
Pat 9.0 (one day he’ll miss a penalty…one day)
Matt 8.8 (shocking defensive performance! But if I give everyone a good score maybe they’ll let me play again? )
Joe 8.9 (some good runs and excellent crosses - as aways)
Andy 8.9 (always there, hungry for the ball, like a rabid fox)
Michael 8.9 (he must have felt like he had carrots for legs, cos they got chopped!)
Archie 8.9 (great touch, almost pulled off a few genius passes)
Leigh 9.0 (sterling effort, with the anticipation of a veteran striker. 2 deserved goals)
Max 9.0 (looked very comfortable up front. Won a penalty, and scored the winner too!)
Kane(sub) 9.0 (big impact in the second half, winning us a penalty)
Alex(sub) 8.9 (go on boy…run down that line! There’s a good boy…)
Sean(sub) 8.9 (pulled out the classic leg clipper foul…I love that move!)
James 9.0 (loves a tantrum, but did well to stay alert in the second half and of course, there was the penalty save!)
Dan 8.9 (defended well against decent wingers)
Louis 9.0 (had an intimidating menace about him that day..someone had their Weetabix!)
Pat 9.0 (one day he’ll miss a penalty…one day)
Matt 8.8 (shocking defensive performance! But if I give everyone a good score maybe they’ll let me play again? )
Joe 8.9 (some good runs and excellent crosses - as aways)
Andy 8.9 (always there, hungry for the ball, like a rabid fox)
Michael 8.9 (he must have felt like he had carrots for legs, cos they got chopped!)
Archie 8.9 (great touch, almost pulled off a few genius passes)
Leigh 9.0 (sterling effort, with the anticipation of a veteran striker. 2 deserved goals)
Max 9.0 (looked very comfortable up front. Won a penalty, and scored the winner too!)
Kane(sub) 9.0 (big impact in the second half, winning us a penalty)
Alex(sub) 8.9 (go on boy…run down that line! There’s a good boy…)
Sean(sub) 8.9 (pulled out the classic leg clipper foul…I love that move!)
Previous Match
| Date: | Sun 11/12/2011 |
|---|---|
| Played: | Royal Admiral Reserves (Home) |
| Result: | 4 - 4 AET 9 - 8 on penalties |
| Comp: | Cup |
| Man of the match: | (TBC) |