March 2009 Match Reports

Sunday 15th March 2009

Woodcote High, Coulsdon

Phoenix Athletic 4 - 0 Banter Central FC
 

Team: Wuker; Boma, Doc, L.Dancer, Cling, Rodber, Hughes, Adkins, Jewish, Wommy, Baird (Village, 75 mins)

The season ends in a disappointing defeat, the cup run that could have been cut off at the earliest possible point. Banter had expected a difficult game against a former youth side and a team battling for the title in their division and a difficult game they got. Banter made 5 changes to the starting 11 that drew with Madras, Baird also returning to the side after a 6 month lay-off.

Phoenix applied plenty of pressure in the morning sunshine, bursting through the middle of the park with ease on a few occasions in the early goings as Banter had failed to organise in any area of the pitch. The dry pitch was particularly bobbly and though more sloped, reminiscent of the old top of Duppas Hill pitches in size, which has never been great for Banter. Boma and Doc were sweeping away the countless long balls played over the top and Wuker made a few decent early claims. Pheonix also whipped in some dangerous balls from long-throws, each managing to drop in and around the 6-yard box which was proving difficult to deal with, though the job was just about done. Cling and Jewish swtched sides, the former getting a chance to get forward by going wide to beat his full-back and put in a dangerous cross which won a corner. The skipper had long range efforts along with Adkins and Baird, but they were never any trouble for the Phoenix goalkeeper. Phoenix took the lead when they were awarded a free-kick 30 yards from goal. The four man wall was void once it was sold a dummy, the runner ghosting around the outside to be fed in, burst through and finish past Wuker into the far corner. A well worked goal, though hugely soft on the away team's part. Banter bounced back reasonably well and began placing Phoenix under pressure, which began to work. Even after the game, Phoenix's manager conceded that his team don't want to know if they're closed down early. Banter, despite knowing this was needed, didn't do this enough. Hughes danced into the penalty area a couple of times, on one occasion sliding it through his markers legs before getting a cross in, which was cut out. 1-0 at the break.

Banter began the second half much like the way the first half had been played out - quiet, laboured and little quality going forward. Phoenix began to spray passes around well and eventually the floodgates began to open. The second goal came when Wuker saved the an initial shot with his foot, but an un-marked forward ran on to tap in and make it
2-0. A third soon followed, a cut-back from the right was leathered into the top corner giving Wuker no chance. A 4th made absolutely sure that the home team would go through when some good work down the left was finished off to terminate Banter's season. It could have been more with still 20 minutes to play, but Banter began to put up more of a fight and only now were creating openings. Almost immediately Adkins and Rod linked up, played through Cling who sent Jewish in on goal to fire well wide. Wommy - now partnered up front by a desperate and struggling Hughes - got in behind the backline once or twice, on one occasion he turned out and laid a pass back to Cling which was fired comfortably over the crossbar. Village came on to replace Baird for the final 15 minutes and having not played in so long, the teenager did well to last the majority of the game. The back three had their bodies behind most shots and went in for some big challenges, Doc in particular had hard work in keeping the young and beefy Phoenix centre-forward at bay, but performed adequately throughout. Banter had another decent chance to get a consolation goal, after Adkins fired over from 25 yards and Cling was tackled in the penalty area, Hughes nipped past his marker down the left with ease, chipped in a cross for Jewish to meet and somehow nod over. It just wasn't to be at all. 4-0 it finished, Phoenix Athletic going through as deserved winners, so good luck to them in the next round. My feeling is we won't be the only one's from a higher division to come unstuck by this lot.

Man of the match: Parin 'Boma' Patel. He performed to a standard that was good enough. Unfortunately those around him in most areas weren't on the day, but Boma remained consistent, got his head to everything on his side and made some fantastic tackles all over the pitch. One block in the first half prevented a certain second goal and also let Jim off the hook in a big way!

Not a good way to end the season, but it's still been an enjoyable one nevertheless. A new league, a far more competitive one than last season and we're looking hopefully at a mid-table finish, which I think is better than some expected anyway! It's especially decent considering the start we made and also the players we've sorely missed throughout the season. Players who I hope we'll have around all of the time next term, along with a couple of potential new additions to give us a stronger squad every week. The Madras game, for me, showed the importance of going to places with 15 players and using 14.

What next? Well, due to a block booking we've actually got Monks Hill for a few more weeks. If you view it as nothing else, it's a kick around once a week and a bit of a laugh so I hope we can still get a few involved for the next 3-4 weeks. If we have enough interested, I may also look to arrange a friendly just as a last-last game to finish things off. I'll be looking to you guys to let me know if you fancy this.

The end of season awards night will be arranged, I will let you know well in advance when that will be (and also be asking you to vote as with last year). If you have concerns about dates and unavailbility, I'd speak up now to avoid disappointment. Though I imagine many won't miss a Saturday night drink-athon, since it's the Sunday mornings which prove more difficult.

Check back on the website regularly over the next month, there will be end of season stats, a write-up on every Banter player in the 08/09 season, videos, plus the usual fun and games. I'll also be sorting out the end of season DVD too, but be patient with that.

Thanks for your efforts this season lads. Lets stay in touch. x