Match Reports October 2010

Sunday 3rd October 2010

League, Purley Way 22

Selsdon FC 4 - 3 Banter Central FC
  Brownie, Ridders, Hughes

Banter: Tyler; Vidic (Boma, 60), Doc (J-Dot, 80), Tino; Ridders, Wilkes, Fintan (Baird, 70), Hughes, Cling; Wommy, Brownie

After a promising pre-season run and good win to kick the season off, it all came to a halt against Selsdon for Banter.

A lack of energy and fight have been cited as good reasons for the disappointing performance, but following a good warm-up before the match, it was Banter who got off to the best of starts. With quick passing at a premium and overloading the penalty area, the ball fell to Fintan inside the box, which he smashed goalwards with good accuracy, seeing his shot saved but parried only to Brownie to tuck away the rebound and make the scores 0-1 inside 5 minutes.

Banter’s opening 10 minutes looked promising, but Selsdon FC were not deterred by going a goal behind. They fought back strongly and took advantage of Banter’s ever so generous nature. The home sides left winger picked up the ball on the half way line and made a quick run down the touchline, veering inside to evade challenges from Vidic and Ridders and striking a powerful shot into the bottom corner to give Tyler no chance. That made the scores 1-1.

Selsdon soon took the lead, too, when a Banter attack was broken down when Wilkes’ attempted pass forward was cut out, Selsdon broke forward at pace and swept the ball down the right, which Cling was neither in position for or alert enough to deal with following the breakaway and it allowed the winger to take an early shot into the far corner and make the scores 2-1.

The home side grabbed a third from the penalty spot, when a bouncing ball was adjudged to have struck Hughes on the arm. The kick was confidently placed into the bottom left corner. It was 3-1 to Selsdon in no time at all.

There were still 20 minutes remaining of the half after a frantic start to the match and Banter had a few good chances to pull goals back before the break. Fintan saw a powerful strike fly narrowly past the crossbar from the edge of the area and Brownie had a well driven shot saved by the goalkeeper, which looked certain to go out for a corner, but just as the referee raised his arm in the direction of the corner flag, the ball changed direction thanks to the strong wind and the goalkeeper was able to collect. That just about summed up the Purley Way pitch, though Banter were often not learning from it or taking advantage, hitting several deep free kicks towards the edge of the area only to see it swerve out thanks to the weather conditions.

Banter’s chances of pulling a goal back continued to increase, a run down the left from Cling saw him skip past two defenders and pass inside for Wommy, who hit a stinging effort on goal which the goalkeeper got away to safety. Hughes continued to make surging runs from deep and one such gallop forward was on the break as he dribbled through the centre from the halfway line, using Brownie and Wommy as decoys on either wing, Hughes moved on with the ball and eventually found Brownie inside the area, but his touch just evaded him as the goalkeeper collected.

Undoubtedly the best chance to pull a goal back though was when an in form Brownie was hauled down inside the area and earnt his side a penalty. Brownie took the kick himself, but saw his effort saved by the goalkeepers trailing feet.

With the wind and pitch slope in Banter’s favour for the second half, the game ought to have been there for the taking. Selsdon had won too many 50-50 balls in the first period and seen many of their set pieces fly past the Banter goal unchallenged; but the second half saw the away side perform far better for the most part and totally dominate possession.

The gap in scoreline was narrowed within 5 minutes of the restart, Cling dispossessing his marker and sliding Brownie down the line on the left, Brownie had made a terrific run and got forward to find a cross, which just evaded Wommy. The clearing header fell back to Ridders on the edge of the area, he expertly guided the ball into the far corner with his instep to make the scores 3-2. It takes a special kind of talent to find a gap like that and though his delivery wasn’t what he would like to call his best all morning, he certainly had the accuracy on this occasion.

But within a few minutes of seemingly starting to claw the game back, Banter made a real mess of things at the back that gave Selsdon a two goal cushion again. Beginning from a Selsdon goal kick which was headed into Banter’s half, the away side gained possession and began to pass the ball between two or three team-mates. A ball back to Vidic was played with barely any communication on the edge of the area, which Tyler came rushing out to meet and passed 5 yards into Vidic’s path, only for Selsdon’s striker to pounce and pass into an empty net. He could barely believe his luck at making it 4-2.

Having chopped down his opponent to prevent a breakaway, Vidic was booked shortly after and substituted by Boma for the remaining half an hour. Boma could feel hard done by for not starting the match as part of Banter’s rotation policy, particularly given his assured and energetic performance when he came on, cutting out countless headers and coming across to cover as his team threw more and more bodies forward in search of a goal. Like Vidic before him, he did also get booked himself with seconds of the match remaining for dissent, having claimed the refs decision for a non-tackle by Hughes: “a load of shit”, which quite frankly it was. But that isn’t to condone swearing at officials, of course.

Banter’s kitchen sink began to creep out of a bag that was presumably left at Greenacres or Riddlesdown – which if it was, Ridley could quite easily have gone and collected it – and started to get thrown when Baird came on to replace Fintan, who’d put in a good shift in central midfield, and give Banter another outlet with which to use. Wommy had a chance with a one on one which got away from him, Cling had a half volley cleared off the line, Tino saw his deep free kick parried past the post as it evaded everyone and Wilkes struck the crossbar with a glorious effort from distance.

Now playing two at the back, with J-Dot on for Doc, Banter pulled a goal back with less than 2 minutes remaining. Some good persevering in midfield from Wommy found Cling, who swept the ball wide for Baird, he cut inside and was brought down but a good advantage was played as Hughes curled a low shot into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Too little, too late. Selsdon FC saw the game out and deservedly took all 3 points with a 4-3 win.

Man of the match: Dan ‘The Alternative Euro’ Wilkes. He worked hard throughout and was very unlucky not to score from an effort he should arguably attempt more often in a similar position. Brought lots of energy in the second half and had the legs to venture forward plenty to help get a goal. The overload of votes was a bit puzzling (or just lazy) though.

More thoughts and analysis... Nothing to shit ourselves about, no point in exaggerating. It was a disappointing loss and it’d been coming – based on the last few games – following some back and forth play that was brilliant one second and questionable another. But Selsdon thoroughly deserved their victory.Generosity killed the cat, I think is the saying. No? Well it is here. Seemingly every time we make a silly mistake we get punished. Perhaps whenever the opposition makes one we are also quick to pounce (Wommy cutting out a pass-back against Woodmansterne, for example); but the only lesson is that we have to know we’re going to get punished if we’re not concentrating, not on our toes, not set to deal with what’s in front of us. So call us unlucky, but we need to organise ourselves and make sure we don’t allow such careless goals to go in as all four were gift-wrapped for Selsdon. Even in victory over the past few games, the warnings were made. Selsdon and Hamsey were not quite so generous as Sanderstead and Woodmansterne, for example. Others won’t be either. But these are just words. We know we shouldn’t do it.Brownie remarked, on a similar theme, that we seem to work hard for 80-85 minutes and in a 5 minute spell, split over the course of the match, it lets us down. Well then there’s a simple answer – everyone would need to put in the extra 5-10 minutes. It won’t hurt that much more either, considering.Chipping the ball over a defence 30 yards from their goal doesn’t work. 99 times from 100, anyway. Our striker’s faces tell you it doesn’t work. The opposing goalkeeper as he collects easily/lets it run wide of his post would also tell you if he was an honest chap. I cannot remember us scoring like this, ever (from so close). It’s execution is so difficult -gettingt the ball up and down - it’s awkward to control and more often than not, it gets away from its recipient and goes out. A long ball over the top – centrally or out wide – can be effective and with the pace Banter has, it’s definitely an outlet on occasion – but from 50, 60, 70 yards from the opposing goal, if need be. If there isn’t a way through, there just isn’t, don’t force it, keep hold of the ball until we’re ready, like Grolsch. So if that initial pass doesn’t come from further back and you are at that 30 yard range, you are now in a position to do one of three things: 1.) Pass wide and load the box ready for a cross, 2.) Pass through the defence along the deck or to your recipients feet, 3.) Move forward and shoot. A slide rule pass, along the deck, through the middle of the centre-backs from close range on the other hand, that might work.Having gone behind 4-2, we did to our credit chase and chase and chase and worked hard. We did try to get the goals and we did go close. We got fresh legs on, we got bodies forward, we worked for one another. Though we didn’t get a result, one late goal was better than nothing. It at least felt like we got somewhere, even if we ran out of time in the end.Hughes, Wommy and Brownie mustered a counter-attack in the first half expertly. The numerical advantage on the break is something practiced in training and the two centre-forwards splitting as they did allowed the move to work perfectly. A final touch was all that was needed and there’ll be more chances to get that right again, given the pace and energy throughout the team.We dominated the second half. Yes, that means it's all a bit Arsenal and we should've done more, but we controlled the game for the second 45, nevertheless. Undoubtedly a positive.Despite specific instruction to get it wide to him as much as possible, Baird didn’t see nearly enough of the ball when he came on. His best opportunity was when he came inside and – though inadvertently whilst being fouled – assisted Hughes’ late goal. We must use our assets.Three of Banter’s last four penalty misses have been struck down the centre. The other missed the target altogether, you may recall. Ask Tyler how easy it is to get a hand to a penalty placed in the bottom corner. If you can do that, you’re up next (find the corner, not ask Tyler).Let's learn from the loss and bounce back with a win.Does anyone miss Portland?