November 2008 Match Reports

Sunday 23rd November 2008

League Cup Round 1, Mayfield Road

Purley Phoenix 5 - 1 Banter Central FC
  Adkins

Team: Wuker; Boma, Tino, Bushy; Village (Adkins, 46 mins), Fintan, Jewish, L.Dancer, Pasty; Hore, Wommy (Cling, 7 mins)

The scoreline doesn't tell the whole story. It's been said before and sometimes that's just the way it is. Late 3rd, 4th and 5th Purley goals meant Banter Central could still leave the pitch heads held high after what was an injury struck game in terrible weather conditions. The pitch, despite not being in the Keith Tuckey stadium, looked in nice condition prior to kick off, but the rain meant that it didn't hold up for very long and a mud bath generated down the middle third of the pitch. The game was well played out and fairly evenly balanced, but Banter were dealt a killer blow when top goalscorer Wommy limped off with a little over 5 minutes played after pulling his hamstring. Cling's introduction was premature, he joined Hore up front for the first 15 minutes of his arrival. Banter's best chance of the half fell to Jewish, after some lovely passing between Rod Fintan, Cling and Jewish himself, Rod's ball through gave him a chance but his shot cleared the target comfortably. Purley were able to have more long range efforts, of which Wuker was equal to them every time. He plucked one out from the top corner which was superb, he parried one over the bar that was even better, his finest was low to his right which he pushed up and away for a corner. There was a switch around mid-way through the half for Banter, which saw Cling move into central midfield and Rod push up front with Hore. Purley hit a few long balls over the top, of which Tino was always equal to aerially, whilst Boma was having a great game putting in challenges all over the field - one slide tackle in particular was a goal saving challenge in the area timed to perfection. After a tight affair and the referee's whistle for half time looming, Phoenix managed to get a shot off from 25 yards from the right which was a screamer, with Wuker fully out-stretched, he got a hand to it but could only watch in despair as it cannoned in off the post. Banter touched the ball to re-start and half time arrived instantly. 1-0 Purley Phoenix.

Banter made one change at the break: Adkins - who went into central midfield - for Village, which meant Jewish moved wide right. The blues began the second half brightly, Adkins, Cling and Legend Dancer did their best to keep hold of possession, whilst Pasty and Jewish continued to get up and down as best they could to support attack and defence. Banter had what appeared to be a terrific chance to get in on goal, Cling's long run through the midfield saw him slide Rod through behind the defence, he was adjudged to have been offside rather late and rather unconvincingly too. Adkins attempted to get a few long range efforts off, his best chance working the keeper low to his right. Still Phoenix attacked and still there was no more break-through, with Wuker plucking everything out of the air with confidence, anything further forward was headed away by the unit of Banter's towering centre-backs. Mid-way through the half, Phoenix broke and did get their second. There was relief for those in red, despair for those in blue. By now, it was hammering it down and it was as slippery as it was difficult to keep the ball moving. After a poor clearance out of defence by Purley, Cling fed Rod who in turn played a lovely ball through to send Hore in on goal, he took his shot on well, but the keeper's finger tips meant it thundered back off the crossbar. With 15 minutes to go of a knock-out cup tie, Banter took a risk and the risk left the defence exposed a lot more. Adkins pushed up front and Bushy was technically still in defence, but his upfield runs were as adventurous as they were dangerous. Still, Banter needed a goal and left Purley wiping their brows after a succession of crosses into the box were not given the final touch to get that vital goal. Wuker continued to keep goal superbly well, his best save of this half - having already tipped multiple shots over the bar - was the dive to his left which saw him parry an almost certain goal around his post to concede a corner. But unfortunately, a lack of composure at the other end left Banter walking a tight rope, Purley got in scored a 3rd - a low and hard effort smashed into the bottom corner, a 4th which was played across the penalty area of which Bushy tried to cut out and deflected the ball in and finally a 5th which saw Purley's centre-back run a long way to blast his shot into the far corner of the net. There was a consolation goal at the end, Adkins won himself a free-kick 25 yards out and swung in his shot through the middle of the goal, which the goalkeeper didn't deal with and saw it sail over him and in. 5-1 was how it finished, in an end-to-end game that was played out like a proper cup tie. Whatever that is.

The ratings...

Wuker - 10 - Man of the match. A goalkeeper who let in 5 goals got man of the match and a 10/10? Just trust me. He could've let in 15 goals. 5 routine catches or saves which the week previous he wouldn't have made and 5 more outstanding stops that lifted the whole team. This was a different goalkeeper, with confidence and not watching shots fly 2 feet either side of him for a change. This is the goalkeeper we want for the rest of the season.

Boma - 10 - Superb. Won a ridiculous amount of headers, was as tight to his marker as can be without ever being turned, made tackle after tackle after tackle, a few in the first half that saved the team's bacon and didn't make a single individual error that I can recall.

Tino - 9 - Lead by example as the stand-in captain and was as organised and vocal as he was difficult to beat. Last season's player's player of the year has set himself high standards, but this was as good as any.

Bushy - 7 - Very solid and looks to be working wonderfully with his defence. A little costly in possession on one or two occasions - if he trained more often it might help! - but isn't afraid to get forward and put their midfield on the backfoot.

Village - 5 - Struggled through with injury, but all credit for battling hard up and down the right hand side in the first half. Without even beginning to work on anything else, if he's more vocal he'd automatically be a lot better.

Jewish - 6 - Worked hard in central midfield and had a couple of decent chances to give Banter the lead. Moved wide in the second half and although his marker was causing problems, did play a lot deeper than usual and didn't offer a tremendous amount in the way of crosses going forward.

Fintan - 8 - Chased down a hell of a lot in the first half whilst in midfield, caused problems when he moved up front too. As a forward - and if he is to play there again - needs to come and collect the ball more often because when he did, it began many good attacking moves. Overall, a bright spark who's raised his game massively over the last couple of weeks.

L.Dancer - 7 - Big in the tackle and kept playing ticking over as much as possible. In possession, he can control a game with his simple passes and excellent first touch, but the over-elaborate is still something he loves to go and try. Communicated well with his midfield though and organised all 4 that played with him in there.

Pasty - 6 - Was put on the backfoot a lot by a winger with both pace and skill. Some of his challenges and headers were well timed and executed, sometimes was very casual in getting tight and preventing a cross. Like Deano, had a difficult morning doing a lot of off the ball running.

Hore - 4 - Aside from his chance to pull the scores back to 2-1, there isn't a lot else of note to be said. Carrying an injury though he was, losing your way by being petulant, argumentative and generally not looking interested - something he's crucified others for whilst on the sidelines the last few weeks - is not an excuse.

Wommy - n/a - His exit was costly. Even after the game, Phoenix said we lacked something up front and that something was sadly stood on the sidelines for 83 minutes holding his hamstring. Get well soon mate.

Cling - 7 - Began as sub and was called into action because of that selfish #11. Ran the distance, won a lot of headers and tried to link up play as often as possible, creating a few half chances.

Adkins - 7 - Ten minutes was followed by twenty in game 2, his 3rd game bringing forty-five. All credit to him, he had good feet, good vision and scored his first goal in 14 months. It goes without saying that his fitness will need to improve, but the important thing is that he's back playing and that will bring quality to the team as well as confidence to those around him.

It seems strange to be happy with a performance that saw the team get thrashed. But 5-1 in fairness was very flattering to Purley Phoenix, if they don't mind me saying. The battling and fight was what impressed me most, we just lacked composure and cutting edge. As I've always said, if we just give it 100% then we can't complain too much and you'll also enjoy it a lot more. Again, despite the loss, many did seem to find it an enjoyable game. On with the league again now, more of the positives from today and another result is just around the corner for us.