October 2008 Match Reports

Sunday 26th October 2008

League, Ashburton Playing Fields

Santos 92 1 - 5 Banter Central FC
  Wommy (2), Tino, Boma, Lee

Team: Wuker; Boma, Tino, Bushy; Jewish, Fintan, Gillardino, Lee, Cling; Wommy, Shannon (Pasty, 15 mins)

The second win of the season, fully deserved and with some style too. Banter made one change to the team that beat Sanderstead the week previous, Shannon came in up front with Lick Me dropping to midfield in Legend Dancer's unannounced absence. Santos had the best of the play for the first 15 minutes and it resulted in an early goal when a throw-in down the left wing was allowed to get through several bodies before finally dropping to the captain to fire Santos into a 1-0 lead. Banter continued to battle and could have had a penalty when Shannon beat the goalkeeper to the ball and was clattered. So much so that he couldn't move his arm or shoulder and had to leave the pitch. Pasty came on and played down the left, Cling pushed up front to partner Wommy. The three linked up almost immediately as Fintan played it into Pasty by the corner, who in turn passed to Cling for him to skin his marker down the left, drive forward and play the ball into the path of Wommy - who'd made a fantastic run - he opened his body up and passed the ball into the far corner to make it 1-1. Banter continued to pile on the pressure in the half, Gill took 20 minutes to adjust as usual and then began bossing the game for the rest of the half, Fintan was making a nuisance of himself in the air and on the deck whilst Jewish provided width and cover - making a fantastic saving tackle with the game tightly poised. Cling and Wommy began to strike up a good understanding, playing one-two's in and out of the back four, another Cling through-ball was Wommy shoot and have his shot saved by the keeper. Shortly after, Cling was brought down 25 yards from goal which lead to Banter's second. The skipper stepped away for Tino to take, he did so with precision and power as his free-kick was pumped past the wall and into the bottom right corner to make it 2-1 to Banter. There was another penalty claim when Cling's corner appeared to be handled in front of goal and a 3rd should have been scored before the break when Tino's thunder-bolt free kick - this time 35 yards or so out - was only parried by the goalkeeper, Bushy's follow up on the rebound was embarrassing to say the least. Banter took a one goal advantage in at half time as they looked to build on their lead.

Like the first, Banter took a while to really get going in the second period, but the defence were remaining solid and Wuker was only troubled by crosses and speculative, long range efforts. Wommy was causing problems whether he was playing through the centre or going wide, one of his passes across the face of goal was so inviting for Cling, who like Paul Gascoigne at Euro '96, was an inch away from sliding the ball in. Mick was obviously in the mood for a goal, he took approximately 4,000 shots from outside the area, but it really didn't look like his day as his teammates sometimes appeared as frustrated as he was. A 3rd eventually arrived when Boma was tidying up at the back, he smashed a ball over the top for Wommy to chase, beat his marker and slide the ball away to get the all important 3rd. He had a chance for his hattrick too when Cling slipped him in on goal, only for the goalkeeper to make a good save and concede a corner. There were warning signs at the other end though as Santos picked off a few too many headers in the penalty area which were either dealt with well by Wuker or somehow forced wide. Bushy was guilty of tripping his marker when one-on-one to concede a free-kick and Wuker tipped a powerful strike onto his crossbar soon after. But after a 5-minute spell of set-pieces being defended, Banter scored their 4th and best goal of the day. A corner was cleared, which Cling ran and latched onto down the right, he ran 30 yards into space and upon looking up found support in numbers as Banter counter-attacked perfectly. He looked up to see Boma and Wommy furthest forward, slipped in Wommy on the edge of the area, he back-heeled for Bom, one touch to set, another to pass the ball into the bottom-left corner. Sensational goal and celebrated by the whole team - Wuker included. Banter continued to create chances to extend the lead and a 5th came soon after when Fintan kneed the ball into the air from a cross down the right, Lick Me saw his chance and volleyed in from 10 yards to score his first goal for Banter Central. Fucking finally. The slow, calm passing game continued as Banter saw out the remainder of the game and took away 3 very well deserved points.

How everyone faired...

Wuker - 8 - Comfortable, confident and without having too much to do managed to stop enough to keep Banter in with a chance at 2-1.

Boma - 10 - Man of the match. An assist and goal are only in addition to his actual role as centre-half, of which he was fantastic at again. Won countless headers, reduced the attacking threat to near zero after Santos' goal was scored and covered for others when needed. His goal though, was unbelievable.

Tino - 8 - Solid for the most part, organised well and didn't let the attack get the better of him. His free-kick was shit, anyone could've scored that.

Bushy - 8 - Another who is looking really confident thriving in his current role - even though he'd prefer to be up front. As good a stopper as he is looking for that forward pass or run. Very naughty foul to stop a one-on-one as well, I love a bit of that.

Jewish - 8 - Another really hard-working and good performance. His role can, as pointed out the week before, go a bit unnoticed such is the importance on defending first and then attacking, but it's playing to his strengths and he offered good width as well as tackling going back.

Fintan - 8 - Probably won 10% of the headers he went up for such was the mis-match in size through centre-midfield, but he managed to cause problems by challenging awkwardly 90% of the time. Kept it simple in possession (bar that 5 minute spell 2nd half, I dunno what that was) and worked hard.

Gillardino - 9 - You could be one on one with the goalkeeper, him 20 yards behind and I think he'd still want the ball from you. Demands it, gives it easy, demands it again and all the while the rest make runs to open things up. It's ridiculously easy, or at least he makes it look that way.

Lee - 8 - Finally got his goal after numerous attempts, but drove through midfield well and was a constant threat. I think he's left footed.

Cling - 8 - Moved position and got involved immediately. Finally found some form recently, set up play nicely and grabbed a couple more assists.

Wommy - 10 - His first chance got Banter back in the game, his second goal was that all important 3rd, he flicked on to assist the 4th and was an absolute menace throughout.

Shannon - n/a - His unfortunate injury meant his morning was short-lived. Hope you're ok buddy.

Pasty - 8 - His best game in a Banter shirt. Or any shirt. Came on and brought that much needed width, look comfortable to give a simple ball to the forwards or inside, tracked ball well and was the FAGs favourite to score a 6th. One step at a time, girls.

I don't know about you, but I quite enjoyed that. I'll continue to enjoy it as well so long as we play as well for each other like that every week. The football was good to watch, we were disciplined and we looked interested as well. The league is tightly poised and with some battling and more goals like the last couple of weeks we could push right up it. Training is block booked for every Thursday now, 9pm at Monks Hill. Lets keep that up as I think it's also doing us some good too. Well done everyone today, first class.