Match Reports October 2010

Sunday 31st October 2010

League Challenge Cup, Ashburton School

Addiscombe Corinthians 3 - 16 Banter Central FC
  Ridders (3), Wommy (4), Brownie (5), Baird, Hughes (3)

Banter: Doc; Vidic, Tino, L.Dancer; Ridders, Gillardino, Wilkes, Hughes, Baird (Cling, 60); Wommy (J-Dot, 65), Brownie (Fintan, 70)

Match report by Chris Brown with Richard Clark

After turning up to the game early, Banter were looking very keen. When the referee turned up, he was keen to point out that this game would not be going to extra time. Under no circumstances. No siree. So that was a good start.

After a short warm up, Banter ditched the usual routine of letting Hughes take charge and instead let Brownie stand around and kick the ball at Baird. The game kicked off and Banter were firing on all cylinders. It should have been 3-0 in a matter of minutes, but several chances went begging as Brownie and Wommy both headed wide in the early goings. But goals from Talent and Wommy seemed like they might be enough to kill the game off early.

Some slack defending let Addiscombe's centre-forward through on goal, he coolly rounded Banter's stand-in keeper Doc (who tried his best to get an early bath, but failed) and finished into an empty net. This striker would go onto get a well deserved hat trick, which is a shame for the lad as this made no difference at all for his team.

Banter were not disturbed by this goal and continued pushing for more goals. Jim slipped a ball through for Brownie, which he latched onto and lobbed the goalkeeper before meeting the ball on the other side to tap away. Brownie got his second when he was assisted by Ridders and Wommy finished off arguably the move of the day after some fine work from Baird down the left allowed him to pass inside to Hughes, whose outside of the boot pass to Ridders was crossed in and tucked away on the spin by Banter's #11.

The chances were continually created and with a few glaring misses, it looked like they could be more important than they turned out to be. Wommy and Brownie completed hattricks, with Ridders adding a second and Baird getting on the scoresheet too. Though Addiscombe's striker scored a goal almost identical to the first, the score at half time was 9-2 and the game was effectively done and dusted. One quote coming from Vidic about Banter going onto score 13,14 or 15 goals gave a lot of people a laugh, but the big blonde monster certainly had a point. How right he turned out to be.

Banter started poorly in the second half, allowing Addiscombe in on goal early, which brought an excellent finish from the aforementioned striker who completed his hat trick. Could Banter really throw away a 7 goal lead in 45 minutes? No, is the answer. The goals started to flood in again with Hughes-dog taking as many chances as he could to chip the keeper, scoring a rather quick hattrick inside 13 minutes.

Adkins arrived rather confused: “When I arrived Hughes was through on goal and chipped the keeper. It was a good goal but nobody celebrated with him and I knew something was up. Either we were comfortably winning or getting absolutely battered; I thought the latter was more likely to be honest”. That's sort of true. Nobody celebrated with him because he's a selfish slag.

There was a ridiculous amount of offside decisions and some of them were even correct. Cling came on to replace Baird with half an hour remaining, whilst J-Dot came on for Wommy after he'd scored his fourth with a finish into the bottom corner. Birthday boy from a day previous, Fintan, played the last 20 minutes in place of Brownie, who ended up with five goals on the day.

J-Dot missed a tap-in at the back post that he'll have nightmares about and did tap away a rebound from a Hughes shot too, but was adjudged offside. The last kick of the game was Ridders, he converted a penalty after Jim had been brought down inside the area. The final score was 16-3.

Man of the match: Jim 'Legend Dancer' Manhire. Without him on the day, we simply would not have won the game... Er... OK, so he wasn't a goalscorer but it was a solid performance at the back in a position he's really become familiar and comfortable with. A good return to form and rightfully commended. Still, Ridley might think otherwise after 3 goals and 4 assists...

Comments from Brown & Cling: Only 5 different scorers. If you didn’t get on the score sheet and managed to get a few shots away in the game you really need to practice your shooting more. That said, Brownie missed more than he scored anyway. He just happens to be the furthest forward.16 goals, with no headers, no volleys, no free kicks and no 30 yard screamers. Are we that one dimensional? No. Because Ridley broke a club habit and scored a penalty. So there.You can only beat what's in front of you. It's an old cliche, of course, but it's true. It was taken to relentelessly levels. Addiscombe's results so far reflect that 16 goals against isn't the norm for them. We attacked with pace and conviction and got our rewards. If it was easy, everyone would score 16. So enjoy it, appreciate that we deserved it and genuinely played well, because it probably won't happen again.It had been coming. General opinion always changes once goals go in. A good performance can become a great one, just as it can become a poor one with a goal at the other end. We didn't do a lot differently to other matches and we arguably dominated possession here just as much as any other game recently. Granted, we might not always be afforded so much space in the final third elsewhere, but we have all the attributes to hurt teams in those areas.Hopefully that will be the kick start we need to get another cup win and take 9 points from the next 3 league games. No complacency here, of course, AFC Surrey won their league last season, whilst Madras and Barracuda have started the season very brightly. Not discounting Woodmansterne either, not only will they want revenge but our win in September was as narrow as it gets anyway. But nothing wrong with a bit of optimism.Full credit to Corinthians, it can be really easy to lose your cool once you are beaten like that. We've been there and though we managed to keep a lid on it as well, it aint a good feeling. As we experienced last season, it can happen to anyone. Our last game in next week's competition showed us that. We wish them good luck for the rest of the season.That ref is a donkey. But he was right about extra time and looked very confident, too.