Melbourn 1 - 3 Jagex
Fardell, Brooks, Balls, O'Neil, Winfield, Morgan, Scottish Dave, Lovell, Jon Hare, Usman, Adam, Murby, Some Guy Called Chris
First up, I'm really sorry. I spent the evening before this game dressed as Patrick Swayze, and had one too many Jaegarbombs - so a) I was late (having gone to the wrong ground); and b) my recollection is less than perfect.
This was also the weekend of the "worst storm ever", which disturbed one branch near my flat, and upset a cat on the corner near work. A new week brings new recruits, and we seem to have new employees every week, none of whom I recognise. As I was 10 minutes late, Brooks kindly donned the gloves whilst I found the ground. I also missed our first goal (which I'll give to Adam Ryman - I gather he did very well to score), and had to get dressed by the side of the pitch. Woe is me.
The early exchanges were characterised by periods of Jagex dominance, which fell to Pete, and Pete did his best to miss all opportunities presented to him. All I really saw in my first ten minutes were Winfield, Usman and Adam setting Pete up, and Pete missing it. He also got bundled over a bit.
The back four for Jagex this week was spot on, with O'Neil and Balls forming a formidable partnership in the centre, Murby put his hard earned muscles to good use at left back, and Scottish Dave used his tartan skills at right back. The whole first half didn't see any Jagex goal action, as the back four was as solid as Hadrian's wall, before it got really old and fell apart that is.
The midfield were generally holding their own, with Winfield playing anchor, and Usman and Piers taking on creative duties. We had a new winger this week, Chris I think, and he ran around and hit the ball to places. Piers did some stuff, as did Dave and Adam. Honestly, I was feeling rather ropey, so details are on the light side for the first half. We got in at 1-0 up, and people looked fine, apart from me.
The second half we were slightly more against the wind. The back four were still solid. A few changes saw Brooks and Hare get involved at the back. There were some marauding runs, by Piers, a cracking bit of play from Usman, and some excellent fight from Chris on the left. Adam was also settling in nicely in the centre, and was supporting Piers on a few runs and jinky little interchanges. There were a few fouls, but it was generally an even tempered match.
The ref really should have gone to specsavers though, as he made some awful calls on who should get a goal kick/corner/throw-in. Winfield had been doing his Mathieu Flamini style little Corporal impression in the centre, winning tackles here and there. He was involved in a brief period of handbags with any opposition player after a spicy tackle, but generally keep his eye on the ball.
Piers eventually skipped down the right with ease, clipped the ball over the keeper, Usman did really well to flick it to the back post and Pete finally hit the target with a header. 2-0 to the Jagex.
From the re-start, Melbourn exerted some more pressure on the ball, and eventually after some dilly-dallying on the edge of the box, Brooks couldn't quite out-muscle a Melbourn player. The player used the space to pull off a shot, and Fardell allowed it to go through the massive gap between his legs (Doh!).
Heads briefly dropped, since the goalkeeping mistake was so bad that people must've thought that anything was going in (a bit like when Derek played in goal). We conceded a few corners and Lovell helped out manfully at the back. With their tails up, Melbourn managed to get a few shots away, but nothing particularly exciting. Scottish Dave tried to relieve the pressure on the right by playing out of defence.
One corner saw a wonderful sight, Fardell came out, shouted "keepers", and did his best dragon punch impression to clear the ball. The last time I came for a corner was in 2006.
After soaking up about 10 minutes of pressure, Jagex landed the killer blow. Usman laid off to Piers, Piers went on one of those runs, a masterclass in poise, balance and accuracy, he skipped past a whole host of Melbourn players and expertly slotted home. I'm not sure what we'd do without him.
It got a little windier at the end. Fardell punched another one clear from a corner (!), Lovell intercepted a few and the referee made some more atrocious errors in judgment. 3-1 the final result. Melbourn may have knocked us out of the cup, but we're a league team through and through.
27 October 2013
13 October 2013
Jagex Destroyed by Dobblers
Jagex 1 - 12 Dobblers.
I wasn't at this game - so here is what I got from the masses.
Derek Wise (a US citizen) played in goal for the first ever time in kickball. It was a debut to remember, as he conceded 9 goals in 30 action packed minutes.
I understand Pete had 13 players, but for some reason decided to start with 10 on the field and 3 substitutes.
He also decided to initiate Derek's debut in goal by winning the toss and choosing, deliberately, to play into the wind (which I understand was gale force) in the first half. Captain Fantastic.
Everyone was sad at the end. People were so sad, that they thought we had lost 13-1, when in fact the official record shows we only lost 12-1. So it wasn't all that bad.
And there you go.
I wasn't at this game - so here is what I got from the masses.
Derek Wise (a US citizen) played in goal for the first ever time in kickball. It was a debut to remember, as he conceded 9 goals in 30 action packed minutes.
I understand Pete had 13 players, but for some reason decided to start with 10 on the field and 3 substitutes.
He also decided to initiate Derek's debut in goal by winning the toss and choosing, deliberately, to play into the wind (which I understand was gale force) in the first half. Captain Fantastic.
Everyone was sad at the end. People were so sad, that they thought we had lost 13-1, when in fact the official record shows we only lost 12-1. So it wasn't all that bad.
And there you go.
6 October 2013
Jagex Mugged by Melbourn
Jagex 0 - 1 Melbourn Sundays
Team - Fardell, Walther, O'Neill, Jens, Pickett, Winfield, Gaz, Shaun, Danno, Piers, Pete
Subs - Sam, Dominic, Scottish Dave
This was a game that should have been won, but was sadly lost, although credit to Melbourn for fighting right to the end in the first cup game Jagex has lost this season.
Early on it was all Jagex positivity, with one particular passage of play seeing a left to right ball picking out Ben, he exchanged nicely with Shaun, and forced a decent attack. Rolling subs were used liberally throughout the early stages, so it was hard to keep track.
Fardell demonstrated early on why he plays in goal - fluffing a clearance from a simple Daz backpass, before recovering well to tip the ball wide. Daz and Jens were dovetailing well, and helped push some attacks from the back, and Pickett, Winfield and Gaz combined to give Pete a free header in the six yard box. Pete gently cushioned this back to the opposition keeper, in a bit of a woopsie moment.
Winfield, Danno and Piers also interchanged well, in one attack that was blazed over the bar. Close to half time my abiding memories were of terrible chat - with two chaps talking about FTSE performance over the previous week and some cheeky bugger interjecting with "I don't know about Stocks and Shares, but I know a lot about footsie". Scottish Dave was rolling subbed off, and Daz shouted to him "are you off because you're injured or because you're s@&te". Charming.
The game was being played at a tempo, but was quite scrappy. Pickett made some lovely runs down the left, and a subtle interchange with Winfield that sent him free to cross was worth the price of admission on its own. Jens then secured a yellow, and a £10 fine, for doing a swear, the worst swear in the English language. I said the same word two minutes later, but I directed it at Pete, so the referee wasn't bothered. I also took some of my own goal kicks. Half time came.
Immediately after half time, Jagex went on a bit of a standard snooze. A big kick from one of their players saw Jens step up, miss it completely, and left Daz trying to cover 2 Melbourn players. It bounced kindly for one, and he lashed it in.
From the point at which they scored, until the end of the game, the opposition wined and whinged and moaned, content as they were to try and take time out of the game and get the 1-0 win. The oldest player for Melbourn, or indeed to play football anywhere in the land, spent a lot of time as a linesman waving his flag and showing off his manly white Hasselhoff chest rug. Please wear a shirt next time you go out in public chum - only Peter Andre can get away with that.
With about 20 minutes to go, Fardell turned a screamer round his left hand post. This sparked a period of Jagex possession, with Danno absolutely certain to score from a Gaz layoff at the end of it, when all of 8 yards out, but he saw his shot blocked by a miraculous last ditch defensive tackle.
One of the Melbourn chaps then had a shot from 60 yards. I was content to let it go until one of their players screamed "it's going in", so I scrambled back and caught it instead. Piers then blazed over from a corner, Sam beat the keeper and headed it just over, and Jagex had corner after corner after corner.
The ref was getting slightly miffed at the bad nature of the game and the language, but kept things under control. From one corner Pete rose well, got a firm header on it, but hit the crossbar.
Jagex were on top for much of the game, and really should have nicked one, but I don't remember their keeper making a tough save, as we squandered all the opportunities presented in a slightly odd game. Ah well, we don't like cup runs away.
Team - Fardell, Walther, O'Neill, Jens, Pickett, Winfield, Gaz, Shaun, Danno, Piers, Pete
Subs - Sam, Dominic, Scottish Dave
This was a game that should have been won, but was sadly lost, although credit to Melbourn for fighting right to the end in the first cup game Jagex has lost this season.
Early on it was all Jagex positivity, with one particular passage of play seeing a left to right ball picking out Ben, he exchanged nicely with Shaun, and forced a decent attack. Rolling subs were used liberally throughout the early stages, so it was hard to keep track.
Fardell demonstrated early on why he plays in goal - fluffing a clearance from a simple Daz backpass, before recovering well to tip the ball wide. Daz and Jens were dovetailing well, and helped push some attacks from the back, and Pickett, Winfield and Gaz combined to give Pete a free header in the six yard box. Pete gently cushioned this back to the opposition keeper, in a bit of a woopsie moment.
Winfield, Danno and Piers also interchanged well, in one attack that was blazed over the bar. Close to half time my abiding memories were of terrible chat - with two chaps talking about FTSE performance over the previous week and some cheeky bugger interjecting with "I don't know about Stocks and Shares, but I know a lot about footsie". Scottish Dave was rolling subbed off, and Daz shouted to him "are you off because you're injured or because you're s@&te". Charming.
The game was being played at a tempo, but was quite scrappy. Pickett made some lovely runs down the left, and a subtle interchange with Winfield that sent him free to cross was worth the price of admission on its own. Jens then secured a yellow, and a £10 fine, for doing a swear, the worst swear in the English language. I said the same word two minutes later, but I directed it at Pete, so the referee wasn't bothered. I also took some of my own goal kicks. Half time came.
Immediately after half time, Jagex went on a bit of a standard snooze. A big kick from one of their players saw Jens step up, miss it completely, and left Daz trying to cover 2 Melbourn players. It bounced kindly for one, and he lashed it in.
From the point at which they scored, until the end of the game, the opposition wined and whinged and moaned, content as they were to try and take time out of the game and get the 1-0 win. The oldest player for Melbourn, or indeed to play football anywhere in the land, spent a lot of time as a linesman waving his flag and showing off his manly white Hasselhoff chest rug. Please wear a shirt next time you go out in public chum - only Peter Andre can get away with that.
With about 20 minutes to go, Fardell turned a screamer round his left hand post. This sparked a period of Jagex possession, with Danno absolutely certain to score from a Gaz layoff at the end of it, when all of 8 yards out, but he saw his shot blocked by a miraculous last ditch defensive tackle.
One of the Melbourn chaps then had a shot from 60 yards. I was content to let it go until one of their players screamed "it's going in", so I scrambled back and caught it instead. Piers then blazed over from a corner, Sam beat the keeper and headed it just over, and Jagex had corner after corner after corner.
The ref was getting slightly miffed at the bad nature of the game and the language, but kept things under control. From one corner Pete rose well, got a firm header on it, but hit the crossbar.
Jagex were on top for much of the game, and really should have nicked one, but I don't remember their keeper making a tough save, as we squandered all the opportunities presented in a slightly odd game. Ah well, we don't like cup runs away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)