Mens 3rd's vs Cov Sikh Union, 24/01/2009

Derby Asterdale 1 – Coventry Sikh Union 0

The match started a bit late due to a frozen pitch which meant we were stuck on the sideline for what felt like an eternity. Despite this there seemed to be electricity in the air, with the lads on a high from last weeks match (a 4-1 away win against the league leaders) and chomping on the bit to start.

This week we welcomed back some blasts-from-the-past in the shape of Chris (Nutkins) Towner and Des (I hope I don’t soil myself) Pope.

We started from the off with our new found tactic of trying to keep the ball- for the last couple of years we’ve been “the gentlemen” of the league, kindly sharing the ball with the opposition so that they didn’t feel left out and unwanted. However, it’s all changed now, from the off we kept the ball well and worked short push passes about the pitch and eventually we got our reward it the form of a weird goal. To be honest im still not sure how it happened- but Dave Green claimed it, from what I remember hammering the ball into the goal from about an inch out as it rolled towards the line- some might say he did the right thing making sure of the goal, others might say he was like a vulture that fed on the rotting carcass of a goal he barely deserved.

We had all the possession and territory but struggled to find the second goal we deserved, we were just lacking the final killer pass and touch. Someone, and I’m afraid I cant remember who, missed a tricky chance from about a meter out, but other than that our clean cut chances on goal were limited despite our possession. And when we did manage to get a shot on goal we also found the Sikh Union keeper was on good form.

The second half was much like the first. Although we were starting to get more chances on goal as the game became stretched, with Sikh Union also looking dangerous on the break with a couple of quick and skilful players up front. We had a number of short corners in the second half, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot by hitting the ball above the backboard (something I’m usually famed for) when we should have kept the ball on the ground or taken a flick. Talking of flicks… when we did eventually keep a shot on the ground we were unlucky not to score, the ball looked destined for the bottom corner but was somehow stopped on the line and pushed to safety. Sikh Union thought they should have had a flick at the other end as they caught us on the break and caused a defensive scramble in the D. Lucky for us the eagle-eyed umpires were quick to spot that, amongst the melee, the ball had in fact hit the foot of a Coventry player first, and not one of ours- so in the end justice prevailed.

Ultimately, we were unlucky not to score the goal that our dominance deserved, in the second half we did everything but put the ball over the line. Paul (the thug) Nielson had the ball in the back of the net at one point (a fine top-corner effort) but the goal was chalked off for being dangerous. Something which Paul continues to dispute, despite the fact that it took a slight deflection off the eyebrows of the defender…

So, all in all it was a hard fought win, one in which everyone put in 100% and if we hadn’t won it would have been a massive injustice. Its hard to award MOTM this week as everyone put in a great shift, but I think this week it should go to Dave Green, the little man with the big heart. The man had a cracking game in the middle of the pitch, like a little sweaty dynamo getting stuck-in all over the place.

Im afraid I haven’t mentioned many names in today’s report (all the running I did during the game must have meant I didn’t get a chance to see and remember exactly who did what- so it’s a good job Chris will be back to do the match reports soon as I know he doesn’t suffer from the same problem), but I don’t think this matters as it was a great team performance that got us the win.

Next week the promotion bandwagon heads to Worksop. On our current form, anything less than a win will be a poor result…

Pete (The Feet) Chesney

Pete, Pete, Pete...........

If only you were this creative on the pitch

But seriously guys - keep it up - know it wasn't your best performance on Saturday but from what I saw you looked pretty solid and impressive.