Remembering the last time...

15/9/05 19:30 Match Fourteen vs Roystone Rangers
LOSE 11-14
1.Matt 3.Don 5.Leo 6.Robbie 9.Gareth

“Come and I’ll take you under, this beautiful bruise’s colours. Everything fades in time, it’s true”.

It was somewhat fitting that our final game in division four should be against our fellow alumni, Roystone Rangers, the only other team to have been ever present in the mediocrity of the middle third. Fitting too, that we clashed in a bottom of the bin, bargain basement six-pointer, with the Rangers three points behind the Mollys before the start of the match. But like an open invitation to a leaving party, the number of friends conspicuous by their absence was telling. Still, long time injured Jon, wearing his perfunctory denim jacket/jeans combo, and Delia, Don’s better half, honoured us with their presence, as a five man Molly team took a final swig at the last chance saloon.

While Robbie and Gareth were no speed daters to a full-on fifty minutes of hot-blooded outfield action, for Don and Leo, this would prove a useful test of skill and stamina, respectively. With Don holding rock in defence alongside Robbie, Leo finally embraced his destiny as goal-stalking striker (and therefore his ascendancy to most versatile Molly player) alongside a fully super-charged Gareth. Matt was hoping to end the season with a brief sojourn into the outfield, a feeling in his water that he could get on the scoring sheet, given a chance to pull the trigger foot.

As has always been the case against the Rangers, whichever team has the better start, will go on to dictate the play. But while the Mollys were getting acclimatised to a completely bonkers 1 in 166,320 line-up, Roystone started hardest and fastest, hitting the ball with pace, shooting goalwards at the merest sight of Garfield’s whiskers, and playing some clever possession football, retreating back to their sweeper when needed.

Of course, this didn’t stop the Mollys exploiting the Rangers’ obvious weakness – their skill on the ball - raining down challenges and slamming in tackles, as every ball was up for a 50-50 grabbing. Don was enjoying his responsibility in the heart of the defence, using his brute strength and tactical deviousness, to keep the Ranger forwards occupied, showered in the confidence afforded to him by Robbie, playing with him at the back. Completely exonerated from defensive duties on the edge of the D, Leo hovered in the opposition’s half, looking to put pressure on the last Roystone man, and chase down the back passes.

Robbie kickstarted the Molly scoring, dragging a loose ball central, and unleashing a verocious slam into the bottom left. Leo caned a back board rebound straight past the keeper’s throat with his left foot, and followed that up with an equally close range shunt through the keeper’s flapping arms, having got over the hump of still being on the pitch without respite. Gareth continued to attempt the spectacular goals, riding the waves of unclean tackling, and thundering in shots, long and short, with calculated precision.
While the hammer and tongs Molly outfield were weaving a blanket of magick, our keeper was seemingly pulling away at the threads. You’d need the fingers of two hands to count the number of questionable goals conceded by Matt, providing they too didn’t slip from your grasp. Enough spillage to flood a supermarket aisle, Matt seemed permanently surprised that people were shooting the ball at him.

Don took command of the set plays, the free-kicks and the kick-offs, playing useful short balls, or walloping it toward their keeper (unceremoniously declared by Robbie, within full earshot, as “shit”) for the hopeful rebounds, that Leo would try to get on the end of. The Mollys, played with a demented confidence, stroking the ball around with pace, trying to beat their markers, playing one touch passes, and generally matching Roystone’s physical presence.

The end of the first half saw the Mollys come in four or five goals down, the deficit partly attributable to the human sieve in goal. With Gareth offering sage tactical words to sit back and counter (a favourite of his), Jon declaring that the Rangers would tire quicker, and Leo happy not to be tasting his own blood, the Mollys set about righting the wrong.

The second half saw the Rangers change their injured hand keeper. The Mollys didn’t think to do something similar.

Robbie and Don continued to keep the Rangers at bay, closing down shooting angles, and blocking shots, with Robbie taking every opportunity to plummet down the right wing, as gaps started to appear in the opposition’s half, as the Rangers started to overcommit their players in attack, frequently having the ball turned over. Leo was providing a useful distraction to the Roystone sweeper, allowing his strike partner Gareth to zip his way down the wings, ignoring the passing option to Leo, and instead crashing shots in on the rookie keeper. Superbly acting as decoy, Leo watched as Gareth ragged in another superb smash from the left, and also rounded the keeper, tricked into going down, for a simple passing shot.

All over the pitch, mini-battles of physicality and verbals, were still raging. Don versus the tall guy. Don versus the skinhead. Don versus the Eminem wannabe. The referee was performing his usual pantomime - “I’ve warned you once, fella”, “This is your second warning, playa”, “I won’t warn you again, gangsta”. The entire Roystone team seemed one niggly, deliberate foul away from a sin binning, but it was all tease and no touching. Even Don, all wide-eyed innocence, was warned for a second time, as he thumped another Ranger to the ground, for the umpteenth time, in that patently disguised clumsiness of his. The “old fella” was putting in a fine ‘at all costs’ display of defending that met with lynchpin Leo’s approval.

Robbie scored his second of the match with a scintillating passing move from Gareth on the left, through to Leo, his back to goal, in the middle, turning superbly, and laying a pinprick thorough ball into Robbie’s run on the right, who then devoured his chance like cake.

Leo continued to seize his own chances, reacting quickest to the rebounds or loose balls. And while he may have fed a loose keeper’s throw out straight back into his arms, or lofted a left-sided goal-glaring sitter high and dry, or capitalised on a “play on” shout from the ref, when all had stood still, only to ping it wide, it wasn’t for the lack of trying. In fact it was the more difficult to control balls that Leo showed proficient expertise in – whipping a wall rebound into goal with his left foot (again) in a sumptuous slide, and pouncing on a bad ball across the D to slam home. This was goal-hanging scoring to the maximum extreme, and Leo’s “chalk it up” goal celebration got its fifth airing before the match was up.

The Mollys were easily outscoring their opponents, but like an advancing NFL offensive, the Mollys were running out of downs. They narrowed the score gap, but while still shipping a consistent goal every few minutes, the Mollys weren’t able to catch up. Matt had seemingly got the upper hand on his own irregularities, making some useful diving saves, but his inability to see through his defenders, left him prone to the long range belters. There was still the sneaking suspicion that the odds of a shot missing its target would increase if Matt didn’t get a touch on the ball, as another fumble squirmed under his body, over the line.

As Matt’s desire to come out and play, got lost amongst the fight and flail, the final whistle finally brought a final end to the final game of The Molly Maguires’ final season. A gutsy, competitive effort that perhaps showed vague signs of recovery, in passion, in quality, in spirit, that suggest a future resurrection might not be futile.

Final Score: 11-14
Goal Scorers: Robbie 2, Leo 5, Gareth 4 Man of the Match: Don