Gaffers Gob - Sniffers - 18th February 2009

Many hailed the return of Steve and his reassuming control of the man purse / kitty. Just as important was his return to the heart of the Molly's defence. Steve again played with guts and determination and no small amount of skill. For those who saw it, his tricking an opposition attacker with a step over was a sight to behold. This though was more than outweighed by his trying to run the ball out of defence, being robbed of it and the ball being drilled into the back of the net.

Leo again put in an energy packed performance that covered all parts of the pitch. At one point he was even seen putting the more sensitive parts of his body on the line in blocking goal bound efforts by the opposition. Alan and James made timely returns from injury to enter into the fray. Alan was again busy in all areas of the pitch although his finishing could have been a touch straighter. I do remember on more than one occasion Al missing open goals from the edge of the D although to be fair he did get one in. James was again busy in attack scoring a couple. The main threat in attack was little Mike; included because the Gaffer felt that of the return of three players in to a game with no subs was asking for trouble. He did get 4 goals although he tends to play with the intended trickery of Gareth with less of the success. The Gaffer believes (until undoubtedly informed otherwise) that he had a pretty solid game in goal last night pulling off some good saves and letting in less rubbish than normal.

All in all, the early part of the game was effort filled but confused. The gaffer thought we were supposed to be playing a diamond but the game looked like a junior school playground affair with headless chicken like bunching and chasing the ball. Things did settle down when we began to play in 2-2 formation. Also things improved markedly when we realised that the opposition had the most inept goalkeeper to ever grace the hallowed turf at Goals. It seemed that if our shooting was on target, the likelihood was that we would score. It was more opposition inadvertent luck that on occasion the ball was deflected off of his toe passed the post. Either way, i was pleased with our effort last night and we should have averted the threat of promotion to the premiership by losing this 16-8.

Next week is an 8.30 kick off and will hopefully see the return of Robbie to the ranks. No doubt Leo will see this as a green light to try to make up for not scoring last night.