Won 7-3
Matt, Leo2, Steve, Alan2, James3, Jason
It was Friday night and I was watching the news, whilst drinking a Bud. And no, I wasn't at home alone; I was in one of those bars, where they always know my name, on a barstool looking up at the TV mounted near the ceiling, waiting for some random hot girl to come over and start a conversation. "Hey, Woody, can ya turn the volume up?" I said to the barman. It was all bad news: couple of evil little kids torturing other kids; mother pretending her son was ill for fame and fortune; terrorist threat alert is 'severe'. A random hot girl leans toward me, and purrs, "Gee, I wish you could give me some good news to cheer me up". And so I told her of what I did the evening before.
It couldn't be possible to win three games on the bounce, could it? Not since I put that X into the top right hand corner to win a game of noughts and crosses against my 6 year old niece, has there been a greater thrill of a three in a row victory. With Matt bemoaning a lack of response, to his call for players, in an email so stinging my eyes watered, like an onion shoved up one's bum, we had a six man squad ready to do battle against a mid-range team in Leggers, who would provide a useful watertide mark, to our sinking or swimming in this league. We'd lost at least twice previously against them, including a turgid 12-1, so we were entitled to expect nothing.
Matt, Leo2, Steve, Alan2, James3, Jason
It was Friday night and I was watching the news, whilst drinking a Bud. And no, I wasn't at home alone; I was in one of those bars, where they always know my name, on a barstool looking up at the TV mounted near the ceiling, waiting for some random hot girl to come over and start a conversation. "Hey, Woody, can ya turn the volume up?" I said to the barman. It was all bad news: couple of evil little kids torturing other kids; mother pretending her son was ill for fame and fortune; terrorist threat alert is 'severe'. A random hot girl leans toward me, and purrs, "Gee, I wish you could give me some good news to cheer me up". And so I told her of what I did the evening before.
It couldn't be possible to win three games on the bounce, could it? Not since I put that X into the top right hand corner to win a game of noughts and crosses against my 6 year old niece, has there been a greater thrill of a three in a row victory. With Matt bemoaning a lack of response, to his call for players, in an email so stinging my eyes watered, like an onion shoved up one's bum, we had a six man squad ready to do battle against a mid-range team in Leggers, who would provide a useful watertide mark, to our sinking or swimming in this league. We'd lost at least twice previously against them, including a turgid 12-1, so we were entitled to expect nothing.
James played despite his poorly thumb, and Jason cameoed, in a role that would see him have to do the flashy stuff, on his own, without the support of a Gareth or Nathan. As it was, the formation took care of itself, with Leo and Steve finally having a near flawless game on the left and right sides of the defence - the team actually suffering if either one was not on the pitch. This was because, the 2-2 square formation played exactly to our strengths - Alan on the left, and James on the right, with Jason the all-encompassing fitter-inner.
A solid defensive display from front to back, rarely allowed the opposition to get beyond the back line, as the sqaure metamorphosised into a rhombus when needed. Indeed the opposition rarely threatened down the middle, attempting to wing it down the flanks, and getting caught up in the tangled melee that was Steve on the right, and the polarised magnet that was Leo on the left. Leo set the thumping benchmark by winning an early 50-50 tackle, that saw his opposing number jar his knee and proned crippled on the ground. To say Leo has form for disabling players, in fair legitimate hardman ways, is like boasting that..... er, that's it. Boasting. Up front Jason was steadily holding up the ball, usefully forming link-up play with Alan and James, as they galloped through the opposition who seemed to have no discernable formation, except one that got consistently neutralised by ours.
It was a while before either team got going, shots were flying wide, feelers were being put out there. Shots that did find Matt's D, found Matt's eye, as he contrived to have as near a perfect and fab game as possible. All it took was Robbie saying how great he was to instill some confidence into our already full gaffer, and his best games have kept coming.
A 2-1 lead at half-time was a result of some steady play from the Mollys - we barely countered the oppposition, because the opposition barely attacked us with sufficient speed, or over commitment to allow so. In fact, we arguably played more build-up play from the back than ever before, and because the game was played at a fair and friendly clip, there was plenty of time on the ball.
Second half, we just continued to play in much the same way, but we were getting more penetrative, and whilst Jason wasn't getting his shots into the net (despite smashing the crossbar from behind the halfway line), he was playing useful provider, as both Alan, skimming shots in from tight angles, and James finally disguising his obvious going-to-shoot body position, clocked in the goals needed to pull us away. With Leo finishing the rout, with a couple of shots served on a plate from his team-mates on the edge of the unmarked D, it was a satisfying and superb victory. A 7-3 scoreline was just dessert for an excellent team effort, and dragged the Mollys into 4th place in an arbitrary league table, that barely makes sense beyond the top two.
I relayed this wonderful story of triumph and feel-good to the random hot girl in the bar. She said it didn't contain enough jokes or sexual innuendos, and told me to fuck off. Damn; even in my imagination I can't catch a break.
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