Sports 2009/10

Un-Sporting Hinton

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these, so if I forget how to,  then I do apologize!

Sports reserves took to the road this week to Comberton school in the quarter final of the cup, with the great freeze halting pretty much the whole of the Sunday league programme, the Astroturf was about the only thing deemed playable, and with the game getting the nod, the Sports ressies started to get kitted up, worried faces on multiple players faces in the absence of Aaron, Cooper and the artful Roger, thankfully Cooper and Roger arrived at 10.20, No sign of Aaron to Stan’s disgust.

After watching Hinton’s warm up with multiple cones, 70 footballs, and more stretch exercises than an elastic banded gymnast, the Sports few stubbed out there cigarettes to listen to Stan’s team talk, the team started thus

Cooper

Holt    Scrutts    Duffy    McFarlane

Hutts

Spaxman    Craske    Ferguson    Arthur

Roger

Not a massive surprise to see Lewy Blick on the bench after his week of continuous girlfriend shafting, I understand since the game he has now had it sewn back on, shame the doctor didn’t put a few stitches in his mouth!

Anne Robinsons toy boy Marcus Jones completed the bench

A strong fan following appeared to cheer the lads on, with Ant Dunn and Shaun Nightingale present starting whispers of a deadline day transfer from Fen Ditton, Si, M.Duffy and Mo also appeared, Rob Huttons father kindly ran the line

In truth the game was a bit of a raggedy affair with the pitch and weather causing Sports players trouble, Hutts was having the lion share of possession but not being able to find a decent forward pass, Spaxman was finding plenty of space but not getting the service, Coopers kicks were not travelling the normal distance and Lewy was on the sideline telling Shaun and Mo about the night of 6 times

Sports did take the lead on and around twenty, when from sublime play from Roger caused his shot to be blocked by the keeper the ball fell kindly to Charlie Arthur who slotted home into the empty goal, 1-0

A succession of corners for both teams were superbly defended, Sports were knocking on the door just were not finding the right answer, Roger was proving to be a thorn in the defence of Sporting Cheaton throughout but sometimes selfish play resulted in the chance being wasted or blocked

The triangular formation of Craske, Hutton and Fergie was not working, Craske clearly uncomfortable with the new system was huffing and puffing but having a game to forget, Fergie however on the ball looked much more astute and looked to link with Rog whenever possible which funnily was all the time, I’m not sure if Fergie understands the word Defend

The ref blew the whistle for half time, in a half that saw Sports slightly on top and rightly in the lead, Scrutts had a few words to say, Hutts had a few words to say, Holt had a few words to say, Coops had a few words to say, and Lewy was still telling Mo about Leticia’s hidden mole…. The only change of any note at halftime was to try and get Craske involved, and with this in mind he and Hutts swapped positions

The second half was a much better spectacle from a neutrals point of view, Scrutts was marshalling the defence tremendously well, Danny was beginning to help Charlie and vice versa, and Sports really started to take the game to the home side, amazing what can happen in a minute of football though, as the Sports from a position of dominance fell behind, Hinton’s first goal was poor on everyone’s behalf, all the Sports midfield was found at the wrong end of the pitch as a swift counter attack resulted in the ball being fired underneath the despairing dive of Cooper, 1-1

1-1 soon become 2-1, when from the restart when a mix up from Holt and Jonesy (a replacement for the struggling Shane) resulted in the otherwise quiet striker nipping in and slotting past the helpless Cooper, harsh for him to concede two with their only two efforts on goal really…

Charlie Arthurs corner then found Holt unmarked and his instinctive volley was amazingly turned away,  Arthur then found the keeper in uncompromising fashion moments later smashing a free kick goal wards only for the cat to claw it out of the air and away for a corner.

With minutes on the clock and countless waves of attacking football from Sports a way back into the game happened, Craske picked the ball up around the middle of the pitch and set Charlie away superbly, Charlie’s run from around the fullback and centre half was time perfectly, and he steadied and curled the ball into the far of the goal, with the Sports wheeling away in celebration, the linesman’s flag went up….??? Confusion from Sports players and even left some of the Hinton players scratching their chins, ‘offside’ – what!! ! ! ……… Sports players erupted into fury, Hutton was disgusted, Craske and Arthur were both asked to move from the linesman, Cooper was livid, the supporters on the side were shocked, Stan had his head in his hands, and Lewy was day dreaming about Leticia’s toes, it really was disgusting on any level of football whether your 5, 10, or 75 years old… I think the worst thing was he openly admitted to Rog that Charlie ran from behind the defenders…. Surely this makes this onside right?

With seconds remaining there was still time for some more controversy has Holtys ball into the box was clearly handled – penalty surely? What do you lot think!!

At the final whistle there were some further scenes of unrest between the two sets of players, Charlie getting a yellow for approaching the linesman and telling him what he thought, Hutton also being escorted off by Jonesy, Craske getting into some light handbags with the Hinton manager, a barrage of swearwords thrown at the linesman and the referee..

I’m getting on abit now and never in my 20 years of playing have I felt more cheated, never!

It was a real shame that the match ended like this, as Sporting Hinton are not a bad side, and not dirty or vicious one way or another, however, I hope they go no further in the competition, as cheats should never prosper

Man of the Match, there was some strong performances despite the result, Holtys defending was first rate, Danny joined the play well, Rog held up the ball strongly, but really only one winner of this today – take a bow Rob Scrutton, the ball stuck to his head like glue, he really led by the fine example that you should expect from your captain, for me a truly fantastic performance, just a shame we couldn’t get the result!

I’m going to continue to suck on my sour grapes now

Nunight

Craske

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