Sports 2009/10

Absence makes the heart grow fonder……

Girton Eagles 4 – 2 Sports 1st (Division 1&2 Cup – Quarter-Final)

Apologies that it’s been a while since I submitted a match report, I seem to have lost the motivation of late…

Sports were on the road to Girton this Sunday for a quarter-final clash, a semi-final place against our 1B rivals Gamlingay or Rovers beckoned, on arrival the pitch looked in fine condition, the recent bout of dry weather had served the surface well and it looked ideal for the Sports passing game.

We took advantage of the reserves being without a game and called up target man Phillips and flying winger Arthur, but team news was not good this week with Lynch, Kizza, Jules FC, Jack, Jacklin and the important tactical input of Kevin Jacklin all missing for various reasons, still the starting XI and options on the bench were plenty strong enough to get the job done.

The game started with Sports attacking into the sunshine, Girton kicked off and immediately set there intentions with a lofted ball outwide to their pacey winger which immediately put our full-back Dan Bash under pressure but he dealt with it and we cleared our lines. The opening exchanges were mainly about us trying to settle and get our passing game going while Girton looked to press early on and release their quick forward players.

The first incident of note in the 1^st half was Damo been cruelly whipped out by the keeper for a blatant penalty, stonewaller number one! Turned down by the referee for no obvious reason, our lads were clearly shaken by this and a lapse in concentration led to Girton taking the lead on the counter.

Dan Booker who had made an impressive start to the game then fired back almost straight away, smashing the ball into the roof of the net after a great through-ball, Lunn, Saunders, Revell or Wrighty played this, I cant remember which one.

With the scores level we began to settle down and play a bit, the pitch was now becoming a bit of a bog but when we released the ball quickly or got it into the feet of Booker we looked a real threat going forward, still the tendency to switch off was to cost us dear and it wasn’t long before a quick break gave Girton the lead again. They broke down our left-hand side got to the by-line and whipped a ball into the near post, it looked for all the world a routine catch for keeper Pagey but he spilled it and smothered at the 2^nd attempt, but it appeared the ball was kicked out of his hands and Girton bundled the ball home, again the appeals from the Sports players fell on deaf ears, perhaps this ref has it in for Fulbourn teams as his handling of a reserve team game earlier in the season demonstrates.

Then when we thought things couldn’t get any worse in the debatable decisions department they did…. Dan Booker shrugged off his marker and was clean through on goal, his first strike was well saved by the Girton keeper, as he went to strike at the 2^nd attempt he was clipped from behind by the remaining covering defender and went down, to our frustration the appeal was again turned down, I really could not understand this decision as there was no way Booker would have gone down intentionally with the open goal staring him in the face. I must say at least the referee took the trouble to explain his decisions, they were two massive mistakes but the fact he took time to explain it when some referees just refuse to comment improved our opinion of his performance slightly.

The half-time chat was about getting focussed, forget the half that we’d just had and push hard with the right attitude to try and win the cup tie.

The lads responded and the opening exchanges of the 2^nd half were almost all Sports with some good football being played as we laid siege to the Girton goal, but the openings we created were not taken advantage of and we slipped further behind into a 3-1 lead. By this time Dan Bash and Fletch had been replaced by Matty Bash and Charlie as we looked to freshen things up to get us back into the tie, both had immediate positive impacts, Bash with a sharp turn and short which just missed the near post and Arthur’s sheer pace and determination lifted the team into believing that we might just be able to pull this game back.

In typical cup tie fashion we weren’t prepared to let Girton rest easy and piled on the pressure a little more, then a lung busting run from Lunn put us right back in the cup tie as he burst down the left cut inside before squaring for Matty Bash to net his first goal of the season with a great side-footed finish from just outside the box.

Despite piling forward we were again caught on the break as Girton sealed the victory in injury time, Smithy and Wrighty desperately trying vein to stop the ball from crossing the line and sinking to their knees when they realised their efforts were not enough.

A disappointing end to a hard fought cup match, a season that promised so much and potentially would see us fight for 4 trophies now leaves us with the league title chase in which we’ve dropped costly points already and the league cup to fight it out for. Today’s game was a mixture of things not really going well for us, missing several key players obviously didn’t help but we still had enough quality available to win the game, a couple of shocking penalty decisions cost us but ultimately it was the attitude of some players perhaps not being quite right and a host of chances missed.

I take nothing away from Girton who are a decent side and ultimately wanted the win more than us, they have great pace on the counter-attack and led by their captain Austin Diaper they can prove to be a real threat, I wish them well in the next round where they will face an impressive Gamlingay side in the semi-final.

Man of the Match: Dan Booker, other contenders Tom Smith and Bobby Saunders.

Next week we entertain Bar Hill in the quarter-final of the league cup, another big cup game and we’ll have to be ready for another tough test against the Senor Division table toppers, we should be able to welcome back Lynch, Kizza and Burch to give the squad a much needed boost.

Lastly, a big thanks to John Mason for running the line, Roger and Charlie for stepping up from the reserves to help out and of course our army of fans including Mo, Blackie and Craske for coming along to show their support and taking some awesome pictures.

Over and out

Much love

Chege x

UP THE SPORTS!!!

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