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It was a depleted
side that took to the field on Saturday with 4 key players absent: Nick
Gregory (country pursuits), Andy Bye (having recovered from his life threatening
cat-tin injury - deciding England at Twickenham were in greater need of
his presence), Danny Becker (on holiday...again) and Chris Wood (nursing
an injured calf).
The match started in its usual fashion with a couple of players arriving
after the start and Bar looking decidedly unco-ordinated in the opening
few minutes - but eventually we settled down and began to move the ball
around. Some good attacking positions followed but the Rickmansworth defence
was solid
and they intercepted the final pass or prevented the shot on goal at the
last second on numerous occassions. Frustration began to show in the Bar
attacks as, time and time again, the ball was cut-off just in front of
goal. Perhaps the best shot came from Toby Seaman who found space in the
D towards the end of the first half and latched on to the end of a cross
from the right with a sweetly timed shot - sadly it hit square on the
left post!
Andy found himself tightly marked up front (Ricky must have been reading
these reports so we're going to call him Bob from now on!) and couldn't
find the space for decent shot. We did get a couple of short corners just
before half time but even these didn't follow the usual clinical pattern
with the ball not being controlled quickly enough to allow a shot on goal
(a bobbling ball was blamed...perhaps the pressure of not scoring was
beginning to tell).
Adam Pigden came on for Toby Seaman in what was his first appearance this
season following a back injury over the summer...he didn't score but we're
expecting great things over the coming weeks. Welcome back!
Half time gave a chance to discuss tactics and adjust our attacking options
- can't say what they were for security reasons - and Par came out with
renewed gusto. In the opening minutes we ball found the back of the net
but the goal was disallowed as the whistle had been blown momentarily
before for a short corner. The short was disrupted again by a determined
Rickmansworth defence and PB would have to wait!
Two more short corner misses were to follow before a couple of attacks
from Rickmansworth reminded us that we couldn't relax at the back. Terry
Mabbett in defence was equal to the opposition attacks and snuffed out
any drives down the left.
With 20 minutes to go Rickmansworth packed the defence even tighter in
an attempt to hold out for a 0-0 draw and it looked like they might make
it after Adam Pigden missed the customary open goal - quite how he achieved
this is still a mystery but needless to say it was one of the main topics
of conversation in the bar.
However, the main topic was the goal that settled the game just
8 minutes from time! It came from an attack down the left resulting in
a cross, a goal mouth scramble and a shot from Paul Brady which found
the back of the net. The issue surrounded whether the whistle was again
blown for a Rickmansworth infringement prior to the ball hitting the backboard.
Nevertheless, the Rickmansworth umpire awarded the goal and was not moved
by any objections from the opposition - 1-0 to PB.
In the dying minutes of the game Rickmansworth had a chance to level the
game from a short corner but the lay-off was intercepted and Bar closed
the game out to continue the 100% record and remain top of SW7.
Team: Alan Field, Cliff Hawkins, Terry Mabbett, Spencer Hunt, Adam Reader,
Richard Atkins, Chris Edwards, Paul Brady, Toby Seaman, Owen Hughes, Chris
Wood, Liam Frame, Adam Pigden, Andy Latham
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