Team: Serjesen (G), T White, McDonald, Den Hartog, Wrigley, Bentham, Ledbury, McKeeney, Shiono, Cunningham, Sabanovic (35mins) sub: Riley (35 mins)

Scorer(s): Cunningham

MOM: Ledbury

After a much-improved performance against the fancied La Besace, half the regular line-up decided to take annual leave for this one, as well as the ever- increasing injury list. Roger Waite was the latest causality (heel, I’ve told him he shouldn’t wear them!) With Harbusch, Waite, Lewis, Glover, Morris, Taylor, Erikson and Griffer all out (sorry if I’ve missed anyone) the 1st 10 mins of the team talk was everyone introducing themselves to each other! It was like a scene from an AA meeting (apparently!)

My hopes were raised however, when it was noticed that we had a Lieutenant- Colonel and an Ex-Para in the squad, as I knew we were going to have a fight on our hands.

We reverted back to a 4-4-2 formation after watching the debacle that was England in the week. Our warm-up was the best of the season with a cunning plan to have shooting practice to finish. Of the 255 attempts, we managed 1 goal and 2 on target. Beat that England!!

Onto the game, they started the brighter, playing some attractive football and had a dangerous and quick front man who we struggled to cope with early on. However, once we got the ball, we were playing some nice stuff as well, with moves working down both flanks. Ade Cunningham, playing in an unfamiliar role as centre-forward was doing particularly well, holding the ball up and linking the play.

They came nearest to scoring when a strong shot from their striker was deflected off Ledbury’s boot onto the post. After this we decided to have Paul W man mark their danger striker and immediately we looked stronger. Now it was our turn to attack, mainly through Bentham down the right putting 2 tremendous crosses in within 5 mins. The 1st was masterfully headed down by Cunningham and slotted home by our marauding new sensational midfielder McKeeney, GOAL! Except it wasn’t.. We still do not know why it was disallowed. Another ABSSA moment, let’s leave it at that! The 2nd cross was landing straight on the head of the advancing Vesko, unfortunately he mis-timed the header and went well wide. To be fair, Vesko had been struggling most of the game with, yes you’ve guessed it, a pulled hamstring! As the 1st half finished we were the stronger. The match was finely balanced.

The injured Sabanovic was replaced by Para Chris Riley who went left midfield and Sami moved up-front. We again looked a little un-organised at the start of the 2nd half with Azur again playing the more attractive football, although not looking particularly dangerous. Then after 10mins a speculative cross into our box was heading towards McKeeney running backwards and Tommy Sejersen running forwards and, you’ve guessed it, McKeeney managed to head it with the back of his head beautifully over Tommy into an empty net. It was disappointing, as they were looking increasingly un-likely to score.

A shame, but with true British Brussels spirit, this galvanised us and from there on we had the best of the match. The defence looked comfortable, Ledbury and McKeeney were getting on top in midfield and the attacking combination was looking strong. Our 1st chance came with a strong left foot shot by Cunningham from a tight angle was well saved by their keeper.

Then, Jez (or Big Jes as he is now known to his new AA friends) got round their full-back, he was clearly pulled back in the area, but the resulting dive which resembled something between a scene from Platoon and Peter Shmickel’s routine in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, did not impress the judges (ref) and nothing was given. A couple of minutes later the same move by Bentham saw him try another tact, a head –to- head chase with the full-back saw him knock their defender into next-week with a Thatcher-ite challenge (that’ll be Ben Thatcher!) However, the ref saw nothing wrong and Bentham stuck a fantastic cross into the mixer, and a brave Cunningham got in there and managed somehow to get it across the line with what seemed to be ½ their team on the goal line..

1-1

Their heads went down and we were pushing for a win now. As the final whistle blew, we were the stronger team, although we were reasonably happy with the point.

This was probably the best performance of the season, and with the “stars” back next week, selection could be interesting.

The voting for MOM was a close run thing, with T White and Big Jes getting a few each. However Ledbury scraped home, quite literally, to win it, presumably due to the fact he had the most sand burns. Someone should tell him that slide-tackles on that surface will do that to you!!

Well-done lads!