Vets 1 masterclass in incompetence in front of goal

TEAM:

Sejersen

3-2-3-2

Eriksen, Waite, Shiono

Ledbury, Freddie,

Lewis, Yearsley, Guttierez,

Taylor, Harbusch

SUB:

Bannon, White, Wrigley,

Vets 1 masterclass in incompetence in front of goal

Having had only 9 certain players on Friday afternoon, the Vets 1 dressing room in Wezembeek-Oppem was near to overflowing by Saturday afternoon with a squad of 14 – including a return to the fold for Frankie Harbusch (with his new achilles) and Paul “Chiquita” Wrigley for the first time this season. Tommy also returned in goal, after last weekend’s “pike fishing” in Denmark. With Dean Bannon delayed, Captain Carl had the most difficult selection decision of his career – opting in the end controversially for a 3-2-3-2 approach, disguised as a 3-5-2, with the Taylor-Harbusch dreamy team up front and speed down the wings.

On a good pitch, Vets 1 started well, passing the ball around and seeking to use Brian and Mike down their respective flanks. The return of Frank as centre forward made an immediate difference by providing a large target when we were in possession. We were able to enjoy a good amount of possession, but struggled to find any gaps in their defence. After the first 15 minutes, with the hard-working trio of Carl, Simon and Freddie winning over the midfield, we started to find a few gaps, without any clear chances materializing. Then, a neat combination down the left, saw a nice pass slipped through for Neil Taylor to run onto and knock past the advancing keeper into the corner of the net with an instinct worthy of a man scoring his 90th ABSSA goal. 1-0 to the whites. (Nice to have those white shirts back on after those horrible mauve ones last week!)

While Goalois had shown glimpses of their ability to string a few passes together, they had not troubled us at the back. Johann had the measure of his man and Sami was having a particularly good 1st half, managing to get in front of his man every time the ball was played to him. In fact, there was a suggestion afterwards that he headed the ball more in this game than he did in the whole of last season. Five minutes after we scored, however, calamity struck. Having failed to clear the ball properly from their first foray into our box, their left winger swung the ball across towards the far post. It was not clear whether it was a cross or a shot, but it was clearly going wide. In the heat of the moment, however, “distracted” by Tommy’s call to let it go, Johann Eriksen inadvertently stuck his head out and flicked it into the corner. 1-1. Johann doesn’t miss from there. (Or so we all thought.)

Disappointment all round, but a confidence that we still had plenty of time to come back – as we were the better team. And sure enough, 5 minutes later, another neat combination between Sami, Brian and Simon, this time down the right, saw Yearsley square a firm cross towards Mike Guttierez on the far post. With Mike pulling back the trigger, the covering defender took a leaf out of Johann’s book and buried the ball neatly in the back of the net. 2-1 to us.

Going into half-time, we were confident that we could extend our lead and leave with the 3 points stached in our bags. With Neilo tiring, Dean came on for him in the hopes of providing more movement going forward. Right from the start of the second period, though, it became clear that there would be no repeat of the first half. Goalois pushed more people forward, and put us under more pressure, taking their chances that they wouldn’t get caught on the counter attack. In this, they relied on a whistle-happy ref who tended to blow each offside call. And this was how the game developed, with Goalois pushing further forward and Vets 1 finding it more and more difficult to hold on to the ball for more than 2 or 3 passes. At the back, we managed to prevent any clear shots on goal – and Tommy was his usual sovereign self in handling the corners that they swung in to the 6-yard box (with the ref offering him generous protection). With 15 minutes to go, however, they got a lucky break when a cross bounced up onto Freddie’s arm and prompted the ref to give them a penalty (told you he was whistle happy). Mr Sejersen was able to prove his worth yet again, pouncing to his left to grab the number 9’s penalty with great ease. Is this the way the great Dane spent last weekend catching fish, we all wondered.

With Tony and Paul coming on for the last 15 minutes – and Goalois taking more and more risks at the back, it was time for us to get chances. In the course of the 2nd half, we probably made 20-25 attempts to break their offside trap. The ref – rightly or wrongly – blew for offside on maybe ¾ of the occasions. But this still meant that we got through a handful of times. Unfortunately, on the 4 or 5 occasions that we did get through, something went wrong – a slip, a bobble [on Astroturf!], or a sudden gust of wind. To cut a long story short, we missed every time, without forcing the keeper into making any difficult saves. It is perhaps unfair at this point to name names. So I won’t. I will just mention an excellent run that Johann made at one stage, which ended when the psychological damage of returning to the scene of his first half own goal obviously got to him and forced him to lie down.

So, in the end, we took the 3 points. It would be wrong to say that it was a lucky win – because we had 7 or 8 good chances, relative to their 2 – but Goalois will certainly have left thinking that they could have had a point. After the events of the afternoon, one is tempted to suggest that the best preparation for next week’s game against British United would be a little bit of pike fishing!

Ends