This weekend saw the return game vs. PHARMA. We lost the first one 1-2 in the ‘blizzard’ at Wezembeek, and even though PHARMA were a far better placed team in the table, we gave them more than a run for their money. This time we were without Piet Vermeersch of course, but we DID have Colin Reynolds in goal, Mazurkiewcz, Hyde, Gallagher (H) and Knott at the back, Brown, Cunningham, Macdonald and Wayne Hurrell in Midfield and Roosen and Ffinch up front. WeALSOhad the luxury of four subs to call on!

The first half started well. Hurrell and Macdonald forcing mistakes in midfield and we were pushing them hard on both wings with Ffinch and Cunningham combining well on the right, and Pete Brown on the left. They only managed the odd ball forward in the opening 10 mins and were not having much impact. We, on the other hand were having a few shots and a lot of pressure.

This culminated half way through the 1st half in a free kick 5-10m outside the area. Up stepped Pete Brown, the goalie got ready for a curled shot over the wall… but then Peter smacks a hard free-kick into the far corner ‘à la Gerrard’! 1-0 to us!!! (He must have had a premonition of the Liverpool/ManU match)! A few minutes later we had another free-kick in a similar situation and Pete lined it up for another blast..only for Patrick to get there first an squander it with a mis-kick!

The 1st half continued in this theme, with close chances from several players (Ffinch and Roosen both came close), and PHARMA were under the cosh for much of the time. Only in the last 10 mins did PHARMA start to put more effort in, and we started to see their midfield pushing through to create chances, but for all that they didn’t have TOO many chances.

Half time we were happy enough, more of the same boys. But the second half saw a complete turn in fortune. Pharma were getting more and more of the ball in mid-field and starting to expose us at the back. This culminated in a cross that found one of their midfield outside the box and with ages and ages to line up a hard shot (it was a good shot, mind), and it was 1-1.

After another 10 minutes of struggling to get any forward momentum, they hit us down the right and managed a cross to the far post where an unmarked player came in for a free header. Ouch! 1-2 down from 1-0 up. This was at the time when we were struggling to get the subs off the bench as there seemed to be a misunderstanding between the role of a substitute and the role of a spectator.

This didn’t help us and it took some time before we could exert anything in the way of pressure on Pharma. First, Dave Leigh and Ali Currie came on for Kevin and Maza, then Brian for Pete and Phil Dean for Chris Ffinch. All those fresh legs helped, but we seemed unable to repeat our performance of the first half. Only in the last 5 mins did we come close enough to their goal, but not concrete chances. So another 1-2 defeat to the same team. In both matches we had chances to get something more!

MOM …. Well it had to be Pete Brown for his free kick!