With both teams having won their opening three matches, this was the first six pointer of the season.
On a hot September afternoon, Vets2 went to Wemmel for the biggest challenge of the season so far. Two teams with a 100% record. Something had to change.
The first challenge was to find the ground, as Mireille has moved to a different pitch hidden behind to an old people's home just out of town. Even the ref had problems finding it. Not so our fans! It was nice to have Hughie and Nick coming to along to support us.
We had a strong 15-man squad, with Costa coming in for his first Vets2 appearance - and Fernando, Leo and Milan playing in a slightly different role in a slightly more defensive formation than usual.
On a very wide, sloping pitch, we started the game playing uphill. From the first minute, it became clear why they were unbeaten this season. All of their team was very comfortable on the ball, and they were very clever running off the ball - for example their forwards kept switching at regular intervals, and they always seemed to find space in midfield.
We struggled for the first 10 minutes to get any foothold in the game, but we were able to prevent them having any clear cut chances early on. Slowly we began to find our feet thanks to Milan, Gustave and Adnane in particular working hard in midfield, with Mike and Leo offering width. Costa was very isolated up front, but worked hard to keep their defence under pressure.
At the back, Kevin, Roger, Benoit and Nando were well disciplined, working well as a unit. We caught them offside a few times early on - and that helped us to weather that early storm.
Despite their dominance, they only had a couple of chances. Luc saved well from the clearest chance, coming off his line quickly, and Roger cleared a shot off the line. To our credit we also had a couple of runs in their half – and suddenly we had a half chance. Mikey did well to keep the ball down and on target, but their keeper saved. But it gave us greater confidence. Despite injuries to Mike and Roger, we managed to get through to half-time at 0-0.
With Chris Ffinch, Brian Morris and Brian Lewis now on the pitch, we started the second half well - much easier playing downhill. Wemmel also had a couple of injuries. And slowly, but surely we started to take hold of the game.
Costa was proving a real handful for their defence - and he was unlucky not to score when he won the ball on half way and seemed to take on their whole defence single-handedly. He provided a constant threat - with the midfielders able to get up to support him much more than in the first half.
As our dominance started to strengthen, we suddenly lost Chris Ffinch with a hamstring injury stretching for a ball close to the touchline. The ever-eager Munish, our final substitute, was on the pitch barely before Chris had got up!
Wemmel still had a couple of chances though – on one occasion lobbing wide of the goal with Luc stranded in no man’s land. On another occasion, Brian Morris kept a cool head while everyone was telling him to clear it. (And he will clear it next time.) We had more and more possession in their half. Brian Lewis and Costa came close, Gustave and Milan kept pushing forward, and we started to see more and more of Leo on the right wing. We even saw Nando and Kevin getting further forward to put the ball into the box.
Then, with five minutes to go, bad news. Having aggravated his old knee injury taking a quick goal kick, Luc collapsed in pain when he landed awkwardly. He had to be helped off the pitch, and Nando put on the gloves for the remainder of the match – down to 10-men. [NB After the game, Wemmel claimed that they also went down to 10 men at this point, but this could not be confirmed by anyone watching.]
Those remaining 5 minutes saw a couple of long shots/crosses, which Nando dealt with comfortably. He even launched a long goal kick for Costa to chase and we won a throw-in close to the corner flag. As practiced in training, Munish was so slow at taking the throw in that he got a yellow card for time-wasting ! Anyhow, it was a great ploy because, when he finally did take the throw on, Wemmel were happy to kick it out for a corner.
Knowing that we only had a few seconds to go, Costa decided to take the corner, and Brian Lewis dashed to the front post, where he was able to get to the ball first and flick a bullet header towards goal. The keeper got something on it, but he couldn’t prevent it hitting the roof of the net. 1-0 to Vets2. 10 seconds later, the ref blew for full time.
To be fair to Mireille Wemmel, most of them were generous in defeat and said that we deserved it. But it also has to be said that they are a calibre of opposition that we’ve never seen before.
Speaking after the game, the Vets2 coach said: "After 10 minutes, I thought we were going to get stuffed, but our squad showed so much resilience. We stayed in it. And gradually all 15-men raised their game and provided the best team performance of the season so far. I’m so proud of the lads.”
There are very few games in ABSSA which are as memorable as this. And so the beers tasted better than ever after the game. Everyone delivered a man of the match performance, but the votes this week went to Costa for the way he led the line.
Next week we play EBL at Rosieres. Let’s see if we can keep it going, and get another clean sheet.
Team: Luc; Nando, Benoit, Roger (Brian Morris), Kevin; Gustave, Milan; Leo, Adnane (Brian Lewis), Mikey (Chris Ff (Munish)); Costa
