SAL Division 2 - 8th October 2005

Well, what a difference a week makes.  The 1s travelled to Old Wilsonians on Saturday with somewhat of a makeshift side due to a considerable amount of injuries and absentees.  That said, the lads seemed motivated and focussed on producing a performance to banish the memory of the previous weeks debacle.

We lined up with a 4 -4-1-1 shape with Sam Knowles and Dave Tilley operating as full backs, John Biggle joined Scott Poullier in the middle of the park with Swanny filling the centre half spot that John Biggle vacated.  

We kicked off with the weather fine and the pitch looking immaculate. For the first 20 minutes we were pretty much all over Old Wilsonians in terms of possession with both central midfielders dominating the tackles, headers and link up play to our wide men Jon Phillips and Paul Neil.  For all our possession and dominance, we didn't create any gilt edge chances but the we were playing the kind of football that I can honestly say I haven't seen the 1s play for some while.  Pretty much every player was winning their individual battles and Wilsonians were limited to hitting us on the break.  It was a rare Wilsonians attack from a free kick that led to the talking point of the first half.  A high looping free kick was fired in from their left flank which was met firmly but a Wilsonian head from around 5 yards out.  Debutant goalie Tom Meadowcroft reacted brilliantly from the bullet header to get a hand to the ball and push it upward onto the bar and then safely gathered the second ball.  A truly brilliant save.  The half closed out goalless (obviously) with Cars buoyant after a very hard working half where we looked more the home team.

The second half pretty much followed the pattern of the first with Cars playing the football but without creating any obvious chances, Wilsonians once again limited to attacks on the break.  However, Paul Neil after a promising first half began to have an increasing influence on the game.  Time and time again he received the ball, beat a couple of the opposition players and got Cars into dangerous positions.  This growing influence culminated in an outrageous ( I believe the street word would be rude) piece of skill that basically involved a flick over his head which left the entire Wilsonians' defence statue-like, Paul raced onto his own flick and bore down on goal, and with only the keeper to beat, a crude tackle from behind denied him the chance to score but he did win a blatant penalty.  Unfortunately, the offending opposition player had only been on the pitch for 6 minutes as a sub and received his marching orders.  Cavey took on the responsibility for the PK.  Despite directing the ball neatly into the corner, the kick was saved by the keeper who to be fair had been very solid throughout the whole match.  0-0 sounds a little dull but the game was competitive and by all accounts very pleasing to watch with Cars just about shading it in terms of the most likely winners.

I think it's fair to say that before the game I and the team would have been delighted to keep a clean sheet first and foremost and then put in the sort of performance that smacked of determination, grit and a genuine desire to play for each other and the club.  What we actually got was all of these things with some good football thrown in with pretty much every player on the pitch contributing.  Most pleasing was the emergence of Paul Neil in terms of his own confidence and contribution, a fine individual performance and a piece of skill that will live in the memory.  The midfield combination of Scott and John was also very encouraging, it's been a while since the central midfield actually looked like it could operate with just 2 personnel, both played very well and this combination will only improve with time.  Finally, both full backs were picked to do a job, both did that that job very well and made our defensive unit actually operate as a unit.  Thank yous go out to Simon Clare and Badgie who made brief but uneventful substitute appearances toward the end of the game,  Luke for turning up as a non used sub and for Neil Backers for the running the side from the line and managing to remain unbelievably calm throughout the game despite his well known and obvious shortcomings when being anywhere near a football pitch i.e he shouts a lot without making much sense. 

M.O.M        Paul Neil but the whole team put on a show that I and the Club could be proud of.

Swanny