Kingfisher Athletic 2 v 0 Islip (18-11-06)
Two things: 1) touching wood, my internet seems to be working ok now. There’s quite a funny story attached to it which I won’t go into right now, but rest assured if I did yous would all be laughing. Turns out it was something to do with the extension cord but like I say, if I was to go into any detail yous would all have to be admitted to hospital with split sides so we’ll just leave it there. And 2) the passion was back yesterday lads! Every single one of us, subs included, done our jobs yesterday and it was sweet as when that final whistle went. Armchair critics might’ve said that was a game we should’ve won easily. I would say to those armchair critics though, whoever you are, in a witty riposte - join me in the centre of midfield and see how easy it is to play against 13 men. There you go. I could pretty much end my match report right there but I won’t, I’ll get onto the team selection. Tactical genius Adie switched back to a 3-5-2 formation and a few eyebrows were raised as Danny, Eddie and Picey were hooked from the starting eleven to warm the bench alongside Andy Brown. If there was much singing and dancing to be had in the streets around Woods End after Rooney passed a late fitness test to keep his place in goals then there were literally street parties with fireworks and riverdancing throughout town when the news that Scotty Mac was back in defence broke out. He was joined at the back by Scriv and Bash, ably supported by Chad, Steve, Ogs, Scotty D and Cam across the middle with Gibby and Docs up front. Well it seemed to me that we took a while to get going and we let Islip have a lot of the ball to begin with, even though they done hee haw with it. For some reason we were miles apart from each other and had to resort to some long balls over the top until we settled and found our rhythm. Which we duly did and created a few chances, most of which were screwed wide or ballooned over the top by Docs. I was also guilty of sending one into orbit from outside the box after expertly chesting the ball down to a volley after Gibby’s corner was cleared. But we got the breakthrough halfway through the first half and it was a classic header from The Skamp as he rose Larsson-like to bullet home a header in off the bar from another Gibson corner. From then on it was all Kingfisher, but the rest of the half isn’t really worth talking about, marred as it was by the flag happy linesman guy happily flagging his flag every time we got the ball in their half. Pair of eyes an eagle would be proud of that fella, so it’s just pure baffling that he inexplicably failed to spot his own goalie handling the ball a clear yard outside his box from ten yards away later in the match. Luckily we’re not massively into conspiracy theories in Corby, or there’d be a website devoted to this guy and his crazy madcap decisions.
Second half kicked off pretty much the same as the first, as they came at us again and put us under pressure. For a while it was backs to the wall stuff but we coped well, Rooney was superb in goals and Bash was tackling everything that came near him, and quite a few things that never as well. And then on the break again we broke forward and killed the game off. After missing a good chance a few minutes before, Gibby capitalized on some slack defending to race away and stick it past the keeper from 8 yards. That was it, game over, and it suited us to let Islip have as much of the ball as they wanted. Adie freshened things up with Picey and Brownie in place of Ogs and Chad as we shut down and didn’t give them a sniff. For all their huffing and puffing, Islip got nowhere despite the best efforts of the ref and linesman to try and get them back into it. JFK assassination enthusiasts were having a field day as the ref awarded Islip a penalty with 15 minutes to go after Scotty Mac was judged to have fouled. The 7 foot 5 guy went down like a girl, the ref gleefully pointed to the spot and the rest of us looked straight over at the grassy knoll behind where their linesman was standing. But thankfully justice was served as the penalty was thundered past the bottom left hand corner to ensure that the points were coming home with the good guys. Well it was a scrappy game to be honest, but these are the ones we’re gonna have to win if the title is a realistic prospect this season, and for all his moaning I have a sneaky feeling that boss guy Adriano of Green was a happy man Saturday night as he put his feet up and watched the highlights on Match of the Day.
RATINGS
Rooney……………8
Best performance of the season from the big guy
Scotty Mac…………7
Shaky at times as we were up against it but coped well and was unlucky to concede the penalty, ie cos it wasn’t a pen
Scriv………………8
A born leader
Bash…………………9
Phenomenal at the back
Chad………………7
His first start and was almost decapitated in the first 5 minutes. Welcome to the Northants Combination, junior
Steve………………7
My second shot was definitely a pass to Chad
Scotty D…………….8
Was involved in all our best moves
Ogs…………………7
Quiet day from the Ogmeister
Cam……………….7
Got right stuck in so he did
Docs………………..7
Got a cracking header, but missed a few more chances and dropped back into midfield in the second half
Gibby……………….8
Worked his wee socks off and got a rare goal in the end he doesn’t really like shooting into
SUBS
Picey…………….6
Came on for Chad in the last 20 mins to help see the game out
Andy B…………..6
Replaced Ogs and injected a bit of pace up front
