January 1, 2015
There is no winter break in English football. In fact, most leagues schedule a lot of fixtures during the festive period, and that can take a heavy toll on a team that isn't very deep. Fortunately for us, there was no match on the Saturday closest to Christmas, which gave our increasingly bruised and battered Commoners the present they needed most: rest.
Look at all those goals! In all but one of our last fie matches, at least one team scored three times. I wish it had always been Little Common, but such was not the case.
Our newest acquisition left his mark on each of these matches. It took less than three minutes for Aaron Lacy to inscribe his name in the lore of Little Common FC. Have you ever known anyone to get excited when their favorite team earns a throw? When a Worthing United player botched a clearance and put the ball into touch, about fifteen yards from the endline, Zoe and I looked at each other.
"Here we go!" I exclaimed.
"YES!" she replied, with a double fist pump.
Lacy took his position, backed up, and let it fly.
Incoming! Aaron Lacy releases a powerful throw.
The ball rose high and deep into the United penalty area as players from both teams scrambled into position to deal with it. Had its flight not been impeded, the ball might have landed in the six yard box, even with the far post.
Can you find the football? Look at the goal. There's the ball, about to be contested by Little Common's Darren Blewitt and Worthing United's Kieran Bothroyd.
In a movie, Darren Blewitt would have risen between two United defenders and powered the ball past the hapless 'keeper. Real life doesn't always work that way. Worthing United have a center back, Kieran Bothroyd, who is exceptionally good in the air. He leapt up and got his head to the ball first, but all he could manage to do was knock it clear, basically in the direction it had come from.
Rob Magwood was first to the ball and, as the United defense scrambled to find a man to mark or reestablish their shape, Magwood picked out Matthew Reece, who found a bit of space to the right of the penalty spot.
I'm sure it was hard for Worthing 'keeper Nicky Hardy to find the ball, with five of his teammates scurrying around in the box. Reece took full advantage of this chaos by hammering the ball low and hard to Hardy's left. The goalie never saw it. 1-0 to the Common!
The goal wasn't a direct result of Lacy's power throw, and Magwood deserves a lot of credit for the slick pass that found an unmarked Reece for the finish. But it was clear the Worthing United defense was a bit discomfited by the situation, and we took full advantage of their confusion.
Later in the match, Stacey Freeman headed just wide from another Lacy bullet. Aaron, who had been captain of two other clubs, got to wear the armband when Blewitt came off. All these events, plus a 3-0 victory, made it a red-letter day for all of us in claret.
Aaron made an impression in other matches, too. Against Haywards Heath Town, he got credit for an assist when Michael Hassini directed another long throw into the net. And Lacy is far from a one-trick pony. His long pass released Joel Mason for our second score in the Haywards Heath match. Aaron is a hard-working, determined player who has retained enough of his pace and stamina to run up and down the wing, and he crosses the ball well. He is a good teammate and a leader. Aaron is a very useful footballer for a team at our level.
His time at Little Common has not been all sunshine and roses, however. He was whistled for a hand ball in the box in our dire loss to Bexhill United, who converted the ensuing penalty. Aaron was far from the only player who had a bad day at the office against our local rival. Hassini was so poor that I called him out for it the next day. He blamed his midfielders for failing to provide adequate cover, which didn't exactly reflect well on his attitude.
We missed a chance to overtake Steyning Town once again, as they were losing to Wick that afternoon. In fact, it would be Wick who turned out to be our toughest challenger during December.
The board informed me they were "absolutely delighted" with my performance at my December touch-base. Two days later, this bit of holiday cheer was tempered by news from our physios.
Joe Mellings was diagnosed with a sports hernia. The reliable gloveman, nearly everpresent this season, would be unavailable for up to two months. While losing Joe was certainly a blow, we were confident that Paul Dennis could do a job in his absence. We didn't want to have only one goalkeeper in the team, however, so I showed Zoe how I could bring one of the "grey" players to life by offering him a contract. I picked a 15-year-old goalie called Aron Boardman, whose attributes made him seem like he'd be a decent choice for the bench. "Aron the Keeper" doesn't have quite the same ring as "Frosty the Snowman," but Zoe appreciated how Aron came to life that day.
The very same day, Jack Ross turned an ankle in training. His injury wasn't quite as bad as Okay Oniah's, and Jack will probably miss only a month or so. The capable Joel Mason stepped into the eleven in Jack's place.
Away to Seaford Town, Paul Dennis kept his second clean sheet in as many games. Meanwhile, Steyning's loss of form had two consequences. We overtook them at the top of the the league, and Wick pushed their nose ahead of them, too. That meant our final match of 2014, at home to Steyning Town, was a bit less dramatic than it could have been.
The game was a neutral's delight.
Dennis made a lovely double save, necessitated by a horrible mistake by the always-active Aaron Lacy. Aaron was pressed into duty as a center back, because Michael Hassini was serving a two-match ban for picking up his second red card. Needless to say, the rowdy center half found himself at the top of Santa's naughty list (and Simon Ross's, too).
Goals from Nat Hubert, Kieran Fitzharris, and Joel Mason gave us a 3-1 advantage with just under a half hour to play. We were particularly excited for Fitzharris, who took full advantage of a rare opportunity to start. He's been nothing but professional throughout, and he deserved to score a game-winner.
The fates had other plans. Dennis flapped horribly at a save-able shot by Marvin Potter, and he was victimized by a devilish free kick from Philip Gilkes in stoppage time. The 3-3 draw meant we lost another opportunity to gain some ground in the table, as Wick drew their match, too.
We are at the halfway point of the season now, and you can see how interesting things are at both ends of the table. Six teams find themselves within seven points of the top, and all these clubs can realistically consider themselves contenders for the championship and promotion to Division One. Meanwhile, three teams are level on 15 points at the bottom of the league, with Seaford Town's gnarly goal differential putting them last. And seven other clubs are within six points of the bottom...
That says to me that every club in Division Two will ring in 2015 with reasonable hopes of promotion or rational fears of relegation. We have an eventful five months ahead, don't we?