[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 23, 2011 (evening)

Blyth (4th, 6-1-3) at Belpers (Nor. Prem. D1S)
Prohibitive 1:4 favorite in this 2nd Round Qualifier for the English FA Cup. The Nailers don't appear to have a lot outside of 29 y/o striker Dave Nurse, who is probably about on par with several members of our roster offensively, so long as he doesn't go insane & we don't do some incredibly stupid stuff then we ought to be fine.

Speaking on insane, there's a distinct possiblity for that ... three guesses who today's ref is and the first two don't count. If I get through this season without killing Scott Duncan with my bare hands it may qualify as a miracle.

We'll start out 4-4-2 Standard, figure out what to do from there. We've got 7 subs available for this one, so there's some starters available if things get dicey, some deep bench guys if we're comfortably in control.

GK - Hartley
D: Cave - Buchanan - Coulson - D'Laryea
MF: Slaughter - White - Hooks - Vipond
F: Taylor - Chinthengah

2:45 - It takes less than three minutes for the first yellow card, on Chinthengah who bumped Hollis on a chase for a long ball down the right side. I've now set every single player to "Easy" tackling

14:17 - after White narrowly escapes a card for a trip (or was that a dive?), a free kick by Pritchard swings to the opposite side and Cooke knocks it home past Hartley (0-1)) Another horrid start in a match controlled by the presence of this control freak referee. We switch to Control mindset

26:15 - We finally manage our first shot of the game, a fairly mild effort by Slaughter that was caught easily

38:30 - Taylor sees the keeper rushing way out to meet him, puts up a lob that appears destined for the net ... instead it goes harmlessly over.

Halftime - Egads that was bad. Outshot 4-3 by a team that shouldn't be able to compete with our U18's. Outpossessed, out everythinged really, we can't even complete simple passes. I'm obviously unhappy & the club knows it ... doesn't seem to care much one way or the other.

Mole on for a disappointing Taylor. Yes, I'm that upset & that desperate.

53:37 - Clifford from way downtown, BANG. 25 yarder right past Hartley who looks utterly f'n clueless when a shot comes his way. (0-2)

Groves on for an miserable White. We go to Attack strategy, if we're gonna lose then it might as well be by five as by two at this point.

57:00 - Groves wins an aerial challenge at midfield, bangs it into the offensive end ... Mole runs through two men, sees the keeper coming towards him ... waits ... fires ... GOAL (1-2)). Whaddya know, a sign of life perhaps?

66:00 - Slaughter plays it to the spot for Mole ... he starts to shoot/shoots but it's tackled cleanly away from behind by Gardiner ... and heads straight into the net for an own goal (2-2)

66:57 - Mole gives it up to Chinthengah to the left of the spot, he shoots ... it's off the crossbar ... Slaughter heads the rebound back toward the net but he's offside

72:30 - Matondo on for Buchanan (Groves to RWB, D'Laryea to RCD). We switch back to Standard strategy just hoping now to escape here with a draw

90:00+ - 3 minutes of added time ... at 90:53 Mole gets into the area but it's blocked out for a corner. One last chance here perhaps? Vipond takes the corner & blasts it across the pitch & out of play. So much for that idea. One more minor rush that comes to nothing

Fulltime - Clearly we're lucky to escape here with a draw. We just got outplayed for most of a match by a team that shouldn't have stayed on the field with us. The blame lies with me for trusting reserves that clearly can't be trusted to carry any sort of load at all. If not for Mole, we would have lost this one. Shots end up 8-8, possession ends up 51-49 our way. We couldn't cross, we passed like crap, about the only bright spot other than our star striker is that the early yellow was the only one we picked up all day.

Hartley 6.8
Cave 6.6, Buchanan 5.8, Coulson 6.6, D'Laryea 6.7
Slaughter 6.9 & 1 assist, White 5.9, Hooks 7.0, Vipond 5.9
Taylor 5.9, Chinthengah 6.6
Subs: Mole 7.2 & 1 goal, Groves 6.8, Matondo 6.7