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Hubris! We beat #1 Whitehawk on the road, then come back for a midweek match against budding rival and league doormat Chelmsford...
Redwood starts at DL in our 4-1-2-1-2, with Locke in goal and Swallow on the bench. Hayes is on the bench for Chelmsford. Things are proceeding fine for 25 minutes, until our standout enganche AMC is hurt. We have to switch to a 4-4-2 and insert Swallow at ML. Minutes later, new Chelmsford AMR Mekki beats Swallow and shakes Redwood on the right wing, receives the ball, and beats Locke to put us down 0-1 30 minutes in. Sigh.
Minutes later, I think I'm seeing a replay of Mekki beating Swallow, Redwood, and Locke, except this time Mekki scores on the volley. 0-2 and I'm incensed.
For the first time in several weeks, our strikers go quiet in the scorebook, although a few chances are left on the goalie's hands or the crossbar. At 75 minutes, I remove Redwood to scold him. Then comes the cruelest part--Hayes has come on as a substitute AML for Chelmsford. In the last 15 minutes, he gets 2 good shots at Locke; the second one, Locke parries to another Chelmsford forward who strikes home the last nail in an 0-3 embarrassment.
...Looking forward to rectifying this injustice in our rematch.
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