After several weeks with out a win the Shamble manager, G-Man, was in a determined mood to stop the rot and pick up all three points on offer against bottom of the league Westlife. So much so that in the midst of his pep talks and tactical advice he left team selection till the final seconds, in fact the final second had past while Graham was selecting the starting 5 and flash and G-man found themselves on the bench by virtue of being closest to it, leaving the shambles starting with a attacking 1-3 formation with H.R.H. on his own at the back.
The opening minutes were a tense affair with Westlife showing that they have grown and improved as a team over the many weeks since the Shambles beat them 10-2; closing down quickly and giving the Shambles attackers very little opportunity to get their shots off. When the shambles top scorer for this season, Blues, did manage to fire one in, it was a combination of cross bar and lack of lines man that conspired in the goal not being given. A substitution brought on G-man and allowed H.R.H a bit more freedom to venture forward and that’s where an excellent throw from keeper Clint found him, just over the half way line in a bit of space on the right. The Westlife keeper had been warned about H.R.H. now trademarked finish but was still unable to do anything about the expertly placed shot across goal into the opposite corner, a finish that in true WWE style has been given a name, “the knighthood” by the fans.
It was a goal that relaxed the Shambles and it was now Ade’s turn to be denied by the woodwork as he thundered a shot in that hit both posts and came out.
It was just before half time when they got a second, with G-man sliding a perfectly weighted ball through to Blink who then slotted it home, 2-0 at half time.
The second half began and Westlife started brightly, both sides exchanged shots but with some good defending and great goal keeping on both sides the score stayed at 2-0. Then the inevitable happened, Chris had to sub off leaving the Shambels with 1 defender again and Westlife finally gave themselves a life line. There is a saying in football that forwards can’t defend and it was clearly true for the goal with the Shambles having opportunities to clear the ball away, but missed tackles weren’t followed up and won tackles were dwelled upon to long. Eventually the ball came to a Westlife striker on the edge of the box and form point blank range with no pressure on him, he slotted it home. So 2-1, were the Shambles about to throw the game away? They did try with Chris deflecting the ball to force a save out of James from a shot that was going wide and Graham with an interesting pass back that nearly beat Clint at his right hand post. It was Ade who finally put the game to rest with some great play that would have made a great goal for himself, if it wasn’t for James poaching it from him as the two combined to make it 3-1.
3-1 was how it stayed and the Shambles, who have consolidated 8th and can conceivably take 7th,can consider themselves safe from any bottom place scarp now with just 3 games to go. Not a great season, but not a bad one either.