After last weeks double over league Leaders,Knowles, Shambles were confident of continuing their winning ways. Pre match interview with BJH striker, Mark "Smudger" Smith lead to him predicting a 0 0 score but alas you need to predict the score AFTER the game has finished and not before it has started. D'oh!
Shambles trudged onto the empty pitch, with no opposition , no ref and no ball! Had they got the timing wrong somewhat? After what seemed like an eternity of practicing with a pretend ball BJH and "reliable" ref Graham finally made an appearance.
From the off BJH were gunning for goal with a long range effort blocked by Will who then shortly after had a long range effort blocked himself by the opposite player! Some tight defending by Worst and HRH also kept things calm at the back while Will was unlucky again with another long range effort. Their then followed a period of "Pinball" football with ball bouncing around between both sets of players but not really going anywhere. However things were about to change with the introduction of supersub, Sinbad who was insturmental in the first goal of the game,linking up a great 7 passing move Clint to Worst to Sinbad,back to Worst ,square to HRH,back to Sinbad,cross field to Blues, square back to HRH, top corner GOAL!!!!! 1 0 Shambles.
Shambles seemed to sniff blood and were unlucky with HRH and Sinbad coming close to adding another and after a series of continuous head height free kicks in Shambles' favour even Postie tried his luck from distance, shaving past Blues' left ear in the process!
BJH then pushed forward themselves and after what seemed like a man going nowhere into the corner, turned into a quick turn, miss-hit shot ,Clint diving the wrong way ,bobble/scuff into a gaping corner of the net. 1 - 1 But where was the marking!!
The same man,Mark, then turned the ball the other way past Postie and would have been clear through if not for the tag team of Postie and Sinbad who gently "squeezed" Mark to the floor.( I say squeezed, but it was more of a bounce!) Eventually getting back up from his squeezing, Mark simply powered the ball straight into the Shambles goal having been awarded a direct free kick much to the bemusement of all around him,especially Postie who actually lifted his foot out of the path of the ball.
2 - 1 BJH
Still shell shocked , a little of the shape dissapeared from the Shambles' formation with BJH pushing forward with some close efforts on goal. Will was unlucky again with a long range effort of his own ,and then after a great tackle and pass by Sinbad, Will was unlucky not to find the net again with a quick turn and shot with his left which somehow vered off to the right of the post having beaten the keeper. " A dreadful miss!" was heard from the waatching crowd, who i assured is because Will cant shot with his Left!! HRH then intercepted a ball from the keeper , knocking Mark again to the floor, with Will pouncing on the loose ball and Planting it in the top corner with his "useless" left foot!!!
2 - 2
At this point in the game G-man appeared trying to convince us that the game should have started at 8:30!! Or so he thought. And as we watched BJH take the kick off , communication broke down between the 2 forwards gifting the ball to HRH who passed to a waiting Will on the edge of the box , who , assisted by the BJH defender crashing him into the area slid the ball home
3 - 2 Shambles!
Second Half started with Shambles passing the ball around well and Will setting HRH on his way but only to see his shot blocked.HRH tried again but saw his long range shot just wide. BJH then pushed forward and were unlucky not to equalise ,as the unmarked striker,John, decided to "step over" the ball instead of shooting! Mark once again ended up knocked the floor again this time thanks to Will's Ass knocking him over! Mark then again made ammends by scoring another after being left unmarked by Blues. Note to Shambles - STOP KNOCKING MARK OVER!!
3 - 3
Will was unlucky after the restart after stealing the ball from a dawdling defender on the very edge of the BJH box but could make nothing of it.
Tiredness started to show as the defence seemed to vanish letting BJH back into the game and although Mark was floored again there were no clear chances on goal from either side.
BJH found the back of the net from another directly taken free kick but luckily for the Shambles it was supposed to indirect! After a short period of interesting subs to say the least Sinbad was unlucky not to latch on to an HRH pass and put the Shables back in front , forcing a great save from the BJH keeper. Another free kick saw all 3 remaing Shambles players all going for the ball together looking like some keystone cop moment as they bounced off each other! D'oh! At the other end BJH came close with Sinbad following another player and not the ball, but Clint was there to save the day with a fine save.. The roll out intended for Will was quickly intercepted by Smudger who clinically shrugged off Worst to plant the ball top corner.
4 - 3 BJH!!
Yet another lack of communication saw the restart commence with Shambles having 5 players on the pitch and if Blues had maybe kicked the ball as hard as he kicked the wall as he retreated back to the bench maybe we would have a different score line!! Did someone retrieve the Teddy for him??
Sinbad's through ball saw HRH frustratingly shoot the ball across the face of the goal and not buried in the back of the net. Both sides were showing tiredness as sloppy passing was shown by both, but alas that was how it was to end as the ref blew for fill time. Yet another Defeat snatched from the jaws of Victory!
Some great play at times coupled with a complete lack of communication in others?
The story of the Shambles' season perhaps........