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Saturday 18th September 2010
Alleyn Old Boys 6s 9-0 BoE 5s
With no keeper, the loss of some big beasts to the 4s and the need to ingest new blood from the FSA, this was always going to be a tough gig. And so it proved.
The scoreline of 9-0 tells its own story.
But there’s an alternative narrative: after a shaky first half, punctuated by some nervy defending and a string of lucky breaks for Alleyns that netted six goals, this Bank team really started
to gel. For long passages of time, particularly immediately after the break, we dominated possession and won a sequence of corners that we were unlucky not to convert.
Particularly notable were the midfield troika of Daniel, Hunnable and Robinson, doggedly chasing down every ball and creating a number of dangerous threaded balls through to
Rehman who always looking threatening upfront.
An entertaining game for the neutrals, with one of our best chances bizarrely coming from a wildly over-weighted back pass to the Alleyns keeper who did well to turn it past his left post.
At the other end, James Smith, valiantly donning the gloves for the second half and turning in a near faultless performance, appeared to pirouette as he threw the ball out to the left
sending it towards an Alleyns striker. But the striker dithered, perhaps savouring the comedy of the moment, and with admirable composure Smith executed swift blocking action in a recovery
that almost certainly saved us from the indignity of a double-digit defeat.
A game of two halves then with its most impressive feature the 5s’ indomitable spirit: at no point did we let our heads go down and as the final whistle blew we were still battling away,
showing the steeliness that will stand us in good stead once we settle and sort out our keeping challenges.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 25th September 2010
BoE 5s 5-0 Alleyn Old Boys 6s
Under a steel bright sky, with the Brook pitch shimmering in the late September sun, this was a stage lit for drama. And in a plot development that would have made a Hollywood screenwriter
blush, came one of the most astonishing comebacks since, well since none of us could remember.
For new readers, last week saw the Bank go down 9-0 to a surprisingly strong Alleyns team in the first game of the new season. It was a cruel twist of fate to see the rematch scheduled for the
very next week. And a lesser side, one lacking true Bank grit, might have approached the fixture with some trepidation.
It all started unpromisingly with the 5s keeper stranded in traffic on the South Circular, and a swaggering Alleyns side charitably agreeing to delay kickoff for 15 minutes. But there was still no sign of our
man and in stepped Sam Richards.
And from the off, the Bank dominated possession. The back four snuffed out any sign of life from Alleyns with newcomer Pete Sharland outstanding at centre back in perhaps the most solid defence we’ve
had for several seasons.
There was some very pretty football in midfield, and some blistering pace down the left netting a couple of early goals and prompting looks of disbelief on Alleyns faces. When we scored a third they
started bickering and we knew we had history on our side.
After the break, Sam Richards moved upfront and found the net within 5 minutes. There then followed a long period in which Alleyns mustered some shape and gave our defence something to do.
But excellent organisation and some good work between the sticks by late arrival Nart Bouran soaked up the pressure, sapped their morale and allowed us to switch to a new focus on the left. Sam
Tomlinson was solid at left back connecting well with debutante winger Jack Mason-Jebb, whose close ball control opened up the flank and whose elegant crosses we failed to exploit.
And then, just as it looked like we’d seen the best of the afternoon’s football, came a moment so sublime words alone will not do justice.
Wesley Vickers jinked and twisted and spun to lose his marker 25 yards out, and with next to no backlift, lofted a ball that gently arced and curled as it floated around and above a dumbstruck keeper and,
at the very last moment, neatly tucked itself inside the top right hand corner of goal.
A fitting end to a great performance (but it really should have been 10).
Mark Jones
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Saturday 2nd October 2010
BoE 5s 0-7 Old Stationers 5s (SAL Junior Novets Cup)
And so to round 2 of the Novett's Cup (what happened to round 1? ) and the intriguingly named Old Stationers.
No-one knew anything about them. One changing room wag suggested this was a side that still wrote out its teamsheet with a quill pen on handmade parchment. When we saw them though it was
obvious they were a modern, street-wise team. But they did make it clear that they valued a good surface on which to display their craft, pestering us to swap with the 4s and play on the A3-sized Records
Office pitch. How to put this? We know our strengths and the more compact format of Brook much better suits our game. We politely declined.
Three divisions above us in the League, on paper this was always going to be one-sided. But we were composed and solid, threading together some good passing sequences and we held them back for a long time.
New signing Rick Marsland at right back was impermeable and penetrative with runs deep into Stationers' territory. In goal, new boy Rich Watts loomed large between the sticks contributing to an unexpectedly
confident Bank start.
There was an ill omen after 15 minutes when Jack Mason-Jebb limped off with hamstring problems so weakening us on the right. But when at 25 minutes the Stationers keeper fell awkwardly and, writhing in
agony, left the field, our natural sympathies were tempered by a new sense of optimism -- that this might be just the break we needed to pull off a bit of giant-killing.
However, a wholesale Stationers reshuffle brought in a laserjet of a striker and a more purposeful mood that we were never able to counter.
First blot on our copybook came almost immediately with a misunderstanding between Watts and Jones gifting Stationers the softest of goals. They took that as a sign to shift up a gear and we never caught them.
They were particularly strong in the air exploiting the 5s' tentativeness at setpieces and by the break were four up.
On came Simon Walls to inject some pace and guile on the left and, a bit later, Raoul de Bunsen to rally the troops with some vocal firepower. Wesley Bishop moved upfront but we failed to re-establish the
simple passing game of the first quarter and, disappointingly, never really troubled the stand-in keeper, instead wilting under the weight of wave after wave of attacks.
In the end theirs was an elegant, joined up script, ours was a scrappy shorthand and it ended 7-0. So good luck Old Stationers. We misread you: you were neither very old nor in the least bit stationary.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 6th November 2010
BoE 5s 3-4 Broomfield 5s (AFA Senior Novets Cup)
The 5s lost nine players to the 4s and this game very nearly didn't happen. But with some last-minute scrambling for players (take a bow goalkeeper Dave Joshi) we fielded a side with no fewer than 5 debutantes.
Kickoff was delayed half an hour as Broomfield got caught up in the Rugby-induced traffic chaos. That at least gave us a chance to get to know one another. But did we overdo the warm-up?
Poor old Harley went down with breathing difficulties just before the game started and, when it looked like we’d start with just ten, on trotted the late-arriving Raoul de Bunsen sporting one of the
most impressive black eyes I've seen in years.
In Saturday viewing terms this was beginning to look a lot more like an episode of Casualty than Match of the Day.
Broomfield are top of their league and, on paper, should have easily had the better of us. But it was the Bank that had the balance of the play in the first half. Jonny Baker, a brand new Bank staffer with an
eye for darting Gerard-style drives from central midfield was always enterprising. Aaron Myrie on the left and Jermaine MacFarlane in the middle combined well and collectively we kept the Broomfield keeper much
busier than our own.
But the opposition were very, very good on the counter. And the Bank back four of Jones, Marsland, Charlton and the imperious Fredericks, were guilty of misjudging the seasoned but guileful Broomfield centre forward
who needed tighter marking. We gave away the softest of goals when we allowed him to glide all the way from the half-way line to slot home a mediocre shot.
Though 1-0 down at half-time, spirits were good and a consensus formed around the notion that yes we were definitely the more technically proficient team and that with a bit more organisation this match would be ours.
We started off brightly enough. But ten minutes in, the first signs of a late autumn mist seemed to cast an odd spell of haplessness over the Bank and we meekly watched for the next ten as Broomfield scored a
1-2-3 of goals remarkably similar to their first.
4-0 down and we were on life support. The cardiograph was threatening to flat-line. There was near silence as though waiting for the dreaded beeps of total collapse. But you know the script – there was a
sudden spark of activity -- the Bank had looked into the abyss and decided it was worth fighting its way back to life.
The passing got more precise and we started pressing hard. With our young recruits it also became clear that we had the greater stamina and for most of the remainder of the game Broomfield really didn’t want to play,
preferring to sit deep and concentrate on snuffing out our numerous attacks. That’s a dangerous strategy and when they gave away a penalty it was expertly converted by the younger Joshi. Then Aaron Myrie, creating
mischief on the edge of a by now gridlocked Broomfield box, somehow found his way through for a second. On came a revitalised Harley to evoke memories of Dan Vassar with some penetrating runs down the right wing.
And 10 minutes before the final whistle was due, Mitesh Joshi gave us a genuine match Of The Day moment with a fearsome half volley from 20 yards out that their keeper simply didn't register.
But just as the team seemed to have fought its way back to full health the ref pulled the plug blowing the final whistle prematurely (it seemed to many us) killing what was beginning to shape up as a miraculous comeback.
So the final diagnosis: this patient suffered a near-death experience but has benefitted from transfusion of new blood and now needs a period of stability.
In next week's episode Dr Simon Gibbs takes over the ward (and he will send out call for players later).
Mark Jones
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Saturday 13th November 2010
Civil Service 8s 3-4 BoE 5s
This week it was very much a tale of two dressing rooms. The Civil Service were billeted cross the corridor from the Bank and there was an interesting contrast in the pre-match banter.
Some of us could hear the home side ostentatiously discussing our poor record, the fact we’d not got any points away from Roehampton, our lowly position in the league, the likelihood
of us finishing bottom -- you get the drift. Damning stuff, if a little uncivil.
But most of the 5s were completely oblivious. In the Bank dressing room the mood was introspective as players shared one woeful story after another. Several thought they were coming down
with flu; others complained of hangovers, one said he’d been bullied into coming because we were so short; there was a case of migraine, another of jet-lag.. It was frankly rather depressing.
I don’t want to inflict any more pain by further over-extension of last week’s health metaphor but this really was a bit like listening to the pensioners swapping notes on their ailments in the surgery waiting room.
Somehow we made it out onto the pitch. But three of our fourteen didn’t make it to the ground for kickoff. (NB when this happens we need to get the permission of the oppo to name you as subs, so you’re not
guaranteed a game if you’re late.) And there was yet another example of that nasty habit we’ve developed -- the gift of a soft, early goal due to lack of communication and ball-watching by the defence. Dave Joshi
very nearly saved us, blocking a low drive but the rebound fell straight to the feet of the player known as Diego and Dave narrowly failed to turn the second shot round his left post.
Then we woke up.
A Mitesh corner found its way to Jermain’s head, a glance downwards and the ball was at Jason’s feet on the edge of the box and he was through and stroking the ball into the net.
That did the trick. Players’ ailments seemed to melt away and now we had the edge, breaking quickly, defending with greater confidence and communicating far better The Civil Service were getting rattled and there was a
lengthy pause in play after one studs-up challenge from their no 5 floored Aaron Mylie.
We seemed to get corner after corner. But almost as good were Jason’s Delap-style throws into the box. Jermain soared skywards to head one of these home for our second.
Harking back to the earlier dressing room banter, their captain shouted something like “come on boys this lot are supposed to be easy”. But actions speak louder than words -- they couldn’t get the ball off us, they knew it, and
rather than rallying they started to squabble.
2:1 up at half-time and our spirits were high. Aaron and his combatant made up, Lawrence Crees came on for Raoul de Bunsen at right wing, and, inexplicably, the Civil Service replaced their keeper with their oldest defender.
While we continued to dominate the play, they were useful on the counter. Dave was very nearly caught off his line by a lob from the centre circle by their number 9, which prompted applause from both teams. And a little
later he was forced to tip a powerful shot over the bar.
Fifteen minutes in and another rocket-powered throw into the box from Jason somehow made its way through a forest of Civil Service players to Mitesh’s feet and in for our third.
It then got a bit niggley. There was a card apiece for dissent (5s we’ve got to watch this -- arguing with the ref is counterproductive.)
Off came a couple of the flu victims and on came the late-arriving Harley and Charlie, who might sound like a comedy duo but there was nothing in the least bit funny about their venomous attacks. With a deft touch and some
blistering pace Harley embarked on a series of slalom runs down the left flank leaving the Civil Service for dead and eventually finding the net for our fourth and final goal.
A strong team performance then with some individual displays of brilliance. Perhaps too soon to speak of this as the turning point but at the very least it should put a stop to the dressing room dissing.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 20th November 2010
BoE 5s 1-4 South Bank 7s
A game with a bit of an atmosphere about it, played under one of those malevolent Harry Potter skies that felt like it would suck you in if you looked too long, that or fell you with a bolt of lightning.
Anyway, it set the tone for a fixture full of menace.
With the half-light already fading we kicked off and, despite the gloom, the Bank mood was bright after last week's win and we made a decent enough start. Although availability had been excellent and we'd
been able to draw on 3s 'galacticos' Jerry Jones and Roger de Bunsen, we didn't have any of our regular central midfielders, So Andrew Hart and Henry Moloney were stationed in the middle and did well to contain
most of the traffic. Roger and Jason were solid last-line deterrents and Dave Joshi was largely untroubled. Towards the end of the first half, Aaron was unlucky not to turn in a Jason throw after a clever flick from Alex
But South Bank were a handful throughout. Easily the best side we've faced this season (cup games included) they combined pace with excellent control and organisation and looked like a very different team from the one
we beat at home last season.
After a long first half it was 0-0, felt evenly balanced and the ref promised to scrutinise the tackling more closely. Off went Simon and Alex for Jerry and Mark with Henry moving upfront to join Mitesh while Andrew and
Roger swapped roles.
With players adjusting to their new positions there was a lapse of concentration and South Bank swarmed through the middle overwhelming our defence and getting a shot past Dave. Ten minutes later something similar
happened to make it 2-0.
We didn't let our heads go down though and begun to settle. Central midfield started pinging 30-yard balls to our men in the channels. We were beginning to find our shape. Harley snaked his way around three sides of the
South Bank box before narrowly shooting over the bar. But a series of such moves had emptied his tank and off he came for an under-the weather Laurence who, remarkably, overcame early-onset flu to ghost in from the
right and slot one away making him this week's boy wizard.
This should have been the turning point. But we became too attack-focussed and succumbed to our old tendency of not covering back on counter-attacks Within minutes they sent a powerful shoulder height cross in from the
left that flashed across our area and looked to be going straight out to touch when their newly-arrived winger somehow got his left peg up and around Jones's neck to volley it straight past Dave.
We soldiered on. Gallows humour surfaced. Someone called for the floodlights to be switched on.
In a last, desperate roll of the dice, Jason and Mark moved upfront. That unsettled South Bank for a while and Jason came close with his head. The notion of a late comeback briefly flickered. But the tinkering had come at a
price -- strength in the centre -- and when South Bank broke they sliced right through us to drive one home from 20 yards so putting the result beyond doubt.
Another stormy encounter then. But not without its positives. The 4-1 score-line flattered them and they said as much afterwards describing us as the best team they'd played so far. A bit more organization (and a bit of luck)
and this result could have been very different.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 27th November 2010
BoE 5s 4-1 Old Wilsonians 8
I'll keep this brief. It was icy cold. We started chaotically. At 2:15 we were just nine. Jason strained his groin. The ref agreed a 10 minute delay. Lawrence and Charlie arrived to make it a bare 11.
But something clicked. Jermain and Aaron took control of central midfield. Simon and Laurence played as probing wing-backs. Dave was solid, tipping a cunning corner over the bar, but didn’t have much to do.
We had loads of chances but kept mis-firing. Jason threw a rocket into their box and it ricocheted in (with a throw like that who needs a groin?) They duped three Bank defenders to level.
After the break we were rampant. Alex flicked on to Charlie for our second. We camped in their half. Dave strolled up to the centre circle for something to do. A succession of Bank players went one-on-one with
the keeper but with no success. Finally, Jermain showed the way through. Aaron followed suit. In a show of new maturity we went defensive. We got bored. We went offensive. Mitesh sent in a string of dangerous
corners while Aaron sat deep to counter the counter. By this stage every Bank player save Dave had had at least one attempt on goal. It went box to box for a bit. But their hearts weren’t in it. It was getting dark.
The ref blew up. Wilsonians were strangely cheerful as they walked towards the Clubhouse, perhaps sensing we'd let them off lightly. Which we had.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 11th December 2010
BoE 5s 6-2 Old Wilsonians 9
The pantomime season is upon us again. And boy didn't we know it.
The 5s got off to a fairy-tale start -- Harley skated around the back of their defence like some glittering starlet, pirouetted several times and slid one home within sixty seconds to astonished looks from Wilsonians,
his own team and some oohs and aahs from that novelty for the 5s -- a band of young supporters.
Five minutes later he did it again, and like some old thesp could be heard trying to fire up the crowd with chants of 'Team Harley'. Perhaps inevitably, he then failed to make it a hat-trick after inexplicably shooting wide
after dribbling round the keeper.
But up stepped Jermain to maintain the drama, grabbing a third at the half hour mark.
We'd been granted our three wishes.
Then we got the comedy turn. Raoul de Bunsen, who had arrived particularly full of Christmas cheer, treated everyone to some fine entertainment including a spirited refrain of "it's behind you" directed at the midfield
(boys, I wish you'd listened)..
He found his way into shooting positions a couple of times but in a fine display of crowd-pleasing slapstick played it for laughs and ended up on the deck. The young crowd roared their approval.
Then came the scary bit. The mood darkened, their young centre forward came to life. There was some hissing from the sidelines. He rampaged through our midfield and exploited a moment of confusion in defence to
outfox the otherwise sharp Dave Joshi.
We lost our nerve. There was lots of manic running around and finger-pointing -- like that sped-up silent movie thing they do in some pantos. And we spent the remainder of the half in a state of semi-panic.
Wilsonians very nearly got a second after Dave tipped a chip onto the bar and back into the path of their centre forward when out of nowhere came Sam Tomlinson with a razor-sharp interception to play the fairy godmother role.
The interval saw some puzzled looks and much head-scratching as we tried to establish how our fortunes had soared so high and then dived so low. Some minor script changes were made and on came Laurence with Harley going upfront.
It seemed to work. There was a reprise of the opening act with the new boy netting almost from the whistle. But it was almost immediately followed by a Wilsonians counter -- like their first goal,
this was a ball that sliced straight through our middle to their Centre Forward who shook off our defence to get a second.
We'd forgotten our lines again. The crowd had lost patience and moved on. Worse, luckless Henry found himself cast as the most unlikely pantomime villain in history as his stray boot gave one of their old boys a bloody nose.
They hit the metalwork a couple of times and we looked like we'd completely lost the plot. Players were limping, players were wingeing, Harley had to leave the field. We were teetering on the brink of capitulation.
But up stepped Mitesh to grab centre-stage. We got a corner. He struck it hard and close to the face of goal and straight off the back of the head of a Wilsonians' defender. Not just a great corner but the kind of goal that eats
away at a side's self-belief. It killed their hopes of a renaissance. And it seemed poetically apt that 10 minutes later Mitesh should find himself deftly jinking past the Wilsonians defence to slot the ball neatly inside the left post to
make it a princely sixth for the Bank.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 22nd January 2011
Old Actonians 10s 0-4 BoE 5s
This lot beat us 5-0 back in October when we were struggling to get a side out. My how things have changed.
Right from the off the Bank were dominant. The back four were tight and Actonians failed to get a single shot on goal during the first half. But our finishing was a bit rusty after the long mid-winter break.
It took a while for many to regain their pre-Christmas touch, a lot of our crisper passes bounced right off their targets and there were plenty of scuffed shots.
However, 25 minutes in, Aaron got some weight behind a drive at goal, their keeper spilt it and James slotted it away.
The realisation that this was a more together team than the one they'd faced last autumn was causing Actonians to get frustrated. And when they made a rare break down our left flank only to have two of their
players run into one another there were some frank exchanges between them and a bit of pushing. Minutes later there was another eruption, more pushing, etc. Play was suspended for five minutes while cooler heads
tried to calm things down.
The 5s used the break to re-establish their shape and almost as soon as play resumed James deftly pulled down a long, lofted ball from Jason using his right shoulder and expertly drove it from 20 yards right over the
keeper's head for our second.
Half-time turned into another extended break, initially thought to be so that Actonians could heal their wounds, it then became clear it was to allow the ref to finish his fag. When challenged on whether this was in tune
with the game's push on healthier lifestyles, he explained, "how else do I work out how long half-time should be?"
We made one change, the late-arriving Owen came on for Damo and a reshuffle of midfield put the new boy out on the left. With only the second touch of his debut, he fired a fearsome left footer from 25 yards that
went straight past the dumbstruck keeper to make it three-nil.
Actonians had made their own changes, putting more firepower upfront and the play was a lot more balanced. Our back four lost a bit of shape and there were signs of fatigue in the middle . Dave Joshi had to fend off a
couple of semi-decent shots. More tinkering with the line-up left Aaron up front with James dropping back to central midfield and the two combined for our fourth goal -- an elegant chip from Aaron into the top right hand corner.
When the whistle blew it was good to hear that despite a heavy defeat and their internal bickering Actonians had retained their sense of humour: after the obligatory three cheers for Actonians, three cheers for the Bank routine,
one joker added "... And three cheers for the Bank keeping base rates unchanged"
Mark Jones
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Saturday 26th February 2011
Old Wilsonians 9s 1-3 BoE 5s
Very late kick-off due to change of ground to Colney Hall. A lot of new faces and we struggled to find our shape initially. An unlucky glance off the head of one of our defenders sent a rare
Wilsonians cross straight into the path of their left winger and it was blasted into the Bank net after 10.
We got straight back into it and within five minutes Henry found himself 15 yards out and an instinctive, fearsome toe-poke saw him slam the ball just beyond the tips of their keeper's fingers and under the cross-bar.
We settled and started playing the kind of patient, technical football that always serves us well. Jason sent in one of his trademark Delap-style throws and Jermaine got his head to it for our second 25 minutes in.
By this time the surface, very soft to start with, was turning marshy. A lot of promising breaks just fizzled out as the ball got snared in mud. Nevertheless, ten minutes before the turn,
Owen made it three after stabbing home a stray ball in the box.
And then came the rain. After the break, the park went from marshy to gloopy. As our passing and movement became more fluid so the pitch became stickier --
the two phenomena cancelling one another out leaving the second half disappointingly goal-less.
All in all though, an excellent result in difficult circumstances pulling us up to fifth in the division.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 19th March 2011
Bank of England 5s vs Lloyds 8s (double-header)
Game 1: BoE 5s 2-2 Lloyds 8s
The Bank made a slow start in Game 1. Not helped by some very late arrivals (come on guys). And the unusual experience of the sun on the back of our heads seemed to leave us all a bit dazed.
Lloyds were clearly lacking a regular keeper but we failed to exploit this in the first half. Instead we twice meekly waved them through Route 1 to score a couple of belters past Eddy Moloney from
around the 25 yards mark. The only consolation being that the second of their scorers pulled a hamstring in the process and went off. Two-nil down at half-time
After the break we started to show more purpose and a bit more energy in midfield. Henry got onto a pass from brother Sam and slipped it past the keeper for our first. Then Jason sent in a fearsome
throw from the left, Aaron brought it down, jinked neatly past a defender and slotted it home. By this time we were dominating the play. But our finishing was letting us down and a lack of link-up play and some
unlucky offside decisions meant we failed to press the advantage and it finished two-all with most of us feeling we’d thrown away two points with the lethargic start
Game 2: BoE 5s 5-0 Lloyds 8s
With a big squad we had the luxury of bringing on fresh legs for the second game. On came fives war-horses Rory Vaughan and Alex Muscatelli to add some fibre to the side. And new boy Andrew took over
from Eddy in goal. Ten minutes in, Rory found himself in possession and in space. He moved deep into their half, Lloyds kept backing off Rory and with no obvious pass on, he targeted a delicious lob to the left post,
which, finding no Bank head with which to connect, decided to curl itself elegantly inside the top left hand corner. To his credit Rory looked as surprised as the rest of us..
That fortified spirits. Alex Muscatelli, whose hold-up play in recent weeks has been outstanding, showed a completely different side to his game. The peerless Mark Gough sent in a lethal calf-height cross across the Lloyds box
and Alex spun and caught it perfectly sending it past a bemused keeper. This was Premiership standard and as one player put it: “If that was me I’d retire now Alex, you’ll never do better than that.”
By the second half, Lloyds were beginning to tire while we were comparatively energetic. Sam Moloney got hold of the ball, took it down the left flank, cut it back tightly to Aaron whose shot was blocked, but it rebounded to
Alex whose instinctive poke went in off the keeper. A few minutes later, Aaron was tripped as he danced past a series of players on the outer-rim of the box and the ref spotted it. There was only one possible name on that penalty.
Up stepped the mighty Muscatelli to drive it to the left of the hapless keeper.
We did have a few nasty moments – particularly with poor marking at corners and the reluctance to drop back when under attack. Andrew did well to tip one ball over the crossbar and to maintain a clean sheet. And in the dying
minutes, Mark Gough got a richly deserved fifth as he powered his way through a goalmouth scramble.
Final score 5-0. Man of the match: Alex Muscatelli, who later did the decent thing, bought a jug in the clubhouse, admitted this was his first-ever hat-trick and grumbled about not being given the match-ball to keep.
Mark Jones
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Saturday 26th March 2011
South Bank 6s 3-3 Bank of England 4s
A ferocious performance of the 4s squad produced a remarkable 3-3 away draw against top-of-the table (by miles and unbeaten) South Bank Cuaco 6s. This result takes us temporarily out of relegation zone,
although teams below us have a game in hand. If we keep up the form displayed on Saturday I have no doubt that we will manage to stay up.
The match started as planned, our suffocating pressing led to many balls being lost by the opposition and often being turned in potential goal-scoring situations. One of these was exploited with great calm and
precision by Gustavo, taking us 1-0 up. We continued to play with focus and determination, forcing their keeper to make a couple of excellent interventions and conceding no clear chances to the opposition.
Nevertheless they managed to equalize temporarily with a tremendous strike from great distance. The equalizer unleashed all the anger and frustration built up by Jonny Baker, particularly after the team’s awful
performance last week. He took the ball in mid-field and confidently run through the defence to beat the opposition’s keeper. At half-time we were 2-1 up.
In the second half we didn’t lose determination but our relative lack of athletic preparation and perhaps a bit of organisation began to bear some weight on the game. We conceded a few more chances and the
opposition managed to score twice. Losing 3-2 would have been an extremely unfair result, particularly after failing to score on a number of favourable circumstances, amongst which a delightfully taken left-footed
strike by Alessio that ended up on the cross-bar. This why Icaro decided it was time to take that rabbit out of the hat. Indeed it was magic: as he stood well outside of the 16-yard box he eluded surveillance of two
central defenders who were guarding him closely and from precarious balance he struck the ball beautifully into the upper right corner of the net.
Gilberto Marcheggiano
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