Hooray for a proper football scoreline

I was starting to get irritated by the silly-looking scorelines of recent weeks, 6-6, 5-4, 3-7... Goalfests, yes, but not Proper Football Match Scorelines (mind you, there was that UEFA Cup final that Liverpool won 5-4 I suppose).  So I went into last night's game grittily determined to be part of a defence that, whatever the outcome of the match, conceded a normal amount of goals.  I even said as much to the rest of the back four just before kick-off.

2-1, now there's a proper scoreline.  We started pretty well and it became clear that the oppo would struggle to cope with Bobby and Simon up front.  Several first-half chances were created, but the only one that was converted came from a lovely Bobby cross into the six-yard box, where Simon, Andy T and Steve were waiting.  Thorny stabbed the ball into the net for a deserved lead.  Claxton slowly got their act together and in truth we were a little fortunate to get to half-time without c0nceding a goal - at one point, a Claxton forward waltzed past three Accies defenders and found himself with only Lee to beat - but his bounced safely away off the left-hand post.

The second-half was mainly a rearguard action for Effra – we defended countless corners in the half-light.  Our dear hosts, in their infinite wisdom, had put two floodlights on at one end of the pitch and none at the other.  Apparently at last weekend's athletics event, the lights were powered by individual generators, and our hosts had failed to connect two of the lights up properly.  Or something.  I found all this out in reception while the second half was in progress, much to my annoyance.  But when I got back to the pitch, we were still 1-0 up and I was put back on at left-back.  Claxton's pressure told and it was one of our own who scored their equaliser – Mickael kindly helped them make up the numbers and pounced on a loose ball following a great save from Lee, slamming it home.  Afterwards I assured Mike that it was good for the Accies that he'd scored - he's a striker, he's expected to score, regardless of who he's playing for!

On another night maybe we'd have crumbled on finally conceding that equaliser, but not tonight.  Some good pressure led to Steve being hacked down just outside the oppo's penalty box.  Greg and Joe conferred behind the ball and Joe stepped away allowing Greg to shoot goalwards.  It might not have been the most powerfully struck free-kick in the history of football, but it did enough to bamboozle the keeper, who let it slip through his arms and over the line, with Bobby in close attendance waiting to clean up any leftovers.

There wasn't enough time for Claxton to launch another comeback, although I vaguely recall Mickael having a chance to score again - that would have been hard to swallow!  But Robert The Ref's whistle blew and we'd hung on for a well earned win.

Team: Lee, Phil, Barry (sub: Luke), Dave, Stuart (sub: Graeme), Neill, Andy T (sub: Luis), Joe (sub: Greg), Steve, Simon, Bobby

Scorers: Andy T, Greg