The match was one of the closest I've ever witnessed at Palace, much to the delight of the Tonbridge Massive, who had feared a drubbing. Two of Longmead's players had last seen 11-a-side action back in 2008, playing for Dads Army against the Accies and suffering a demoralising 8-0 defeat. Fortunately there was no repeat pasting – in fact, possibly thanks to the absence of several key Southside players, the teams were very evenly matched.
Time constraints prevent me from producing a lengthy match report, but here are some choice recollections: both keepers played absolute blinders, the match would've been high-scoring if it hadn't been for them; it was 0-0 at half-time and both myself and Elbows delivered rousing half-time team talks/rambled on amid a cacophony of voices and contributed nothing of any use (delete as applicable). Southside had the better of the 2nd half pressure and chances but failed to put the sausage in the sausage roll. Longmead's burly forward Paul Humbles, who was so late on the night and so incapable of finding the pitch that he came very close to driving home in a huff, provided a superb through ball with 10 or 15 mins left, putting fellow striker Simon Don't-Even-Know-His-Surname-And-I've-Been-Playing-5-A-Side-With-Him-For-The-Best-Part-Of-2-Years in on goal. Simon's finish was emphatic and Southside couldn't respond in kind.
Longmead Tuesday triumphed 1-0 and the lads refused to agree with my opinion that a draw would've been a fair result. The team seem bang up for a return to the True Theatre Of Dreams and I've pencilled in 25 November for the Tonbridge fellas to play the Accies. If I'm fit I'll line up for Longmead, but that's a pretty big 'if' and frankly on the strength of their performance against Southside they don't need me anyway! Should be a great night if it comes off and with the Accies' annual awards bash the following night, a great couple of nights!
No comments:
Post a Comment