Old Owens 5 Knobs 5

Phew! and Hmmmm!
Nice pitch.
Brendan, who had withdrawn from a golf tournament because we were short, was not well pleased to find himself on the bench with old Ron, as we had 13, including a mate of Darren's. My view is if a stranger is asked to come along and play because he is told we are short, he has to play from the start. If we have 13 and he is made sub. , albeit a roll off and on sub., that is not on. Anyway Brendan soon joined the fray when Twiggy succumbed to an ankle injury and settled in to have a good second half- and he bought me a pint afterwards. A couple of near goals early on promised much and yes we soon went ahead when Dave headed home emphatically from a corner. Soon afterwards Ali J burst forward and guided a beauty into the bottom corner, outside of the foot from outside of the area. A false dawn. For all the verve and promise going forward there was no complementary defensive grit. We looked too spread out and brittle. They did have a couple of decent, pacy blokes going forward but we contributed to our own woes by being far too stretched. Full backs and wide midfielders were staying rigidly wide so that there was an enormous corridor through the middle. As a result Chris and Darren in midfield were outnumbered and were never really getting to grips with the hordes pouring through. My understanding is you should defend narrow and attack with width, I've said it enough times. Congest the most sensitive area- best let them have possession out wide rather give them open house in the middle. Anyway they scored a good goal for them. It should never have got to their bloke mind,  but a 50 yard hoik forward was pursued, controlled and smashed unstoppably high into the net. The second was one out of  last week's catalogue of errors- lack of putting a body in where it might hurt, or conceivably where it might contribute towards gaining a touch on the ball. Three or four at fault here all waiting for each other to take charge. We were still having joy going forward but no luck especially when a dubious home flag prevented a goal from Jamie, who had run clear and lobbed the keeper. They added a fourth before half time when their winger was allowed to put in a cross which sailed into the net via the far post. Flukey!
Alistair went centre half, replacing debutant Darren who was playing the first half in his stocking feet. Ron came on. (Not bad should have scored three ended up with one. I will treasure the memory. Mind it is hard when you haven't been involved for such a long time!) Excuses excuses!
They scored a scrappy 5th , we're fucked perhaps, 5-2 is a bit of a gap. But in the last half hour they faded and we grew strong and really we were making, missing and taking some chances. A Gavin corner was badly headed over by a rusty Ron , it travelled a mile and nearly broke his head. The next corner Owens were not so lucky as the oldest Knob ever to score headed hard and low to convert another excellent Gavin corner. 5-3. Gavin was now running wild and would inevitably score in time. Ali J was rampant and Chris and Darren were winning everything in midfield. Gavin scorched through for a 4th then after a bit of a Dave 'tackle' generously considered fair by the ref the ball was launched toward Gavin who raced in from the right, scoring from a narrow angle 5-5!. Gavin was thwarted yet still  managed to get a square ball to Ron who skied from  the penalty spot- take a touch you prat!
Unlucky to only draw in the end but we'll get it right on more occasions than we get it wrong.
Next week Ashwell at home when we face mercurial Mark Mills and the following week we play against John Boyle's All Stars when those available will be able to line up and exchange incomparable badinage and bon mots with John aka Beaky himself!