Whitewebs 3 Knobs 2

Another bruising encounter away from home against the White Webbs team saw us lose narrowly in a tale of two halves.  It hadn’t started well for the mighty KNOBS when Martyn failed to turn up with the kit.  He then had a problem with an oil light and for 15 minutes, the KNOBS team sat in the changing room, reminiscing about Tony being locked in a changing room and listening in on the opposition’s conversations.  Bully informed me that he heard the words ‘…don’t have a fight this week’ said to their guy with a cut above his eye.  He was also the guy who was drinking some bottled lager before the game on the touchline.  But hey…it takes allsorts to keep the Sunday Vets football afloat.  Anyway, Darren was in charge of the team but had instructions from Dave the manager.  So we started off with a 4-5-1 formation.  Unfortunately it wouldn’t have mattered what formation we played in the first half because there was (according to Darren) a distinct lack of energy and effort, hence the reason we let in 3 simple goals.  Dave (our new goalie) didn’t really stand a chance.  Gavin did have a couple of chances at the other end and their centre back certainly handled the ball in a goal mouth scramble but alas it wasn’t to be.  We did get a goal back though just before half-time when Tony passed the ball to Gavin on the wing, who cut back to Jamie, whose shot come cross found Brendan Wal. at the back post, who fired it home.

At half-time some stirring words were said and we came out with a bit more energy.  They also made some changes throughout the 2nd half that also helped us.  James was a commanding as ever at the back and they hardly had a chance.  We had a few before Gavin scored with an acrobatic finish after some pinball in the penalty area from a corner.  After that we had some chances to equalise, with Lee screaming through the middle only to be foiled at the end and James headed wide from a corner right at the death.  Other notable moments were Dan getting into a scrap with the centre-half at a corner.  It’s the normal centre-half who has a tendency to lose it a little bit.  Their centre forward was caught offside more times than I can bare to imagine and yet always insisted he wasn’t.  He also had a thing for saying the C word several times over.  Normally after James had nibbled at his ankles.  Brendan Wren added to our injury woes by turning over his ankle.  The final talking point was the almighty clash of heads between Martyn and Darren, which saw the former go off for a Terry Butcher bandage.  Darren’s was coming up nicely at the end of the game as well.  Both would have made a sight at the Spurs game they were attending afterwards…hopefully they were both okay but I’m sure the Spurs victory was a good enough medicine.

So that was it.  We had the opportunity to get the draw but if we were to be honest, they were better the team throughout, as they played some nice triangles around us.  We seem to lack that composure and accuracy at the moment around the pitch, struggling to string more than 5 or 6 passes together.  However, the 2nd half efforts were pleasing to see and delighted Darren.  As always, no game on Mothers’ Day and rightly so!  Come on KNOBS, go out there and give your mother a treat next Sunday.

Starting line-up:  Dave, Tony, Martyn, James, Brendan Wal, Brendan Wren, Jamie, Darren, Bully, Dan and Gavin.  Subs:  Chris Cox and Lee