Bramhall Rangers

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Bramhall Rangers 6 Cheadle United 2 Non of this Thursday Crap.

It was sunny, hot and the air was humid. There was something in the air that was telling me we were going to win. We began the build up by welcoming the long awaited return of Mr Justine (Hedderz) Hedley and what a Star he turned out to be. Lifey also joined us so chances would hopefully be high in number. The rest of the team were Mark, Pig Man, Shiz, Russ and John.
The first half was slow to start in the goals department and I felt the it would be a low scoring game at that point. But then the drout ended with a Lifey goal, as I recall, sloting it neatly past the keeper. The goals then came and we had a sizable lead. Shiz's goal was a suprise to me, he passed the ball to me and then his momentum took hold of him as he snatched the ball away from the 'out and out' and toe poked it passed the keeper. You'll pay for that one day Mr Shirres.
From then on we had a comfortable lead. I ran forward hitting the ball off the wall and as luck would have it, it bounced off the keeper into the net.
As time when on more players moved forward leaving it wide open at the back. This called upon that special someone to be at the top of their game that man today was Russ. He managed not only to tackle nearly every man he marked but also to shield the ball and to play it. There was moral boosting football being played here Rangers but it wasn't coming from the forward players it was all at the back. Yes sure Shiz had his usual high tempo spirit but I thought he became far too cocky after he stabbed me in the back by nabbing my gloury goal.
It was our relentless attcks that sapped the strength and two goals were scored against a keeper whom could to some, not I, be seen as the man of the match. It seemed to me he was always there to make the save and absorb the shots, (looks like we need more of those shot stopping sessions a Markus), Remarkable, and lets not forget they had a fair few chances, well done Mr Taylor.
The other suprise was Justin's play, for a guy out for so long he seemed to have the touch and the skills of old. The heat and the conditions started to take their toll and regular stops were needed, but what power from the big man. He gave everything Rangers, I could see that at the end of the match when he drank all the water from his new water bottle that looked like it had a huge tampon in it.
Lifey was his usual confident self with the ball at his feet the possiblities were endless and he gave us the attacking option and ability to hold up the play when we needed to recharge. John was there..........and he both score and created many chances, putting himself about, making options and using the space that Cheadle allowed us.
As for me well, I felt I could have done better, however, I was given positives by the team and I was tired after the match. I realised at the end that I had stayed on all the second half which I should not have but i felt I still had more to give. I was guilty of several instances where I did not run on to the ball and which was a result of lack of effort. It's something I will take away with me but there are plus points. 1. The team was able to use the space given and I was equal to the task in the build up plays and 2. I felt that there was always an opportunity to press forward and with I little less heat could have battled I little harder.
If you take anything away from this match take the fact that we battled hard and we had some excellent individual performances and whilst the team can do better we played with confidence.

Lifey (3) Shiz (1) John (1) P man (1) I'm claiming it.

3 Comments:

Blogger ShiZ said...

You've only given credit for 5 of the goals here Pigman. Who got the mystery 6th? I suspect Justin but I can't remember.

Lots of positives from that match. Russ at the back was phenomenal. It was the greatest defensive performance I've witnessed for as long as I can remember. Throughout the game his positioning was excellent, but it was the two on one situations, where he actually came away with the ball that where the highlight for me. Surely the crowning achievement of any defender to win the ball in those situations.

I do disagree strongly with one part of your report Pete. The thing in Justin's water bottle looked more like an "economy range" Ann Summer's sex toy rather than a tampon.

9:20 am  
Blogger Pie said...

It was Lifey (3), then me, you and Piggy with 1 goal each. I remember these things.

Not a bad effort at a match report though Piggy, a few details missing, for example we were 2-0 up at half time, you could have mentioned both myself and Justin smashing shots against the bar, for example.

I would like to echo Shiz's sentiments. Russ was immense in his defensive duties. I haven't seen a performance of that stature for a while (we used to get them from Shiz, but since he has tried to play a more midfield attacking role he's not been able to be quite as dominant in defence).

I also would like to give Mark some more credit - he made some brilliant saves, especially when on some occasions he was left 1 on 1 with the attacker. Plus his shouting has improved dramatically and its great to have someone bellowing orders at you when your trying to concentrate on getting the ball.

Finally a word of credit for Justin. It can't have been easy for him with the heat and how long its been since he's last played, and I thought he did well all things considering.

12:46 pm  
Blogger Pie said...

And incidentally I've just had a look at the stats, and that was Justin first game since we played Cheadle Utd in the 2005 Winter Season (the actual game was 26th Jan 2006), where we won 18-3 and he scored 3 goals. Incidentally Mini and Piggy both scored 7 goals each in that game!

According to my tally, Big Pete is now on 99 goals. Mini will have to check this when he is back, but there is a chance next week we might see the century for the Pigman.

12:54 pm  

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