Bramhall Rangers 2 Oz Tornados 15
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher ‘Superman’ Reeve
It was a night for heroes. For legends to be born. It’s a story filled with heartbreak, Herculean efforts, drama and last minute intrigue. It’s the stuff dreams are made of, and a story that will be told time and again!
I am talking, of course, about the Rangers game against Oz Tornados last night. But let me set the scene first…
It’s a late kick off in December. It’s incredibly cold. Mini and Shiz can’t play, so we are already struggling. Mark and Hedderz also can’t make the return so we are on the call for ringers…anyone…someone who can boost our numbers. But to no avail. So 5 apprehensive Rangers head to Powerleague for the game at 10pm, wondering what fate and their opponents will bring. Belly was back between the sticks having just about shaken off his bout of man-flu. Peter, Nev, Russ and Pie made up the outfield players.
It’s getting close to kick off now, we are on the pitch warming up. Russ goes for a shot, misses the ball and completes an air shot, then collapses to ground under a cry of pain. Uh-oh! We haven’t even started the game yet, and Russ is crippled. Thankfully, for once it wasn’t Peter’s fault during warm up. That was about the only good news, as Russ says he thinks he felt his knee pop out of its socket and back in, and was feeling more than a little nauseous from the pain. He (eventually) manages to hobble to the sideline, but it is obvious he isn’t going to be able to play.
We are down to 4 players. Which obviously isn’t good. A quick chat to the ref to see if he can get any ringers, but he seems indifferent to the whole thing. He did pop off to reception, but came back with no one. “They’ll send anyone who wants to play if they can.” Which means we start with 4, only the 3 outfield players, and hope, no pray, that someone turns up!
No one did.
It turns out Oz Tornados are 3 parts Omatha, with some of their friends who we’ve not seen before. There was no Henry though. They had one sub. Oh for one more player, never mind a sub!
So we kicked off. It was always going to be a back to the wall effort for the Rangers. We couldn’t mark players as tight as we should have, as there was always one player free. An early ball into the channels saw one of the Tornados being challenged for the ball in the corner. He threw his hands round behind him, and raked Pie across the eye. This gave him the chance to get away and suddenly the Tornado’s were 1 up.
The first half came and went, and at half time we were 7-0 down. The Oz Tornados players seemed almost embarrassed they hadn’t made us pay more than that. The 4 players on the pitch had performed admirably in keeping the score down to only 7. They only had a couple of long range efforts to show for it in attack though, apart from one chance where Peter went through one-on-one with the Tornados keeper, only to drag his shot wide. Still we had another half to go, and it was sure to get worse as the 3 outfield players for the Rangers tired.
Pretty soon after kick off in the first half Russ had decided (sensibly) that it would be better for him to head into the bar and keep out of the cold. He hobbled off, and as he was walking through the reception the girl there said “are you from pitch 3, the guys who need some more players?” “Yes” said a sheepish Russ. “What happened? The ref came in and said someone had just fallen over?!” Brilliant! Not only were we playing a game with only 4 players, but the ref and probably half of Powerleague thought Russ had injured himself just falling over!! She still hadn’t found any players for us though…
Back to the action, and we started the second half. Again the Rangers performed admirably. To the credit of Oz Tornados they could quite easily have ripped us to pieces, but they kept their foot off the gas and perhaps showboated a bit more than they would have normally. This quite often gave the Rangers a chance to defend against them and even the chance to break and attack a little more in the second half.
In fact the Rangers actually got, not one, but two goals in the second half. Both fairly similar in their execution as Pie pressured a Tornados player in their own half as they dwelt on the ball a little too long, won the ball and slammed the ball past the keeper. Cue delight for the Rangers players – we might have only had 4 players, but we had managed to do score two goals!
Belly was heroic in net, there were a number of occasions through the game when comments from the opposition were amazed at how much he was keeping out and some of the saves were fantastic.
Peter tried to be as much of an outlet as possible, generally being our best bet to get forward and defending admirably too.
Nev was outstanding, breaking up attack after attack and appearing from nowhere at times to get blocks and tackles in, and bursting forward at times to try to support attacks.
Pie was also defending gamely, and got the two richly deserved goals for the Rangers.
Russ had managed to hobble back to the pitch to catch the end of the game after watching Real Madrid v Seville in the bar with a bag of ice on his knee.
The game finished with an air-shot from Piggy just as the floodlights went out! The Tornados were very complimentary with how we had played and conducted ourselves with only 4 players, and though the score of 15-2 suggests us being soundly beaten, we’ve taken worse results than that with a full compliment of players and with our better players being available! None of the Rangers players had let themselves down and could rightly walk away head’s held high!
The night hadn’t finished there though - on the journey home, and with some suggestion and persuasion from his Rangers teammates, it was decided Russ should take a trip to A&E to have his knee checked out. It might have been nothing more than a twist, but it could have been worse and as Russ was struggling to walk it was felt it would be best to check it out. So Belly, Peter and Pie sat in Stepping Hill A&E while Russ had his knee checked and x-rayed, and at 1am we left to go home, with the diagnosis being that he had strained some ligaments and perhaps some of his muscles in his knee had been popping over and rubbing against the bone. Lets hope it doesn't keep him out too long!
It was a Herculean effort from the Rangers, and they should all be very proud of their efforts. It also makes you wonder what will happen next time we play the Tornados with a full team. I think we could certainly give them a run for their money…
Bramhall Rangers 2 Oz Tornados 15
Goals: Pie (2)
Heroes: Belly, Pie, Peter, Nev
Crippled: Russ
It was a night for heroes. For legends to be born. It’s a story filled with heartbreak, Herculean efforts, drama and last minute intrigue. It’s the stuff dreams are made of, and a story that will be told time and again!
I am talking, of course, about the Rangers game against Oz Tornados last night. But let me set the scene first…
It’s a late kick off in December. It’s incredibly cold. Mini and Shiz can’t play, so we are already struggling. Mark and Hedderz also can’t make the return so we are on the call for ringers…anyone…someone who can boost our numbers. But to no avail. So 5 apprehensive Rangers head to Powerleague for the game at 10pm, wondering what fate and their opponents will bring. Belly was back between the sticks having just about shaken off his bout of man-flu. Peter, Nev, Russ and Pie made up the outfield players.
It’s getting close to kick off now, we are on the pitch warming up. Russ goes for a shot, misses the ball and completes an air shot, then collapses to ground under a cry of pain. Uh-oh! We haven’t even started the game yet, and Russ is crippled. Thankfully, for once it wasn’t Peter’s fault during warm up. That was about the only good news, as Russ says he thinks he felt his knee pop out of its socket and back in, and was feeling more than a little nauseous from the pain. He (eventually) manages to hobble to the sideline, but it is obvious he isn’t going to be able to play.
We are down to 4 players. Which obviously isn’t good. A quick chat to the ref to see if he can get any ringers, but he seems indifferent to the whole thing. He did pop off to reception, but came back with no one. “They’ll send anyone who wants to play if they can.” Which means we start with 4, only the 3 outfield players, and hope, no pray, that someone turns up!
No one did.
It turns out Oz Tornados are 3 parts Omatha, with some of their friends who we’ve not seen before. There was no Henry though. They had one sub. Oh for one more player, never mind a sub!
So we kicked off. It was always going to be a back to the wall effort for the Rangers. We couldn’t mark players as tight as we should have, as there was always one player free. An early ball into the channels saw one of the Tornados being challenged for the ball in the corner. He threw his hands round behind him, and raked Pie across the eye. This gave him the chance to get away and suddenly the Tornado’s were 1 up.
The first half came and went, and at half time we were 7-0 down. The Oz Tornados players seemed almost embarrassed they hadn’t made us pay more than that. The 4 players on the pitch had performed admirably in keeping the score down to only 7. They only had a couple of long range efforts to show for it in attack though, apart from one chance where Peter went through one-on-one with the Tornados keeper, only to drag his shot wide. Still we had another half to go, and it was sure to get worse as the 3 outfield players for the Rangers tired.
Pretty soon after kick off in the first half Russ had decided (sensibly) that it would be better for him to head into the bar and keep out of the cold. He hobbled off, and as he was walking through the reception the girl there said “are you from pitch 3, the guys who need some more players?” “Yes” said a sheepish Russ. “What happened? The ref came in and said someone had just fallen over?!” Brilliant! Not only were we playing a game with only 4 players, but the ref and probably half of Powerleague thought Russ had injured himself just falling over!! She still hadn’t found any players for us though…
Back to the action, and we started the second half. Again the Rangers performed admirably. To the credit of Oz Tornados they could quite easily have ripped us to pieces, but they kept their foot off the gas and perhaps showboated a bit more than they would have normally. This quite often gave the Rangers a chance to defend against them and even the chance to break and attack a little more in the second half.
In fact the Rangers actually got, not one, but two goals in the second half. Both fairly similar in their execution as Pie pressured a Tornados player in their own half as they dwelt on the ball a little too long, won the ball and slammed the ball past the keeper. Cue delight for the Rangers players – we might have only had 4 players, but we had managed to do score two goals!
Belly was heroic in net, there were a number of occasions through the game when comments from the opposition were amazed at how much he was keeping out and some of the saves were fantastic.
Peter tried to be as much of an outlet as possible, generally being our best bet to get forward and defending admirably too.
Nev was outstanding, breaking up attack after attack and appearing from nowhere at times to get blocks and tackles in, and bursting forward at times to try to support attacks.
Pie was also defending gamely, and got the two richly deserved goals for the Rangers.
Russ had managed to hobble back to the pitch to catch the end of the game after watching Real Madrid v Seville in the bar with a bag of ice on his knee.
The game finished with an air-shot from Piggy just as the floodlights went out! The Tornados were very complimentary with how we had played and conducted ourselves with only 4 players, and though the score of 15-2 suggests us being soundly beaten, we’ve taken worse results than that with a full compliment of players and with our better players being available! None of the Rangers players had let themselves down and could rightly walk away head’s held high!
The night hadn’t finished there though - on the journey home, and with some suggestion and persuasion from his Rangers teammates, it was decided Russ should take a trip to A&E to have his knee checked out. It might have been nothing more than a twist, but it could have been worse and as Russ was struggling to walk it was felt it would be best to check it out. So Belly, Peter and Pie sat in Stepping Hill A&E while Russ had his knee checked and x-rayed, and at 1am we left to go home, with the diagnosis being that he had strained some ligaments and perhaps some of his muscles in his knee had been popping over and rubbing against the bone. Lets hope it doesn't keep him out too long!
It was a Herculean effort from the Rangers, and they should all be very proud of their efforts. It also makes you wonder what will happen next time we play the Tornados with a full team. I think we could certainly give them a run for their money…
Bramhall Rangers 2 Oz Tornados 15
Goals: Pie (2)
Heroes: Belly, Pie, Peter, Nev
Crippled: Russ
posted by Pie at 11:45 am
2 Comments:
Thanks for the memories.
I'd like to add, OW!!
Sorry for the injury lads. Hobbled all day on it. and it hurt like a bastard when i took the bandages off last night!! Its all down to a tight muscle so they say. Ah well.
Great review anyway bud! well played with 4 dudes! Shame the lights went off! I was actually watching Barcelnona Vs Atletico Madrid. And i wouldn't normally have left you there on your own, But the GF had wisely suggested i put ice on my knee. Helped keep the swelling down anyway! 2 games in, and already i'm front runner for sick note award again this season!!
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