Bramhall Rangers 6 Eat My Goal 5
"The black players at this club lend the side a lot of skill and flair, but you also need white players in there to balance things up and give the team some brains and some common sense." - Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades, speaking in 1991.
The team news for this week’s game wasn’t confirmed until a few hours before KO, with Shiz announcing he could make it. This meant 6 Rangers were available for the game with Belly in goal, Nev, Pie, Peter and Mini making up the rest.
Eat My Goal, who had enjoyed a big win against Cheadle, had leapfrogged the Rangers in the table but had been beaten in a close game in the last meeting 13-9. They had no subs and it proved to be a close game once again. Unfortunately Mini and Shiz will have to wait to experience the 5th generation pitches as the game was played on the knee-shredding sandpaper.
Rangers started poorly, falling behind by two goals, both orchestrated by Peter. One involved a Peter suicide dance which was inevitable turned in, the second was a poorly executed back pass which the team could not recover from.
However, after Rangers had settled from the initial unrest, Mini gave them a life line, shooting low past the keeper. The defence had sorted out the problems (by banishing Peter further up the pitch!) and were coping with the attacks. The pace of the game was slow, Eat My Goal needing to conserve energy and the Rangers preferring a slower game. Mini managed to pull the game level, some good battling up front let to a shot by Peter, which came back of the keeper. Mini was awake to this and got to the ball first to half volley at pace past the keeper, taking a blow on the foot for his troubles. After restoring parity Rangers had the confidence to push on.
Truth be told the Rangers made hard work of breaking down EMG. Consistently poor communication led to Rangers players tackling one another, going to the same man or getting in the way of one another clearance. Only for some great saves by Belly were they not punished for this. Belly took a painful blow to the fingers after a very literal finger tip save of great quality.
Shiz, determined to continue his good run of goal scoring (4 in 4) was finding space down the channels but more often that not the rebounds off the boards were just out of reach or finished poorly by the onrushing attackers. Peter was trying to get in the game but couldn’t find enough room to pull the trigger. Nev was Nev, going in where it hurts but also relieving pressure on Belly with good long passes and composure on the ball. Pie, suffering with a woman’s cold, was quieter than usual and couldn’t get in the game as much as usual. A couple of chances came his way but were blazed over or wide.
Peter did get a goal before half time and the teams finished the half at 4-4. In the second half the Rangers started poorly again. Mini was responsible for conceding a free kick near the edge of the area which was not defended well allowing EMG to profit. However, as the game went on Rangers were able to punish the tiring EMG to get back in the lead. Good pressure on the defenders led to one running through the area and then subsequently being forced into the area by a combination of Mini and Peter. Mini dispatched the penalty.
With more and more gaps opening up Rangers hoped to kill the game but poor final passes or finishing meant EMG were still in the game. A tangle of legs sent Shiz sprawling when seemingly through on goal, Nev took a powerful strike in the chest from Mini and Pie picked up his quota of injuries for the game which meant he had to hobble off before the end. With the game evenly balanced Mini drove down the line and cut inside to fire a right footer into the bottom corner. This proved to be the winning goal; however, he should also have sealed the win with a couple of later chances. One half volley from half way nearly vexed the keeper and a one on one saw Mini’s attempted chip just reached by the keeper. Nev would have been in for a better pass from Mini and Shiz had a long range effort squirt wide.
In the final seconds the ref awarded a strange free kick to EMG. A shot was well saved by Belly with his legs and the ball ballooned into the air coming to rest at Mini’s feet for a counter attack. Seemingly taking leave of his senses the ref blew for a free kick to EMG for over head height. Thankfully, this was snuffed out and the whistle was blown soon after.
It was like wading through treacle for the Rangers, but in the end the extra man counted and Rangers recorded their only double of the season to move off the bottom of the league. Northern Canaries next week and the Rangers will want to give a better account of themselves, than the previous meeting. Looking into Division 5, there is no chance of meeting Slim Jims next season (HOORAH!) as they look on course to stay up or go up, and new teams Running Flush and Torpedo emissions currently find themselves in the relegation zones.
Final score – Bramhall Rangers 6 Eat My Goal 5
Goals – Mini (5), Peter (1)
Peter suicide dance – 2
*BTW I can’t access the archive on the blog – any ideas?*
*Reminder – Mini/Charlotte house shindig on the 10th March 2007 – THE social event of the year!*
posted by Mini at 9:26 am
11 Comments:
Close game chaps, very close. Some great shooting by Mini helped keep this game alive. There were two kamikaze phases we went through that really should have changed the outcome of this game.
The first was covered with the Piggy dance, a blemish on what was quiet a decent overall performance from you (particularly the last 5 mins were you showed tremendous commitment).
The second was just as unforgivable. Your ankle injury John was unfortunate, but what happened after was poor. You just walked round the pitch (or stood still) for about 1 minute! Defensively you were a none entity in this period, a real liability and we were incredibly lucky that the rest of the players were able to cope. Everyone knows the score if you pick up a serious knock, have a quick sub, check it out, if OK, swap again with the person that replaced you. Only needs to take one or two breaks in play. Any other team would have really punished us in this period.
Overall though it was great to get the win, and lets see if we can stuff the canaries next week :)
"The first was covered with the Piggy dance, a blemish on what was quiet a decent overall performance from you (particularly the last 5 mins were you showed tremendous commitment)."
Seriously Shiz, but no. Woeful all game. The amount of absolutely shocking passes/non-passes was atrocious.
As for the foul, well I'll be honest it wasn't really a game stopper. It was more just the shock that twice someone came studs first on my ankle, and that the ref didn't give anything. Admiteddly I shouldn't have stopped, however I was just getting frustrated, mainly at Pete for being very poor and not releasing the ball (and when he did it was weak ass or no where near the man).
I know its concentrate on your own game and all that, but I was just getting frustrated that Pete seems to generally now get away with being crap.
Thought everyone else played well though, especially Belly.
You can't punish the team for your own personal grievances though!
I just feel Pete gets away with far too much crapness, because people seem to think that "well its crap but its Pete so it doesn't matter".
This Piggy Dance thing for charity was set up to 'punish' him for his mistakes, but it just seems one big joke.
He doesn't accept he makes mistakes, and when someone mentions it he just laughes it off.
Its frustrating, and yes I know I shouldn't take it out on the team (and usually I don't) but I am getting towards the end of my tether again...
The Piggy dance is working though. So far only two have occured this season that have been stonewallers, whereas in seasons gone by it was many more than that.
There are many areas of the game that still need to improve but if we can chip away at one at a time.
It isn't the right attitude to take to say, well if Peter isn't playing well I can't be bothered.
On the same note it doesn't help the team if more or less every game you pick up an injury of some sort so have to miss 10 minutes of the game.
We could sent up a Pie injury count. Peter has his failings, you have yours, I have mine and so on.
Everyone else has learnt to live with it, so you should try and do the same.
FWIW, we have picked up more wins this season than previous seasons and Peter has played in all,he is having his best season to date for goals scored and I think has shown improvement.
As was said last season, we don't win often so it is nice to savour those that we do.
IMO.
"On the same note it doesn't help the team if more or less every game you pick up an injury of some sort so have to miss 10 minutes of the game."
This is the first injury for the Rangers I have had in sodding ages?! I don't understand where thats come from. Plus the fact I didn't miss 10 minutes of the game, I went off as I had a knock, stood off for a couple of minutes and then no-one would sub with me to come back on, despite both me and Charlotte saying I was ready again.
I've told you why I did what I did when Pete was frustrating me. I apologise because I agree it isn't the right thing to do, but I feel someone has to make some sort of stand occasionally because like I say it is really driving me to the end of my tether. And then what really grates is when he's laughing and joking about it afterwards like it was ok.
I am perfectly happy to admit it wasn't the right thing to do, and I am perfectly happy to admit when I played poorly, and apologise if I make a poor pass or let my man go when marking. In fact when I do it usually spurs me on to not do it again. Not so with Pete who doesn't seem to care, apologise or learn from these things.
Incidentally I had a conversation with Charlotte about this during a moment when I was subbed off, and she said at the end of the day we are a group of mates who are playing for fun so it shouldn't matter.
But this is the point - if we are playing for fun, what do we do if its not fun any more? Stop playing? Fair enough then, because like last season its going that way again with me.
Although Pete does make mistakes I don't think it's fair to single him out, we all make them - ok some more than others but there will always be one person making more.
And we should face it that we aren't going to improve dramatically if we haven't in the last few years. As Mini said Pete has stopped doing his suicide dances as much but yes he still has flaws as do we all.
It's a shame if you are getting annoyed every week over the same small thing, I hardly think he is losing each game for us.
I wasn't commenting on the foul. I was commenting on your long term behaviour after it until you subbed (at least 1 minute), you were on your feet, but limped around going forward, and lost every man when we went on the defense. Completely understandable if your injured, but we had a sub, so why put the team through that?
On the subject of Peter Seagal, if all he receives is a barrage of abuse from you, is it any wonder he doesn't listen to you?
Well we've tried it every other way. He doesn't listen whatever, basically this is only because he doesn't respect us as friends to bother listening or trying to improve.
Anyway, it's the Northern Fairies next week so we'll have to be at our best and not get downhearted if something doesn't go our way! We're overdue a win against them, so lets do our best to get one!
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