| -8th
February 2006
Sassco.co.uk 1 Santini FC 2.
Another lost opportunity.
A belated
match report, which is probably better considering that we've had
at least a few days to reflect on it.
The game
against Santini was a true opportunity squandered again. This time
we had a good squad bolstered by the return of Ed, Jase, Tim and
especially, Scotty H. Yet, as with Sassco, all wasn't running smoothly
as Watty was struggling with a stomach injury. Lacking all our reserve
'keepers, I was set to go in goal with my Thinsulate gloves and
no contact lenses as I knew we had a full squad. Luckily, Gav Kershaw
answered the late call and did a great job back in between the sticks.
Also thanks to Mickey P for picking him up.
So to
the game itself. The line up was as Watty wanted it. I didn't really
think it necessary for any major changes. Jase, Pearson, Hodgson
and Tim on the back line. Scotty H (replacing the injured Staples)
on the left. Ed and Dave G in the middle and Deano on the right.
Up front, we had Digga (after his goal last week) and Tommy Wilko.
I, along with Herkes and Young P, were on the sides. We started
promisingly. Scotty H and Jase combined well on the left hand side
and it wasn't too long before we took the lead. Scotty H chipped
the 'keeper and it came back off the crossbar to Tommy Wilko. We
had a few good opportunities, but the game turned flat for us once
they equalised with a speculative shot out of the sunlight.
For the
second half, I elected to change things rather drastically, amidst
much criticism later on (which I'll deal with later in the report).
Firstly, Ed said he might struggle to finish the game due to his
spell with bronchitis, so within ten minutes, I brought Herkes on
and moved Tommy in defence so that Pearson could play in midfield.
This also meant Herkes went on the left - pushing Hembrough in attack.
I was originally going to take Deano off as a straight swap with
Herkes, but made my decision and stood by it. Anyway, we started
to be more direct. The good midfield work from Ed and Dave G in
the first was swapped with crossfield balls to Herkes and Dixon
which resulted in more chances. However, we didn't take them. Almost
every forward line player had a chance to make it count, but it
didn't happen. Their 'keeper was in stunning form and his height
definitely helped claw out a good few top corner chances.
We were
running out of steam and with five minutes left, they scored. I've
forgotten to mention that they played all the second half with only
ten men. Pearson, pulling one of their players shirt in the first
half resulted in the usual swear words at the referee from the offended
player. The referee didn't see the shirt pull, but sent the player
off. So 2-1 down with five minutes left would seem that we wouldn't
have any more opportunities - but we did. I counted at least seven
opportunities. Some saves, some wide and some poorly executed. The
game petered out and the whistle blew. We were out.
So now
to the complaints about the changes. Well, to save on typing, I've
just stuck my response on the message board here:
To
me, people always seem to miss the point and look for other excuses.
We lost that game, simply because we didn't finish our chances and
NOT because of the changes made. I counted at least a dozen good
chances in the second half before and after their winning goal.
We don't put them into the back of the net, we lose. It's a simple
as that.
As for taking Ed off. He told me
at half time he might start to struggle later on, so I made the
judgement in taking him off earlier and adjusting the team instead
of doing it late on if he did struggle to finish the game. The changes
were straightforward as well. Tommy back in defence like he's been
doing every now and then which released Mickey into midfield and
Herkes on the flanks to allow Scott up front. We had pace in our
flanks and attack - but like I said, we didn't take our chances.
And I agree with the school boy
stuff. Simple passes going astray, hands on the back of players,
foul throw-ins.
Shipwrights Field, Sunderland
Aged Miners Trophy
Sassco.co.uk 1 Tommy Wilkinson
Santini 2
Sassco.co.uk: Kershaw, Amour, Hodgson, Pearson, Gillespie
(Pearson, A), Hembrough, Gourlay, Cook* (Herkes), Robinson, Dixon,
Wilkinson.
|
Lets
look at the positives first. 
New
team shirt
Very
difficult to take any positives from a 3-0 trouncing. We were stunningly
depleted. No Deano, Pearson, Staples, Hembrough, Herkes, Hodgson
to name a few. Also Wardle and co. had a semi final on in the morning.
Lucky for us, Dave G managed to press gang Ed Cook into turning
up. Dixon was back from injury and Wilkinson had come back from
his SAS camping session (SAS meaning Saturday and Sunday).
As
mentioned earlier, we really struggled with a team. I was ill so
didn't really want to take part (but had to), while Herkes decided
to text me two hours before kick off to say he's busy. I understand
people are busy, etc. But some people seem to be more busy than
others which means they will have to be classed as non-regulars.
God knows how many texts I sent out to get a full team, but then
again, all teams have that problem at this time of year with so
many games and competitions going on. 
Our
biggest game since the opening day. We were facing off against Redhouse
FC in what actually was a meaningless game. We're definitely relegated,
while Redhouse had seemingly shot themselves in the foot after gaining
the lead in the table then losing it, surprisingly in two games.
However, for this one, they were back to full strength (as expected).
I was concerned with our lack of numbers, but a stroke of luck made
both Greenwell and Wardle available. They didn't have a game in
the morning, so the likes of Stubba, Jeff and Donkin would also
be available just in case. However, Wardle and Greenwell were straight
in as Tommy Wilko and Danny H were missing. Gourlay and Pearson
were also missing until around two hours before kick off. So lucky
for Redhouse, I put my footy boots back into the Aldi carrier bag
and prepared to spend an interesting evening on the sideline, watching
one of our most important games in terms of how we performed. As
with all Sassco games, it tended to end in tears.
Second
half saw us start to panic. We'd never been good enough to hold
a lead. For some reason we can't seem to get our foot on the ball.
Difficult to work out a plan for this in the future, but at 4-2
down - yes 4-2, we started to actually keep the ball and pass it.
We'd conceded an early goal in the second half and then two quick
ones in succession. We were out of it. I sent Herkes on late in
the game to terrorise Gash, but he looked intimidated by Gash's
hairstyle. Nevertheless, he did okayish. One thing about Herkes
is that he can't half trap any ball pinged at him at any speed or
height. The goals conceded were predictable. One was when Jase claimed
the ball was out while the others were essentially ourselves not
giving Butler any respect. My team talk at half time was simply
that the rest of them were shite and Butler is the one. We should
have doubled up on him. But most of our lads being a bit dim said
that he wasn't playing well. I'm afraid he played a bit too well
in the second though. I wouldn't go the whole hog and say Redhouse
are a one man team, but Butler is definitely the edge which puts
them above the likes of Dolphin, Grange, Castletown, etc. The Redhouse
team talk dwelled on the fact that Keith Braziers arse was twitching
just in case Sangha's Sassco celebrated their first League win over
him.
Midweek
games do my head in. Players aren't available and the ones who are
have to spend time rushing around. From our encounter on
Saturday, only Watty, Jase and Pearson were there. The remaining
team was bolstered by Wilko, Herkes, Jeff Clark, Stubba, Jimmy Donkin,
Deano, Wardle and Gourlay. 
2-0
up. What more could I ask for. We'd lost Griffiths, Murton, Muers
and Gourlay and also Wilkinson on the day, but mustered a team together
and actually performed to our best abilities. It was 4-3-3 again
and this time, instead of Griffiths in attack, we had Corby. It
was great to see "Old Man Corby" back in the fold. Ironically
against his previous team mates, Duffy, The Mouats and Barry Cook.
People unaware of Sassco wouldn't know that the majority of key
players in some of the teams have donned the Sassco jersey in the
past. Both Corby and Duffy were present in our first ever win back
in 2002. Paul Mouat has played on and off in the Saturday mornings,
while Keith Mouat was a regular. But to the team on the day, instead
of Murton it was Pearson behind the front two and Gillespie in front
of the back four. Out was Muers and in was Hodgson. Watty's mate
played on the right hand side of midfield while Young P played right
back. Jase was left back. Stapes on the left and Scotty H up front.
An
unexpected strong performance from Sassco didn't leave us with the
result we wanted. Hendon Grange were the opponents and while they'd
come off the back of a Cup Final defeat the night before, we'd had
a reasonable game against Aquatics last week. This time, we lost
Jase, Pearson, Herkes, Deano and Danny. Rackstraw was due to make
a return, but bailed out in good notice the day before. So, I had
to play. Also, Watty, who was busy releasing all the shits out of
his arse, put them up me when he said he wouldn't be able to play.
I tried Gav Kershaw, but he wasn't there, so Watty took all the
weight off his mind and turned up looking leaner and healthier,
if not a bit paler. I suppose the conditions didn't help. They couldn't
have been more contrasting than our game against Aquatics. It was
searing heat with a sun baked, hard ground to play on. At the end
of the game, we were collectively struggling (both sides) with the
hard ground conditions. Makes a change from the quagmire though.
When
Digga lashed in the opener midway in the first half, things were
looking up. 
Midweek
games aren't really helpful. I remember with Sassco in the Tyne
& Wear League, we had a radically different side on the evenings.
This was no difference. Panic set in early, though. The list of
unavailable's read; Tyzack, Murton, Hembrough, Cook, Muers, Staples,
Gourlay, Gillespie - all good, first team regulars.
A
few disappointing aspects about our first game against Hendon Grange.
Firstly, Tommy Wilko dropped us in it saying he's babysitting. Simply
not acceptable. Don't care what the excuse is. Players have ample
time to say they are not available. Also Deano threw a bit of a
strange wobbler asking to be excused and then saying he didn't know
why he didn't want to play. So, without Emu (still hasn't paid or
even paid a part of his fine), Hembrough and also Tyzack we were
fighting an uphill battle.
Well,
what can you say. Before the game, I would have taken a draw considering
we didn't have six key players; Tyzack, Hodgson, Muers, Staples
Tommy Wilko and Gourlay. But after the game, everyone felt let down.
On reflection, the Dolphin did dominate the middle of the park and
tended to win every high ball, but we seemed a bit more clinical.
From
the start I was positive. We had eleven players only, but those
were 100% reliable's, i.e. ones who say they will turn up and do
so. Secondly, I managed to pull together ten Sassco shirts. I lent
some to Fatty's team before Christmas and luckily had around five
in the house as well, so we can at least turn out in our new shirts
- although we can't afford to lose one, when before I had around
twenty! Also the Echo guy was there to take a nice mug shot. Now,
normally when ever we get our picture taken, we get hammered - this
time it didn't happen. We had one new comer in Tim Gillespie who
played for SNC many years ago. Also, Ed returned along with Dixon
and Pearson, so even though we only had eleven, we still had a good
side. I actually turned up on the wrong pitch and spent half an
hour removing my screw in studs only to change the pitch and find
out it was a shitter of an area. The game was playable, but I felt
like I was walking around wearing pumps.
First
problem was the kit. Some bastard had nicked the dirty shirt bag
out of my garage, so I spent all Friday night running around looking
for the old shirts we used to wear. Luckily I had a good few socks
and shorts ready in case. Also my two set of boots went missing
so I used Sassco's vast reserves of cash to buy a pair of £12.99
Adidas Two Stripe from JJB's. I also used my noggin and also purchase
a set of hard ground studs to avoid having to buy a pair of soft
ground blades. See, when you run Sassco you have to make every penny
count. As a footnote, I've just paid £99 to the League and
£127 to the Council for the pitch so now we don't owe anything
to anyone.