new 4ths Captain
Mike Kaye

Nottingham 4 Cannock 5ths 4 - Leek report below

Leek 3 Nottingham 2

Lagerberg breaks duck as 4s leak goals at Leek

The leek is a particularly fine vegetable, a member of the lily family, noted for its aromatic flavour, it combines well with mustard and forms the basis for a variety of dishes. Allied to the onion, it is delicate on the pallet, and is indeed a flexible culinary ingredient. The handsome market town of the same name was founded in the middle ages in an area particularly noted for the excellent alluvial quality of its soil. As the farms in the valley grew rich through their vegetable production, everyone prospered.

Some years before all this, Nottingham, in its pre-Norman days, used to be called Snottingham but the invaders found this difficult to pronounce and so dropped the S. Luckily, they never made it as far as Scunthorpe.

Of course, some of this is bullshit, some of it may be true: all I ask is that you, dear reader, give me the benefit of the doubt. For now though, time swings back to the present and it was on a crisp bright day that Team 4 arrived in Leek, hopeful of rich pickings at the fruit and veg stall.

It is fair to say this game should have been over by half time – Nottingham carved out a series of excellent chances but only took the one, a well-crafted move finished off decisively by David Rogers (if only he’d been able to continue ploughing this rich furrow which open to him all game…). Sven Lagerberg’s tricky sticky was posing all kinds of problems for the home defence, and it seemed only a matter of time before the visitors increased their lead. With Dennison resolute at centre back, Oliver bossing it on the right and Cole doing what he does best (commanding his goal area, stopping shots) the defence was dampening all the squids Leek could throw at them.

The profligacy of Nottingham’s attack meant it was only 1-0 at half time. Leek restarted strongly, with the bullish sort of attitude the 4s are capable of themselves – tackles were flying in at all angles and pleasantries were passed between Gallagher and his opposing counterparts. Oh yes brother, it was verily a tasty encounter. The visitors spurned more opportunities to score on the counterattack as Leek looked for the equaliser.

Eventually, it arrived, courtesy of a bouncing shot from a short corner which hit the backboard. With 15 minutes left, Kaye was dismissed for a clumsy, some might say “professional” challenge on a forward who went down quicker than a 20 quid whore in Mapperley Park. The player pointed out – politely – that it had happened outside the 25 and suggested the umpire might like to reconsider his decision, after all it was so far out surely he could give him the benefit of the doubt? . Unfortunately, the match official displayed little of his native vegetable’s flexibility and suggested if the player wanted to further expand his case, he could have additional time off the pitch. Harsh? Yes. Fair? Possibly, but only if the same rules were applied equally to the opposition. So when Rogers was barged out (of yet another scoring opportunity) by a home defender who appeared to throw his stick at the ball – in the D – would any action be taken? As the chasm opened and time swelled to envelope the whole; in that moment, pregnant with the tumbleweed of bias, the glorious Staffordshire hillside sank down beneath an ocean of silence Across the valley, a trailer of the county’s finest leeks toppled over and the proud stalk legumes lay there in the farmyard mud. In that moment, in that instant, the umpire did precisely fuck all.

With Lagerberg and Oliver also on the sidelines, it looked ominous. But Buxey puffed out his chest and lead by example as the team threw a wet blanket over the Leek attack. Nottingham broke and Byrne slotted home to put them ahead.

Hope filled the hearts of team 4, once more it seemed they could win. But two goals in the last few minutes snatched the points for the home side. The law of cause and effect states “Dish it out, and you’ll get it back” – the University had succumbed to 2 late Nottingham strikes last week and this time Karma swung the other way. A first defeat for the mercurial Mr Lagerberg whilst playing for the 4s. “We reap what we sow, Captain,” observed a philosophical Joe Cole and for the first and last time Kaye was heard to say to his valiant keeper, “ How right you are Joe, how right you are.”

MJK