|
Team for Sat 19th Jan vs Leek 4s: 4's Walker R, Llewelyn, Burd, Buxey, Hannam, Young T, Walker D, Akif, Young P, Stretton, Allen T, Oliver M, Pang (13)
Nottingham 4 Bridge 2
Write when you’re winning, you only write when you’re winning. Sadly it’s true that this is only the second match report of the season and that on Saturday we gained our first points. But they were very sweet points, the ones that top teams take for granted, but like a starving Victorian child lapping up the dripping from the top table’s discarded roasting dish.
It was the finest first half display for some time, helped by the skill and energy of new boy Alex Brown and of young Max Oliver who had another fine game (much more like this and we shall probably be losing him to the 2s like the rest of last season’s players). We pressed Bridge so much, they could barely leave their half from 16s and were rewarded with short which was turned in by injector Snelus doing exactly what the injector should do. Their first attack saw an equaliser, but after that it was all Nottingham until half time. Pick of the goals was Oliver who beat and outran two players before bouncing the ball over the sprawled keeper - he confessed it looked better than it was as the bounce was a top, but it was awesome all the same. Buxey also found himself on the scoresheet, drilling one from the top of the D and Oliver added a second from Brown’s cross.
Bridge attached with vigor in the second half and credit must go to Snelus who’s tackling at the back was an inspiration and a lesson to all of watching the ball not the player’s stick. Foggy was also masterful in his area, dinking away the ball to safety with calm feet.
A beautiful day, a fantastic game and three points - this is why we play.
Duncan
Algae poisons Geese as no-fun-guy clings on.
Dec 3rd - Cannyknockers 3 Rottingham 1
A rolling ball gathers no moss but will flick around lots of algae if it’s at Cannock…
There are currently few things more turgid, moribund or slippery than this waterbased pitch. Trying to clean the algae from one’s shirt is a tale involving a Vanish bar, soapy lather and scrubbers. Rather like the clean up operation after a night out in West Bridgford. The pitch seeps into the soul, as surely as polonium-210 wipes out stubborn KGB stains of the most troublesome variety. But as regular readers of these ridiculous musings will know, I will not be blaming the algae for the defeat or indeed on the delusions of the no-fun-guy at the bar because neither are to be taken seriously. By the end, the green splutterings up the backs of the players were not the sign that an extra-terrestrial had been flicking his milky way over them but a telling mark of who’d run the hardest. After 70 minutes of incoherence, Y I I N G E’s shirt was spotless. Make of that what you will…
Team 4 were missing several key players but into the void stepped the redoubtable Hannam, the emerging Henry, the encouraging Bett and a triumphant MVP in the shape of Walker, our lastest custodian of the net. Three of these players have come through Team 5 and if the Goose’s spirit is questionable elsewhere, there seems little wrong with it in the so-called lower reaches of the club. All played their part in a game of dour pattern, little fluency and a smattering of niggleyness, but it was the Yorkshireman in goal who was immense in the face of some decent pressure from the home team. In fact, he kept a clean sheet for the first half hour with a series of kicks, blocks and good positional play that frustrated the green pants off the opposition.
So, at half time, and just one down, the Geese were still in it. But I really can’t be arsed with telling the tale of the missed chances and the penalty corners, and how it went to 2-0, then 2-1 (when Byrne deftly touched home a Young hit for perhaps the sweetest goal of the game). Neither have I any interest in saying Rogers was full of running but needs to attack and shoot more on sight or how many ‘if onlys…’ I could summon to assert that this was a game we could have won, given a bit more support in the way of personnel. Yadda yadda blah blah blah.
However, it was, as always, a pleasant day out under a wide Staffordshire sky, with a south westerly wind dancing around the naked trees and a lusty looking tart astride a 4 wheeled buggy on the A5. Quite how she maintained her smile and composure as the icy breeze blew over her goosepimples is beyond any powers of understanding I could muster. There was also some surprisingly reasonable umpiring from the Cannock MIPPs. Ah, the romance of it all - the Morris Ground, home to the National Champs and this team 4 who are the current title-holders of the Central Premier Division. Another away defeat is disappointing but the side can console itself with the prospect of the return fixture up at Glorious Goosedale next March. We have a few scores to settle..
MVP – Robin Walker. Well played, sir!
|
