Match Reports For Week 15 Saturday 14th December Season 2002 - 2003
Mens 1st XI
Mens 2nd XI
Mens 3rd XI
Last league game of the year, could we finish the year on a high note and could
the Third Battalion maintain its unbeaten home record? The answers would be
No and Yes. The Stade de Illuminaire had to be illuminaired due to the poor
light and dingy weather. More staff changes - Pace O'Brien and Mik Quinlan both
unavailable but Rich Beeson and Forrest Kercher were. Alpesh arrived fashionably
late wandering along the top of next doors fence and occasionally spraying a
shrub or two as he passed.
If every season there was one game which stood out as the most disappointing,
then last season it would have been the home 2-2 draw with Surbition and this
season it will be this one. Staines started very strongly, we were composed,
organised, vigorous in attack and solid in defence. A deserved opening goal
arrived after 10 minutes after Porno Hudson picked out Mart the Tart in the
D. The Tart evaded a lunging tackle then reverse struck the ball home. This
should have been the beginning of a landslide but for the spurned chances, miss-hits,
missed short corners and hitting the post. Slowly TBW's worked their way into
the game and started working the ball into our 25 yard area. Their application
eventually gained dividends in that although the Blue defence denied them any
scoring chance from open play, they won a couple of short corners. The second
of which they managed to shell into our net past an unguarded post, to equalise.
Half time - one all, and a not very cheerful skipper with his cliché
gland going into overdrive and the FECKometer needle bent round the end stop!
Maybe we were trying too hard or maybe today was just one of those days, however
things got worse in the second half. TBW's continued to drive forward and were
also extremely determined in defence, matching our work rate. The Staines players
as individuals did not lack for effort and application, but too many passes
went awry and too many times the simple option was ignored for a spectacular
dribble or long ball attempt which mostly failed. Rich Beeson literally threw
himself at the fence trying to keep the ball in play and Pid continually bummed
their centre forward into submission without the aid of Vaseline. Porno and
Sponging Student Lees-Low were notable for there continued effort and excellent
work ethic. Chewy Patel took up the right back role and provided some great
support to the attack, he stayed wide awake the whole game, deserving a special
kitty treat and a good stroking. But trying hard is not always enough and TBW's
managed to gain another short corner. Their first attempt was fended away bravely
by Pid only for a TBW player to react first and flick in the rebound to give
them the lead. For Staines it was more frustration. Pid got a green for being
far too intimate with their large centre forward. More missed goal chances,
missed shorts, and another hit post - until eventually we converted a short.
Porno slapped the ball across the D for Jezza Raines to launch himself at the
far post to finish it off. For a short time Staines appeared to be back in full
domination mode. We even gained the lead after some excellent work from Scouse
Forrester down the left wing (please note he was completely out of position
at this time - he had heard there was a stash of car radios hidden in the hedge
and had gone to investigate) enabling Rich Beeson to neatly clip the ball past
the keeper to go 3-2 up.
This advantage was short lived when against the run of play TBW's gained only
their 4th short corner of the day and again converted from a long range shot
- the Staines short corner defence was pathetic today. True to today's form
Staines failed to capitalise on several more goal chances and missed a couple
of short corners so the game expired as a 3-3 draw. Opta Statistics note that
TBW's scored 3 from 4 short corners and had only 2 other goal attempts of any
note. Staines scored 1 from 9 short corners, hit the post twice, had 12 shots
on target (of which 6 were embarrassing miss hits) and 8 shots off target. Conclusion
- Staines threw away this game in the first half when we ought to have been
at least 3-0 up by half time.
Hero: Another bastion like performance gained the honours for Scouse Forrester.
Big Girls Blouse: There were several notable nominees - but because he went
home early Forrest gained the dubious honour.
Mens 4th XI
Mens 5th XI
Mens Centurions
Ladies 1st XI
Ladies 2nd XI
Ladies 3rd XI
Ladies 4th XI