Teams
Cybury: Ingles, King, Fullman, Northcott, Docherty, Dick, Rose,
Adebowale, Melis, Brownjohn, Shulman
Subs: Williams (Rose 45), Powell (Shulman 45), Dickson (Melis 70)
R & N: Dunno, but some pretty good players
Result : Rolfe & Nolan (2) 6 Cybury Gooners (0) 2
Scorers: Loads Adebowale 50, Brownjohn 55
Bookings: None, but one or two threatened
Att : about 6 home supporters
Referee : Dickson/Melis
Ultimately it was probably best to look on this match as salutory
football lesson, as the Cybury Gooners crashed to the first defeat in
their short history. Against a team significantly better than any they'd
previously come up against, a stirring fightback in the 2nd half in the
end came to nought as the Gooners tired badly in the final quarter of
the match.
On a frosty November night it was in fact Cybury who started the more brightly. A couple of early breaks down the right promised early reward, and it was from one of these that the Gooners should have taken the lead. Adam Rose burst through to leave himself with only the keeper to beat, but his shot from just inside the area was hurried and the ball screwed wide of the far post. Minutes later he was again presented with an opportunity when a clearance went straight to his feet about 30 yards out, but again he dragged his shot wide.
As the half wore on though, the better teamwork and knowhow of R&N began to tell and they gained a grip on the game. Not really sure why I'm writing this because I can remember very little about any of the opposition goals. Old habits die hard I guess. Anyway, I have a vague memory of one of the first half goals coming from a very nicely worked move down the middle involving some slick passing to leave the striker clear to the right of goal with a shot from 15 yards which left the follically challenged copper in gaol (sic) no chance. Can't remember the 2nd goal, but I don't think the keeper had much chance with that one either, and he later pulled off one blinding save when one of the R&N midfielders broke through and unleashed a piledriver from the edge of the box.
Two nil down at half time, the boss tried to rectify things by bringing on the two late arrivals from Nottingham, Williams and Powell, in place of Rose and Shulman. And indeed it had the desired effect, briefly, as the lion-hearted Gooners clawed their way back onto equal terms. First Alan Adebowale intercepted a loose clearance out of defence and ran on strongly into the box before clinically lashing a shot across the keeper and into the far corner.
Not long afterwards another defensive blunder handed Cybury the equaliser. The keeper got down to, but couldn't hold a shot by Matt Powell from the edge of the box. As the ball squirted away Brownjohn reacted quickest (or at least less slowly than everyone else) and managed to tuck away the rebound under the keeper's body as he attempted to recover his error.
The battle was now on, and some crunching tackles flew about in the middle of the park, frequently penalised by the officious and unbiassed ref, usually in favour of the team in red. Midway through the half though, Rolfe & Nolan regained their grip when they went in front with another goal, which err, I can't quite remember. Another one followed not long afterwards, possibly the one where a high hanging cross to the far post was just out of reach of the hard-pressed keeper and the forward had a simple job of nodding in from a couple of feet.
Cybury were still trying to press forward and were winning a steady stream of corners with the help of the referee. From one of these Adebowale rose majestically to head past the keeper one to have a defender clear off the line. Soon afterwards Cybury were again close when the ball just wouldn't bounce kindly for them during a goalmouth scramble.
Simon Dickson finally got his chance and swapped his ref's jersey with Mel Melis, to add some fresh legs to Cybury's tiring front line. However, it was to no avail as the younger, fitter R&N team took advantage of the disarray in the Gooners' ranks to score two more late goals, and were perhaps unlucky not to have scored more, in particular with one superb run from midfield which ended with a screamer which whistled only narrowly wide.
Report by Derek "DB - No. 10" Brownjohn
ROLFE & NOLAN 6 (2) CYBURY 2 (0)
A. Adebowale 50 ish
D. Brownjohn 55 ish
Cybury : Ingles - King, Doherty, Northcott, Fullman - Rose, Dick,
Adebowale, Melis - Brownjohn, Shulman
Subs : Williams, Powell, Dickson
Rolfe & Nolan : Shit goalie but rest of team pretty decent really.
MoM : Valdo (Rolfe & Nolan)
Cybury MoM : Derek Brownjohn - always an option, full of running.
Cybury suffered their first defeat to a very good side. We were outclassed but it wasn't embarrassing at all, Cybury battled to the bitter end and gave Rolfe & Nolan a few scares on the way. It was a good learning test... blah blah blah cliche etc.
The first half was pretty even, but the Rolfe finishing was the only difference. When they broke from defence, they did it in numbers and throughout the match Cybury were struggling to deal with the midfield runners pouring through the middle. Like Derek, I have a selective memory on the goals, but I think their second came from a breakaway, a ball was played wide, a player found himself in space, passed to some other geezer and they scored. Sorry I couldn't be more technical there. Anyway, the first half was a red blur for me as I was after a fat jock who had dropped his shoulder into my jaw.
Anyway, lots of huff and puff from Cybury, but losing two - nil. At half time I seem to remember a disgusted Malcolm Dick telling us to put our foot on the ball and pass it around. He said he didn't mind us getting stuffed in the second half (ahem), as long as we played some football. Unfortunatley though, Rolfe were playing a pressure game, forcing us to get rid of the ball quickly, and their superior fitness and movement ensured they picked up the afters.
The second half began brightly, we made two changes, Powell for Shulman, Williams for Rose. Alan now switched to the right hand side of midfield where he linked well with his mate Mark King who was charging down the channell like a nutter. One thing the Rolfe players did do, was piss around in their own half and a defensive blunder, where too many balls we're played accross the back-line allowed Adebowale in, to slot home with ice-cool accuracy. Cybury raised their game further, and an equaliser came soon after, Powell made himself a nuisance in the box, shot and the goalie spilled the ball into the path of the tricky Brownjohn who stabbed the ball pass the keeper into the empty net. The Cybury subs (well Julian anyway) sang "Let's all do the Bosnich", but everyone quietened down when they hit us with a real sucker punch a couple of minutes later. Sniffing victory, we all went on a mad charge, and on the break, they scored their third. This now played right back into hands, and from this point we weren't really in it at all. One of their players really began to take the piss, "Valdo" or "Muni" I think his real name was, ran the show. As well as annoying our players with his skills and pace, he was also annoying the Rolfe players, as he would deliberatley run into a pack of Cybury men just to fuck around. He could have played dangerous simple passes, but chose to run round everyone a few times before someone would waste him. I remember later on in the game, when I took the ref's whistle from Simon, Valdo was hacked by Williams, then Dick and then Rose before finally falling, he looked up at me with his big brown eyes, like a soppy puppy who's about to be chucked in the river, and I said "Play on! Stop fucking around on the edge on your own area!", I think the other Rolfe players applauded this decision too.
Anway, three more goals came from Rolfe as they dominated the latter stages of the match, it was impressive the way they powered through the middle and the movement and quick passing always caused us problems. And we have to be honest to say we deserved to lose by 6-2, they certainly were the better side.
After the match, the dejected Cybury players decided to leave early, and leave their belongings in the changing room, Malcolm Dick forgot his boots. And Cybury captain, future James Bond and suave frequenter of West End wine bars, Pete Northcott forgot his suit. As it was too big for me or Adam, we decided to give it back to him at a future date. But I have to say, if I ever bought a tie, I would buy one just like Pete's, it was pucker gear mate, not none of this market rubbish.
Apart from the defeat, the real bad news from this match is that Alan Adebowale will be banned from the match against the Spurs list on the 19th of November. Following his booking for abuse of the referee, Simon reported his yellow card to FIFA who have taken appropriate action. And of course we'll miss big Al, like the Arse missed Bould in last years final in Paris.
Report by Mel Melis