Firstly a report from the opposition written by one of the Internet Hotspurs players (hence it being rather biassed ;^>)
CYBURY GOONERS 3 SOUTH LONDON RAIDERS 2 20,85,90 35,70
The goal times are approximate but are included to illustrate the gross injustice that was last sundays match!
The Gooner team consisted of a line-up pretty similar to that which played at St Albans, I can't give the details but I'm sure if anyone is interested they'll be on the Arsenal page. The raiders were the same familiar faces that have been coming up to Barnet during the autumn, with one new addition, Sean O'Reilly in goal. We started out with the following formation, those familiar with my tactical ideas will see I had a hand in it.
Sean (GK) Mike Christie Big Ray Big Pete Rob Leslie Pete Logie Jim Christie Simon Jim(no kit) Reynolds Huw Sean
Kick off was at 4.10, a slight delay as we had to advise the local youth that as we'd paid for the pitch we'd like to play on it. The gooners had tried to get a ref but had no luck, so one of their number took on the job. The pitch by the way was excellent, perhaps the IH's could have some games on astroturf? even in the wet the surface was not at all treacherous.
For the first 15 minutes it was all Arsenal, not that they had any chances just lots of the ball in midfield. As remarked after the game we "showed them too much respect" by playing the back 5 far too deep. It became apparent that to win the midfield battle we needed an extra player in there, especially as Mr Reynolds was sliding around in his plimsolls, his kit stranded in Stevenage after an Xmas bash.
Once Ray had moved up to sit in front of the defence, it didn't take long to take control. Then as the Raiders settled down in a dominant postition, disaster struck. The defence had been soaking up all the Arsenal attacks before they'd made an impression in the penalty box and was now pushing up and stifling all goal bound efforts. Unfortunately Pete(big) had decided he was warm enough to take his sweatshirt off, when the ball was punted hopefully down the middle his fellow defenders turned expecting to see his 6'6" frame. Imagine their horror, he was sripping off behind the goal whilst an opposing forward had a clear run into our area. Sean who played a blinder in goal could do nothing and we were one down.
The tide had turned by this time, and the rest of the half saw constant pressure on the gooners keeper. With ten minutes till half time, a long throw from the left was flicked on by your correspondent and placed in the top right hand corner by Hammersmith's answer to Alan Shearer, Sean the centre forward.
The half time break was only 5 minutes long, which as it was absolutely freezing was just about right.
The gooners obviously worried, used at least three(?) subs at the start of the second half. With two sets of fresh legs up front, they came out fighting and had a good 10 minutes without causing our goalie too many problems. We rearranged to counter the new thrusts and were soon back on top. Then followed a 30 minute period of unquestionable dominance, during which Ray scored a classic headed goal from a corner. The gooner woodwork took a battering, one effort hitting the inside of the post and miraculously staying out. Simon our midfield dynamo had two efforts cleared off the line.
However 2-1 up with 5 minutes to go is not victory as we know to our cost. The midfield was starting to lose shape mainly due to the fact that everyone was exhausted. The Arsenal were getting desperate and throwing men forward in numbers, the ref from the first half, a debutant I think, had some good touches and managed to get one of his teammates into a shooting position on the edge of the box. The resulting shot took the cruelest deflection and looped over our keepers head.
This late equaliser, coming against the run of play was a bodyblow to a team quickly running out of steam. Striving for a winner we pushed forwards, but the Gooners, beaten men minutes before, were upping the tempo. An attempt on our goal looked to of been covered when Pete cleared off the line only for his clearance to hit an incoming forward and go in, the forward in question had a look of total dis-belief on his face as he began his celebration.
As we turned to restart, the new ref blew for full time, a little early in my opinion and certainly in our goalies. However after a quick 30 seconds of diplomacy tempers calmed and handshakes were the order of the day. A typical Arsenal victory, lucky, undeserved and sneaked in at the end. Still the game was enjoyed by all. We consoled ourselves with ( about 8 pints each and..) the fact that we had the best of the game and are confident of victory in a possible rematch, especially if we have a couple of subs.
Report by Rob Leslie
Cybury Gooners vs South London Raiders Sun 17th Dec 1995
at Market Rd, N London
Teams
Gooners: Ingles, King, Fullman, Northcott (c), Moore, Dickson,
Adebowale, Rose, Brownjohn, Skeels, Shulman
Subs: Simmons (Dickson 45), Farmer (Rose 45), Powell (Shulman 45)
SLR: Various mostly Sperz looking types, though there were unconfirmed
reports of a Gooner or two amongst them.
Result : Cybury Gooners (1) 3 South London Raiders (1) 2
Scorers: Skeels 20, King 85, Powell 89 ? 35, ? 70
Attendance: half of one better half plus several ill-raised, apparently
enemy supporting brats who spent the game heckling us.
Referee : Farmer Dickson
A rather typical Arsenal performance this, combining the best and worst of contemporary Gunners traits with a late comeback in the best Arsenal tradition. The game was played in typical English winter weather - freezing cold with a steady drizzle, but on Astroturf which meant you only got muddy when retrieving the ball after it had gone out of play.
The boss chose a relatively unimportant friendly to try out a new formation, attempting to emulate the total football played by the Dutch the previous week. Captain Northcott swept behind Tony Fullman and debutant Matt Moore, while Zorro King and Simon Dickson were supposedly playing the wingback roles. Alan Adebowale and Adam Rose did the running in midfield, with player of the season Skeels filling the Bergkamp role behind frontmen Brownjohn and Shulman.
And for a while it seemed to work reasonably well as the Gooners dominated the first half hour of the game. Plenty of early pressure failed to yield any goals though, despite a couple of good long range efforts from Adebowale. Dickson was frequently seen rampaging down the right and then pausing to watch the SLR counter breaks from the opposition half confident in the knowledge that his fellow defenders would easily deal with things without his help.
However, just when frustration looked like being the order of the day, up stepped Skeelsy to put the Gooners in front. Picking up the ball on the halfway line he strode forward before spotting the keeper off his line and trying his luck from fully 35 yards. With Brownjohn screaming for the ball in acres of space to his left, his 45yd lofted shot was perfectly judged and justified, and went over the keeper and under the bar to nestle in the back of the net. In fact, using an image scanned in from my renowned photographic memory, and a machine similar to Andy Gray's Sky toy, I can reveal that in fact the shot travelled a distance of 47.9m at a speed of approx 38.63mph.
Much encouraged, Cybury poured forward in ever greater attacking waves. Brownjohn actually managed a powder puff shot on target which the keeper untidily scrambled behind for a corner. Another incisive break saw Shulman forcing the keeper to handle outside his area, unfortunately not spotted by the ref due to the lines on the pitch being virtually invisible.
Gradually however, as is normal, the Gooners started to cede the initiative as half time approached. Typical lack of communication and movement allowed the Raiders back into the match in the last 15 minutes of the half, and with about 10 minutes left they equalised with a soft goal. A throw in from the left wasn't cleared and, unmarked on the 6yd line, the centre forward had an easy job of slotting home past the unprotected Ingles.
Another attack similarly found an opposition attacker unmarked a few yards out, but fortunately this time he contrived a miss worthy of Andy Cole, so it was with some relief that the Gooners heard the half time whistle.
At half time the gaffer gave us a bollocking while he still had them, and to give everybody a game brought on our 3 subs. Mark Simmons replaced Simon at fullback, Matt Powell come on for Julian up front while Sam Farmer (over from the State specially for the match :-) replaced Adam in midfield.
Thus reinvigorated, Cybury stormed forward for the first part of the 2nd half. With Farmer adding some skilful runs from midfield it seemed only a matter of time before the lead was regained. However, it was not to be despite some close calls. Brownjohn was unlucky when his header from a miscued goal kick only just cleared the bar from 30 yards out (sorry, 45 yards using a Skeels measure), and later just failed to get enough of a touch on a Farmer cross. Also a lovely chip by Matt Powell beat the keeper only for it to hit the cross-bar.
However, once again the Raiders were allowed back into it as the half progressed, and midway through took the lead. A bit of pressure earned them a couple of corners, and it was from one of these, swung in dangerously from the right that their big centre half was allowed a free header from 5 yards out.
Disarray amongst the Gooner ranks ensued for a short period and they were indebted to a goal line clearance by Adebowale? following another corner, for staying only one goal in arrears. Ingles also pulled off one superb save when one of the Raiders broke clean through.
But it wasn't long before the traditionally indominatable Arse spirit reared it's head, and during the final 10 minutes Cybury clawed their way back into the match. With barely 5 minutes to go Farmer released Powell, in some space on the left. Big Matt's centre found Zorro charging into the area, he controlled the ball in his groin and paused before cooly looping the ball into the top left corner with his left peg. And then hobbled back to his own half, a painful grimace greeting those of his teammates who rushed over with congratulations.
The expected last minute winner duly arrived, erm, in the last minute. Skeels, finding energy from somewhere in the legs which had already played 3 matches that day, chased a through ball down the left. As the keeper came out to meet him, he realised that the blistering pace of his fellow strikers might not have kept up with him, so he played the ball cleverly against the keeper before sliding the rebound past the prone keeper and along the goal line. A defender on the line attempted to hack the ball away, but big Matt had anticipated the clearance and stuck out a leg to score on the rebound.
Much joy at this deserved winner, and soon after the restart ref Dickson blew for time. Much to the annoyance of the oppostion keeper who insisted that there was still another 5 minutes to play, and made sure that Simon didn't suffer the indignity of getting through a whole game with at least one scrap with the opposition.
Afterwards we retired to the Highbury Barn for our Christmas celebration, after some of us were given a quick unscheduled tour of central London by the boss. Many thanks are due to him for organising the do by the way.
Report by Derek Brownjohn