Rolfe & Nolan 3 (3) Cybury Gooners 0 (0)
10ish
25ish
40ish
Cybury : Ingles; Dickson, Melis, Doherty, Northcott(C);
Adebowale, Rose, Cooper, King;
Shulman (Powell H/T), Skeels
Man of the Match : Pete Northcott
On a frozen evening in South London, the makeshift Cybury Gooners suffered another defeat to the classy Rolfe & Nolan. With Malcolm "Travolta" Dick grooving it on down at a dancing establishment, and Derek Brownjohn stuck on the M25, Cybury started with a patched up teamsheet. The pitch would have been fine had it been a warmer night, but with sheets of ice on the pitch, there was a treacherous element. The referee decided to bog off home, and thus a Rolfe sub took up the whistle and proceeded to do an impression of a statue, not following the play at all.
Rolfe & Nolan started with the aid of the wind, and they used it to full effect. The makeshift Cybury defensive foursome were still working out their roles when a break through the Cybury centre ended up with a real soft goal, Cybury missing plenty of chances to tackle and the Rolfe midfielder planting the ball under the dive of Ingles in goal.
Soon after, a cross from the R & N left winger was whipped to the far post, and Melis had to head the goal bound effort over his own bar.
Rolfe had a succession of corners, which came to nothing, as captain Northcott was in marauding form, winning headers and geeing up his defensive partners to work hard all the time.
Just when Cybury were getting back into the game, when the passes were going to red shirts as opposed to the sidelines or opponents, Rolfe got a second. A high ball was left to bounce by Melis who followed the ball to shepherd it to safety, as he rose to control it, the Rolfe centre forward went forearm first into the back of the defenders head and with Melis on the ground, he passed the loose ball to his strike partner who buried it from 6 yards. Melis got up to give the referee a mouthful, but couldn't see him anywhere as he was 70 yards from the play. 2-0.
With Cybury getting put under pressure, the gaffer King got involved in a running battle with the fuzzy haired "geordie twat" on the R & N right. Hard tackles were flying in from both sides. Cybury on the whole were now under severe bombardment. With Dickson charging up the wing from his full back position, Rolfe counter attacked down the undermanned Cybury right and this led to a goal late in the half. A quick passing break, ending up with a forward squeezing the ball between Ingles and near post and subsequantly into the net from the tightest of angles.
Half time didn't come soon enough. Bright spots in the first half were the shackling job of Valdo by Rose. Unfortunatley, it was Valdo's midfield partner that was running the show. Ingles also had a good game, showing us why he has the reputation of the best shot stopper in Soho. Also, the quick and intelligent play of James Cooper down the right was very promising, and it was unfortunate he was hampered in the second half by his pulled muscle. Zorro's half time team talk revolved around the need to get the tackles in, and indeed Cybury were very sluggish and sometimes half-hearted. The Rolfe players were showing they wanted it more. And once again, the communication problem was brought up, perhaps the Cybury gobs got frozen over?
The second half was a much more even affair, and on the whole, Cybury deserved a goal. There were also moments of complete mayhem in the Cybury six yard box, as somehow Rolfe were kept out with last ditch tackling and goal line blocks. Matt Powell was brought on for Julian Shulman, but to little effect as the Rolfe defenders kept it tight and were being led by their excellent number 3 in central defence. In the last 20 minutes big spaces were opening up for both teams. After bravely getting stuck in for the whole game, Rose and Adebowale were struggling with their fitness as the Rolfe midfield powered through the centre again and again. Cybury held firm though and forged their own chances too. The text book short corner by King and Melis was one example, the management team showing how it should be done, three passes, then give away a goal kick. Finally, very near the end of match the unusually quiet Skeels found himself in acres of space, right in front of the posts, he picked his spot and side footed it round the keeper. As he was doing this, a steel chimp appeared behind the goal, it was chasing its b*!!*cks which were rolling along in front of it. Skeels claimed the chimp put him off as his shot dipped wide. Thus Cybury wasted their only clear cut chance.
Report by Mel Melis