Clapham Rovers

Match Report

Match Report - 27 Sep 2009, Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers v Sporting Santar match cancelled

Well I never.



The game on Sunday had everything. Talk about drama!





Starting Line Up

Connors





Yousef Bunny Rob Tom





Steve Zen Jim Chris Medlock



Chris Kew (GK)







On a glorious day at Raynes Park, due to late withdrawals, Clapham Rovers kicked off with ten men. It was therefore a bit of a shock when Rob Vernon, showing excellent composure under great pressure, collected a deep cross into the box and rammed the ball home to give Clapham a one nil lead inside 10 minutes.



Showing typical spirit and determination, Clapham Rovers pressed the opposition and continued to carve out chances immediately after the restart. Two long range shots from Rob and Steve didn’t trouble the goalkeeper but showed the intent with which Clapham were approaching the game.



As the half continued, Sporting Club Santar, began to get a foothold in the game, and showed their attacking capability by looking to play dangerous balls between the full back and centre half for their wingers to run onto.



On around 20 minutes Clapham Rovers were joined by a ringer known mysteriously as ‘T.’ As he lived nearby, and was a friend of Jim, he was a prime candidate for a late call up to fill the breach and become the 11th man. He was given the name ‘Tony Payne,’ and entered the fray with a bang. With electric pace, he tore apart the Santar defence on a mazy run and was unlucky not to score at close range. Great scouting Jim!



Unfortunately, after 25 minutes, Santar equalised. Having made their umpteenth attempt at exploiting the space between centre back and fullback, the fullback failed to clear his lines, the keeper rushed out to help but was left stranded by a lobbed cross, which the opposition winger had no problem in nodding in to make 1-1. Piss.



The half was played out with typical gutsy play from the midfielders and Zen, Jim and Steve being particularly solid at the back.



The second half began as the first had finished. Santar would attempt to attack down the wings while the defence and midfield would manfully repel them. Thankfully as a rookie goalkeeper, I was not called into action with anything which troubled me too much.



On 55 minutes, Clapham had a massive shout (by me and only me) for a penalty turned down. This was because I was in goal and standing at least 80 yards away from the incident. We had however been given a free kick though on the right of the area. ‘T’ had taken off on another mazy run which scared the opposition defence to death. After outpacing 5 opposition players he was cynically hacked down from behind. ‘T’ didn’t take too kindly to this and got involved in some pushing and shoving with just about everyone. Santar pretended to be tough guys in order to impress the girls they had invited down to watch the game. Nonces.



Steve put in a powerful free kick which struck the wall but he was unlucky with the rebound which just went wide. From then on Clapham Rovers threatened a great deal with plenty of set pieces pumped into the box to the big men.



However after one such set piece, Santar broke quickly up the pitch. After a few exchanging a few passes an attacker found himself alone in the box, only to be brought down by Bunny for a clear penalty. Full marks to Bunny for tracking back 70yards though.



So with myself in goal I faced the penalty, confident of saving it. I made a point of telling everyone to follow up any possible rebounds. Their taker stepped up and placed it low to my right. Bunny would later say that it was a terrible penalty, however as I write the match reports I’d like to say it was one of the best penalties every taken and only surpassed by the best save ever made in the history of goalkeeping. EVER. This was then hacked clear and Clapham survived to fight on.



Then came the incident which would shape the match and top all the previous drama. A similar breakaway to that which preceded the penalty resulted in an attacker striding clear. Jim put in a last ditch tackle which brought down their forward whilst also getting the merest of touches on the ball. The player went down awkwardly, his standing leg buckled and he screamed his tits off. Unfortunately the attacker had dislocated his kneecap. Not pretty to look at.



Despite Steve being there as a covering defender, the referee got swept up by the drama and sent Jim off. An ambulance was called for the injured player and the match was abandoned after 77mins. It will be recorded in the league table as a hard fought 1-1 draw. Clapham Rovers are still undefeated!









Supermodel – the good points.



The result. I’m pleased to say that once again everyone showed great desire to protect the point when under pressure and go in search of the win when we could. I’m running out of different ways to say this each week but once again determination and spirit were in great abundance. We’ve set the bar consistently high this year. Let’s keep it that way.



Centre backs Zen and Jim. I thought these two lads at the back were absolute giants. They dominated the Superscala strikers and won everything in the air. Men of the match.



We’re still undefeated.





Female – the not so good points



Starting with 10 men. Please be in touch before Sunday morning if you can’t make the match. Saturday at noon is now the deadline for withdrawing your availability.



Possibly losing Jim to suspension. You’ve had two great games Jim and will be a loss if you are suspended. Poor decision from the ref.





Shemaile – the peculiar



Goal of the day. Unfortunately this wasn’t seen on our pitch. On an adjacent pitch a guy scored with a ridiculously flick (where you put your right leg behind your left leg and kick it with your right – answers on a postcard as to what this is called,) which lobbed the goalie and finished up in the top corner.





Cheers