Match Report
Match Report - 31 Jan 2016, Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers lost to Invictus
Rovers!
Lixus are top of the league and we’ll need to be bang on it to cause an upset. I prefer being the underdog so let’s live up to that and give them a hiding they are not expecting.
Rovers 2 – 3 Invictus
Heart, passion, determination, spirit; call it what you will, it was all there on Sunday.
A Rovers side playing players out of position and low on numbers gave everything for the cause, led twice but couldn’t hold on for the 3 points. I was proud of everyone out there. To play that in the rain, cold and mud after nearly 2 months out was remarkable. We have a cup semi final coming up and although we didn’t win against Invictus, if we show anywhere near the same desire until the end of the season, we’ll win the cup and be in the final reckoning for the league.
We led 1-0 from a breakaway goal and a first of two assists from Gaz as Smudger was put clear on the keeper to guide it home.
Invictus had a multitude of chances to level which included a stonewall penalty turned down, numerous shots scrambled away, wonder saves from Pybus and an occasion where the Invictus right winger decided to kick the ground rather than the ball and collapse on the floor.
Other action of note included a terrible scuffed clearance where I gave away an unnecessary corner and getting megged with a piece of skill which I can’t explain.
Invictus did finally pull one back where a high hanging corner was headed in at the back post from an acute angle.
Almost straight away Rovers then took the lead once more. Gaz put in a pearler of a cross after being flicked in by Smudger. The ball seemed to take an age as it skipped along the 6 yard box and Milby slid in at the far post to ram it in. A great goal.
The 2nd half came and sadly we couldn’t hang on.
We conceded the equaliser from a penalty where the largest player in the league took a scuff on the shin from Carswell and went down like he’d been poleaxed. The penalty was confidently put away their midfielder demonstrating just how different a proposition they had proved since we last played them.
The same midfielder then gave Invictus the lead from a 25 yard free kick which swirled in the wind and ended up going straight down the middle of the goal and in off the bar.
We pushed and pushed for an equaliser and nearly worked one where Smudger was played in 1 on 1 but could only see the goalie pull off a point blank save.
Then in the final minute, Goose was also played in 1 on 1 on the left hand side. He rounded the keeper and slotted the ball home but it was stopped on the line by an Invictus defender’s heel before being hooked away. Absolutely remarkable and completely agonising.
MOM was Pybus for a string of fine saves.
10 Teams Games
Played Games
Won Games
Drawn Games
Lost Goals
For Goals
Against Goal
Difference Points
Club Lixus
11 9 1 1 51 20 +31 28
London St George
9 7 1 1 28 10 +18 22
Invictus
10 5 1 4 30 17 +13 16
Chelsea Town
7 5 1 1 23 10 +13 16
Clapham Rovers
8 5 0 3 27 18 +9 15
Kings United
8 3 4 1 19 17 +2 13
Real Northern 'A'
9 3 2 4 17 22 -5 11
London Titans
13 2 1 10 12 48 -36 7
Cool Oak Rangers
11 2 0 9 16 41 -25 6
Accrington Stanley Bowles
10 1 1 8 11 31 -20 4
Bert Gaby Challenge Cup Fixtures 7th Feb
002 Pacific Sporting Jubilee v Real Northern 'B' [ Round 2 ]
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
003 Wessex Rangers v Orange County [ Round 2 ]
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
005 Politics v Chiswick FC [ Round 2 ]
Wandsworth Common SW18 3RL
Senior Amateur Division Fixtures 7th Feb
Club Lixus v Clapham Rovers
King's House W4 2RZ
Cool Oak Rangers v Chelsea Town
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
Invictus v Accrington Stanley Bowles
Wimbledon Common Extension SW15 4SS
London St George v Real Northern 'A'
King's House W4 2RZ
Senior Amateur Division Results 31st Jan
3 2 Accrington Stanley Bowles v Cool Oak Rangers
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
4 2 Chelsea Town v Club Lixus
King's House W4 2RZ
2 3 Clapham Rovers v Invictus
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
0 1 London Titans v London St George
Riverside Lands W4 2SX
3 6 Real Northern 'A' v Kings United
King's House W4 2RZ
Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers 2 - 3 Invictus ()