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03/12/2009
- FDFC Men
// Fulham Deaf 6 - 1 Nutfield
Saturday 28th November 2009
SSEC Senior League Cup 2nd Round
Fulham Deaf FC 6 - 1 Nutfield FC
It was a massive relief to play last Saturday against Nutfield in the
Senior League Cup 2nd round match, after a series of downpours
threatened to postpone this match. FDFC played against Nutfield for the first
time earlier in the season in a hard-fought 1 – 1 draw.
Given Nutfield's abilities in that first match, it could be understood
why the Gaffer was reaching for the beta-blockers again once he had found out
that his right-hand man, 'Ironside' Beedie, as well as club captain Evans and
midfielder Nick Gregory, had gone off to Cardiff
to watch Wales get hammered by the Aussies. To top things off, Moore
was also absent, due to a romantic break in Madrid with his girlfriend, taking in sights
such as the Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid's stadium (Casanova, eat your heart
out). These absences as well as those of a few others, meant that FDFC's squad
was less than full strength, so the Gaffer had to make do with his available
players once again.
Due to
unavailability of changing rooms until 1.25pm, FDFC players met up once again
in the Earl Beatty for a team talk, in which the team's formation was switched
back to 3-5-2. Lampert, Harding and Vorster made up the back three, with both
Vorster and Lampert on their 169th and 162nd appearances
for the club and catching up fast on the Gaffer's all-time appearance record.
Of the midfield five, Bovino was given the anchoring role, with Sellars and
Burns playing in front of him in central midfield. Swift and Willies were also
selected to operate on the left and right flanks respectively. Ailey and Hogan
made up the strike force on the day.
A recap to
the previous week's game against Tongham was given, where the Gaffer urged the
team to cut down on fouls in our own half and to avoid giving away free kicks.
The referee
soon blew for the start of the match, and FDFC quickly settled in, passing the
ball around the pitch. An early chance was wasted when Hogan played a great 1-2
with his strike partner Ailey on the left hand side of the pitch, which ended
up in a half volley being hit by Hogan that just missed the foot of the post.
Hogan soon after failed to deliver a low enough cross for Ailey to score from,
after good play from Swift.
In the 15th
minute, Nutfield somehow managed to score a goal at their first attempt, coming
from a long ball out of their defence being flicked on by Nutfield's giant
centre forward. The ball then fell to their right winger, lurking in what was
suspiciously an offside position. He then broke down the flank and crossed the
ball in for the striker to sidefoot the ball in past the helpless Roberts from
close range.
Nutfield's
celebrations were quickly cut short when FDFC equalised through Willis, who outpaced
the defence in latching on to a great Ailey through ball after he had pulled
the defence out of position, and slotted the ball past the keeper to celebrate
his return from a niggling groin injury.
Willis could
also have made it two soon after, breaking into the box and opting to shoot,
when a pass back to the unmarked Ailey or Hogan would have been the better
option. Much to everyone's dismay, the resulting shot cannoned off the outside
of the post and out for a goal kick.
The miss was
soon forgotten when Hogan lobbed the opposition keeper after Ailey heading a
long ball from Roberts into the path of Hogan in the FDFC goal, and Ailey
followed suit soon after with a good finish after Hogan had played him in.
However, the scoreline could have been all the greater, if it was not for
misses from Swift, Hogan, Ailey, Willis (again) and Sellers. Gregory will be
pleased to see that his name wasn't amongst those who missed chance after
chance! The memories of being forced to play extra time against Ashtead in the
last round after missing a pile of chances began to play on the Gaffer's mind
as the half time whistle blew at 3-1 to FDFC.
The Gaffer,
once again, expressed how disappointed he was with the lack of clinical
finishing and the failure to keep a clean sheet. He also urged for better ball
retention and the need to concentrate for the remainder of the match in order
to complete the job.
Unfortunately
before the 2nd half restarted, one Nutfield player who had already
seen yellow in the first half for dissent, was given another one for the same
offence during the half-time break and thus Nutfield were forced to play with
10 men for the 2nd half.
Amazingly,
FDFC took their foot off the gas and let Nutfield take control of proceedings
for the first 15 minutes of the half, which left the Gaffer becoming
increasingly animated on the sidelines. FDFC also seemed to sit back once they
had the ball instead of counter-attacking and going for the opposition's
jugular.
However, in
the midst of all of this dross, Ailey saw a good shot saved by the Nutfield
'keeper and FDFC did continue to produce chances after that, with a poor
refereeing decision in not giving a penalty when Willis was chopped down by the
Nutfield centre-half being a talking point in the Earl Beatty afterwards.
Ailey finally
scored to grab his 14th goal of the season when Lampert played a
superb ball into space for Ailey to pick up and blast past the 'keeper. Pafe
Mike replaced Willis in the 70th minute, and was rewarded with a
simple tap-in from a few yards out when Ailey unselfishly set him up in the
box. Ailey wasn't finished with the early Christmas presents, however, rounding
the right back and playing the ball into Hogan's path. The ball was quickly
despatched into the right hand side of the net for Hogan's 2nd goal
of the match and one that gave FDFC a 6-1 lead. FDFC continued dominating the
rest of the game but true to form, continued to miss chances in front of goal
up to the final whistle. FDFC are now due to play away against SSEC Intermediate
Div 1 Tooting Beck in the quarter final of the Senior League Cup, who had
beaten Puretown in a penalty shoot out.
Gaffer
thought FDFC had played alright, but could have done much better. The players
were only too happy to agree. However, the man of the match must go to the
mild, meek fellow who had a hand in all of FDFC's goals on the day, setting up
four and scoring two, and is showing greater levels of team work and
determination as the season wears on, with his final ball being a big plus in
FDFC's performance on the day. The award goes to Daniel Ailey
who has now grabbed his 4th man of the match this season so far.
Next week,
FDFC will return to league duties when they welcome Ashtead to Motspur Park after having played them twice
already this season. The Gaffer is particularly looking forwards to buying the
Ashtead manager Geoff Douglas a few pints after the match at the Earl Beatty!
Final score
Fulham Deaf FC 6 - 1 Nutfield (HT 3 - 1)
FDFC Line-up:-
Roberts, Vorster, Harding, Lampert, Bovino, Burns, Hogan, Sellers, Swift,
Willis (Pafe 70 mins) and Ailey
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