Old Wilsonians FC vs Norsemen FC
Saturday 2nd October
3.00pm
Hayes
Good Wills Hunting For Norsemen
Sat 1st October saw the Norsemen Travel club travel down to Old Wilsonians for our 4th game (and 4th away game) of the league season. We knew we were going to be in for a tough game as Wilsonians had finished the previous season in 3rd place, having scored more goals and conceded fewer than anyone else. There were some forced changes to the squad this week, with Leroy, Tajae and James Alexander side-lined through injury, Joe on a cultural excursion to Valencia, and Hempsey unable to get out from underneath his girlfriend’s thumb. Macca came back in from the twos, there was a call up for Jay Davies, Pearo came back after a week off, and we welcomed newcomer Jamie. All in all it was a strong squad looking to bounce back from the previous weeks defeat at the Hill.
The boys were in good spirit (as ever) when we all met at London Bridge on a scorching hot afternoon. We nearly lost Phil, who fancied staying at the station with his fetching new bag to spend the afternoon perving, but we soon managed to convince him to get the train down to Hayes. After a long walk from the station we arrived at the ground, got changed to some tunes (when Mark shocked us all with the news that he’d never heard ‘World in Motion’ before), I put on the factor 25, and we went out for a gentle warm up. Whilst we were warming up the Gaffer named the side;
Ant
Muz
Ballers
Macca
Os
Mark
TT
Tadd
Pearo
Gav
Reg
This left Jay and Jamie on the bench, and gave us a nice mix of experience and youth throughout the side.
We then kicked off. Wow – it was like Nottsborough on the first day of the season. For the first 20 minutes we weren’t really at the races. Old Wilsonians moved the ball quickly, attacked with pace, and the play was being dictated by their holding midfielder who was finding space in front of their back four to start most of their moves. They forced corner after corner, but in all fairness we defended them well and restricted them to very few chances. Against the run of play, after about 10 minutes, we took the lead. From a long throw by Ross, the gathering of players at the near post were completely missed out, and with their 8ft tall goalkeeper deciding not to come for the ball, Tadd had a free header from 6 yards. 1-0 Norsemen.
This should have settled us down but didn’t, and Wilsonians keep coming. Again they struggled with creating any real chances as their final ball let them down. The closest they came was when Muzza got dragged out a bit wide, and the right back sent a ball inside him for the OW winger to chase, but Ant was quick off his line and snuffed out the danger with a good save. There was then a big shout for a penalty when Macca brought down the centre forward as he cleverly turned, with the ref adjudging the offence to be just outside the area. I’m not convinced it was the correct decision.
Wilsonians then got the equaliser their play deserved, a lovely flowing move sent their left winger through, and he struck a first time shot just inside the far post. 1-1.
The rest of the first half carried on with the ball mostly in the Norsemen half, but we defended well and kept them at arm’s length for the remaining 15 minutes. Mark had started to see a bit of joy down the left on the break however, and the right back was lucky not to go in the book for a late tackle after Mark had skinned him.
Half-time 1-1.
The half-time team talk centred around imposing ourselves on the game more, winning the ball back earlier and passing with more conviction. When it was also mentioned that we needed to focus on our ball retention more, I tried not to look at Ross. I think his only completed pass of the half was his throw for our goal…
We went out for the second half and looked a different team. Right from the kick off we had more possession, passed it better, and Ross and Tadd started to dominate the midfield battle. Gav moved up front alongside Reg (in the first half he’d been playing just behind him), and as such we looked more threatening in the final third. For all our possession, clear cut chances were at a premium, and OW still looked very dangerous on the break, and won a couple of free-kicks in dangerous positions, but couldn’t force Ant into a save.
After 20 mins of the second half, we got the chance to go into the lead, and the chance again came from one of Ross’ throws. The ref saw something he didn’t like from a defender whilst Reg was trying to get on the end of the throw, and pointed to the spot. A soft penalty, but the ref obviously saw something we didn’t. The ball was given to Gav to complete the formalities, or so we thought. He didn’t really get hold of the pen (‘I changed my mind in the run up’ he later told us as he was drinking his forfeit vodka on the train), and the keeper got down well to his right to save. This rallied Wilsonians and they must have thought it was going to be their day. However, Norsemen shrugged it off and began to dominate even more. Within 5 minutes of the penalty miss, we were in the lead. When the goal came, it wasn’t the prettiest, but they all count. A free kick just inside the Norsemen half was taken by Ross, who played it long and high into the penalty box. Again the giant keeper elected not to come, and as the defence stood and watched Macca rose highest to nod in. 2-1 Norsemen.
Just before the goal had been scored, the gaffer had made a couple of subs. Jamie replaced Mark on the left side of midfield, and Jay came on up top with Pearo making way, and Gav dropping back to right mid.
It wasn’t long before we got the crucial 3rd goal. The best move of the match between Tadd, Os, Gav and Ross, saw the latter racing down the right hand side. He beat the left back with ease, and pulled a great ball back for Reggie to slot home. Or that’s what we thought he’d do. Reggie proved yet again what a great team player he is. Despite the fact that he hasn’t scored so far this season, something that might be on a lot of centre forwards’ minds, he had the unselfishness to think of Jay, the debutant. Rather than slot in the simple chance himself, he decided to kick the ball against his own foot, completely fooling the defence and setting Jay up. A quick drag back to create some space, and Jay fired the ball past the keeper into the roof of the net. 3-1 Norsemen.
We played out the last ten minutes in the intense heat, and when the referee blew the final whistle Norsemen had sealed a hard-fought and deserved victory.
A perfect day was finished with a willy dance, Gav buying a jug for missing the pen (at a place them seemingly serves the biggest jugs in the SAL), and the train journey home where beers were drunk, spoof was played and forfeits were awarded.
Another tough game next week sees us play our first home league game of the season, when we entertain local rivals Broomfield. Let’s get up for this boys and produce another good performance.
Walk tall.
norsemenfc 