Collaborative match report

With Archie destroying his DIY stick fix (despite what you may read on Facebook, unibond epoxy is not the sacred brother of TK stick magic) in the warm up, we hit the ground hard and fast and stuck the game to Basingstoke like a butcher stuffing the Christmas Turkey. We started with Archie and Fouldsy up top, both constantly making runs which stretched their defence. Wookey started top of the diamond with Nick on the right, Adey on the left and Stumpy playing in front of the back four. High intensity and pressing from midfield and attack forced the opposition into errors and perpetual frustration. Started hard. After cotton telling us to get focused and not focus on their shot corner skills. Went in with good passing. After the real players did all the hard work the ball fell to Fouldsy 'shake and swivel' who turned inside himself on the top of the D and finished neatly with a hard shot to the corner of the goal. Goal 2 was scored by Ship from a short corner using the reliable hit it straight down the middle, hard and fast through the 4ft keepers legs technique. Purdy failed with the new team tactic of taking out the best player although he did get away with an out of d excursion!! Nick managed not to mark either of the two opposition players who always seemed to surround him! No 3’s game is complete without the captain passing to their CF so without wanting to disappoint he accepted this challenge, as is his curse upon us every week, trying to drive the ball across the pitch to the awaiting Young gun Pollard. Unfortunately he would have been waiting until next Christmas for this ball to arrive as Basingstoke’s striker picked it off like The Grinch taking decorations from a tree . Fortunately for us, he couldn’t collect the ball cleanly and it was swelled away by the rest of the defence breathing a sigh of relief after thinking ‘Here we go again!!!!’. Amongst other things Wookey made many incisive tackles which frequently broke up their attacks and put us on the counter. The whistle from the adjoining pitch was a constant menace to Basingstoke and it proved our 12th man when they hesitated and Wookey seized the advantage by nipping the ball away and running the length of the pitch. A pass to Foulds created a goal scoring chance. Thankfully Foulds did not need to pass to anyone (mind you he wouldn’t have done even if he had) and was able to slide the ball home pass the keeper to make 3-1. This proved the final nail in the coffin for Basingstoke. With time dribbling out of the clock like a limp egg nog, Fouldsey played with himself in the corner to watch those seconds waste away. Jimmy got barbecues sauce on his shirt and Harran crawled out of retirement just in time to join us for a beer. First half dominated 2-0. Second was consistent with 1-1. Job done