‘The Edge’ - Home League vs Tonbridge Junior ‘B’ April 14, 2008
Posted by editor in : Matches , trackbackSome say, he won the London Marathon and then the US Masters, all we know is that he provides anonymous match reports and calls himself ‘The Edge’…
I’ve delayed sitting down to write this weeks ramblings as I want to avoid being too negative. I feel that I may have been a bit harsh in recent weeks, not that I feel that what I have written is anything other than what is justified given the performance that I’ve witnessed from the ‘The Edge’of the pitch. Still, what the heck, there is no point in saying it was good when it wasn’t and that the spectators left more disappointed than the team, but probably not nearly as disappointed as the coaches….
We probably all have an opinion on what went well and what did not. I was once told that opinions are like buttocks, we all have them but they do not necessarily have to be aired in public. I indeed have an opinion about the performance against Tonbridge Juniors and like the true ‘Mooner’ I am I will bear it to the assembled readership….."Tonbridge Juniors FC want to win the league more than Uckfield Grasshoppers FC" The reason I say this is that despite going two nil down, each and every one of their players put their hand up and said,
“I’m up for this, I will run, challenge, think about what I am doing, help and encourage each and every one of my team mates and despite the fact that we have gone a couple of goals down, we can do it and I’m going to play my part in proving it.”
They all believed they could do it and their belief was proved right. Our lads gave the impression that when we went a couple of goals up they thought, “That’s OK then this is easy” so when Tonbridge came back, we couldn’t find the grit and determination and desire to match that of the opposition, to the point that a lot of our lads ‘went missing’ in the second half and were happy to leave it to others to try and put things right. Individuals do not win matches, teams do and as a team we were found wanting, its been coming for the last couple of matches too.
I’m as guilty as the next person for focusing everything toward winning the league and have probably harped on a bit about it in my match reports. I make no apologies for having done this as I believed, and still believe, that the Lads have the talent and ability to win the league and get promoted to play in the top division, where those talents should be displayed. As much as it pains me to say it, it should always be about the kids enjoyment of football, and their improvement as players, I think that we as parents and spectators want it more than them. I hope that they prove me wrong and if they do so I will come to the last home match of the season dressed as the clown I hope I am proved to be.
So for all you players, I want you to prove it to yourselves that you can do it, but as a little incentive I promise that if you win the league (2nd place doesn’t count!) I will come to your final home match dressed in a full clown suit and let you tell me how wrong I was.
As I say I am not convinced about the desire to win the league, so from now on I intend to focus on the football and forget about titles.
The writing was on the wall for today when Henry picked up an ankle injury in the warm up forcing him to retire before a ball had been kicked. This necessitated a quick reshuffle with Regan going between the posts and Freddie coming off the bench to grab a starting place.
It is fair to say that Regan put in a superb performance in goal. He came off his line beautifully and was vocal and commanding in his area, with a pair of President Sarkosy’s football boots giving him a couple more inches he could be pushing Henry for the rightful owner of the gloves. He held onto the ball well and his distribution was good so keep up the good work and the competition for the No. 1 jersey.
The first half was a return to traditional Grasshoppers performance. Like Magnolia paint, nothing too exciting but a reliable and a firm favourite. It was what we’ve come to expect of our boy’s, good passing and movement. Toby was effective down the right putting some good passes through to the front two and indeed it was a Toby cross that led to the first goal and with Freddie slotting it home with his left foot (other players take note, you are allowed to use both feet!) to take a lead against the run of play.
With that things looked to be getting better with Matt and Harry (Coleman) Fergus and Crispy keeping things tight at the back. We had all settled ourselves in to a comfortable win. How wrong we were.
A couple of minutes into the second half Josh took a leaf out of Freddie’s book and blasted a well struck (left foot) shot past the Tonbridge keeper to make it 2 – 0, things were looking rosy. Jarvis or as he should be called ‘Sniper’ given his accurate long range shots troubled the keeper on more than a few occasions but luck wasn’t with him today despite a number of good efforts.
Half time saw the team and coaches head off in buoyant mood, little did we realise that somebody must have doctored the halftime drinks with some sedatives. Either that or the boys had double pie and chips as a halftime snack as the team that came out for the second half was devoid of any get up and go. Twice Tonbridge split the defence easier than a very specialised splitting tool to score goals that should never have made it as far as our 18 yard box. Then a free kick was awarded. Many people were heard to say that it wasn’t a free kick. (Note. If the referee blows his whistle and says free kick, that indicates that it is a free kick) This was the free kick that trickled into the goal watched by their players, our players, the parents, coaching staff, referee, linesmen, passing motorists, nearby residents, two dogs and several hundred passengers on the EZY297 returning to Gatwick from Alicante. Indeed unofficially 437 people watched the ball roll past every player on the pitch to end up in the Grasshopper goal. The time it took from leaving the takers foot to crossing the goal lines seemed like 4 minutes 32 seconds and still nobody thought about clearing it. I’m sure I heard a debate along the lines of “I bet he tries to clear it”, “No I think it will be him,” “Actually I’ve thought about both of them and I think it would be much better if he did it”. Next time try thinking, ‘That’s mine I’m going to clear it’. See what a difference that would make.
Three two down from two nil up. Not good, but we did manage to bring it back to three all with a well taken second from Freddie. Then Tonbridge unleashed their specialised splitting tool which drew a well used coaching phrase from Andy Coleman that due to copywrite issues with Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney cannot be quoted on these pages, 3-4 and Tonbridge ran out worthy winners.
I do not like to single players out for special mention so I won’t say that Fergus led by example in the second half and ran non stop for the full duration of the match leading by example, putting in the effort expected until the final whistle. Where was everyone else??? Oops I’ve mentioned it so well done Fergus.
There are only a couple of games left, your fate is still in your hands.
I’ve got the clown suit ready…..Only you can make me wear it.
The Big question is…who’s the clown?
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