Stapleford Villa 0 Keyworth
United 13
It’s Raining Goals
As most people
know, I do all my best work in my absence! So it proved
again today, when, with a little help from my friends and
Julian Matthews in particular, the Greens turned on the
style to ease into Round 2 of the YEL Trophy. With Monsoon
Malc at the National Indoor Arena watching Ben and his
Willow Brook School colleagues participate in the British
Indoor Rowing Championships, it was Julian’s turn to
experience the emotional trauma of management again
following a six month sabbatical - and what a superb job he
did! Thanks Julian!
As we headed off down the M42, I was wishing I was lucky
enough to witness medals for the Willow Brook contingent in
Birmingham while my boys in green progressed in the cup.
Meanwhile, on a warm, dry, sultry, autumn morning, Julian’s
crew meandered their way along the leaf strewn boulevards
of a slowly waking Nottinghamshire until coming across that
oasis of warmth and calm that is Bramcote Leisure Centre.……
Or perhaps not! Sadly someone put the light on and woke a
delusional Julian from the wonderful dream he was having
this afternoon whilst in bed still trying to get warm! The
team arrived at Bramcote at 10.20am only for Tim Nowicki to
espouse that "at least it wasn't raining too hard". I’m
sure that made Julian feel much better! In truth, it was
very, very, wet and even colder! To make matters worse,
with five minutes to kick off, Keyworth had only ten men.
Fortunately, two late arrivals for the ball arrived in
their respective carriages just on kick off, followed half
way through the first half by Luke (having apparently taken
a scenic detour to closely inspect the facilities of all
the adjoining villages - especially those with Bramcote,
Stapleford or Villa in their names).
In abysmal conditions, Keyworth got off to a flying start.
Danny picked up the ball, got past any number of Villains
and broke away to slot past the keeper. Sadly there endeth
Julian’s report, as the sodden bit of paper in his pocket
refused to accept any more ink, and the frost bitten
fingers of the writer refused to react to the signals from
his brain. Suffice to say the match continued in the same
vein with Stapleford unable to hold back the river of green
that flowed like a tidal wave through the Villa defences.
Under the cosh and with the weather worsening, it was no
surprise when only ten Villa players appeared for the
second period. In an attempt to balance things, Keyworth
also fielded ten with Julian ringing the changes and even
giving Sam Machin a rare excursion out of goal. Little
difference did it make! The onslaught continued with keeper
turned poacher Sam adding two goals to his collection.
Finally, after Josh had added our thirteenth - unlucky for
Villa! - the ref brought a premature end to Stapleford’s
misery when his whistle signalled their sweet surrender.
Against lower league opposition, Keyworth avoided slipping
on the potential banana skin with a thoroughly
“professional” performance in difficult circumstances. Shed
a tear for Stapleford though who are a good bunch. But this
really was a hopeless mis-match of talent - not much fun if
you’re on the receiving end at any time let alone in such
appalling conditions. It’s hard to believe that last time
the two sides met, albeit at seven a side, it was Villa who
ran out victorious. This time though, things were
completely different and the gulf between the two sides was
never more obvious.
So, wishes do come true! Two medals for Willow Brook and
progress in the cup makes the absent (and totally dry!)
manager a happy man. For the Greens, Trophy Round 2 beckons
and whilst there’ll be plenty of speculation before the
sweet little mystery of who we’ll be playing is solved, in
reality we don’t much care who the opponents are. After
four wins in a row we’re full of confidence and happy to
take on anyone. We’ll avoid the temptation to get carried
away with it all though. We’ll enjoy it while it lasts, but
rest assured, our collective feet will remain firmly on the
ground and we’ll be totally focused on making it five out
of five as we get back to league action at Hucknall next
week.
Many thanks to all who braved the elements today -
hopefully you’ll have dried out by Sunday!
