- So, the game?

Well it was South 3rds debut at Division 4 level, and the opposition, Alford 1sts, had only been relegated on the final weekend of last season from 3NW. So at tough-looking introduction, although being amateur sport and so suffering from general comings-and-goings it is obviously difficult to judge ahead of time which teams will be strong and which weaker. But for now let’s assume that Alford are likely to be closer to the top than bottom of the table come the end of the season. With that in mind Ali’s pre-match talk was focused not just on the result but also the performance we produced. We need to prove to ourselves that we can play at a Division 4 standard and competing with Alford would go a long way towards that.

- No, really, what happened in the game?

I’m getting to it, dammit.

To be honest, not all that much. The teams more or less cancelled each other out, and neither ‘keeper had an overly taxing afternoon. The short corner count for the match (2-1 in our favour) gives an indication of defences that were generally on top.

Alford looked sharp on the counter attack. They took the lead from the second phase of one, a midfielder to collecting a loose ball on the 25, going on a mazy dribble to the the top of the circle and then finding the target by putting a reverse stick sweep on the ball much earlier than looked possible. Our second short then produced our opponents 2nd goal (oops); in the shortie, Stu’s straight shot was saved, a scramble ensued but we weren’t able to force home. When Alford cleared their circle they found themselves goalside of our midfield and poured upfield to exploit the opportunity. The chance was worked nicely, culminating in a midfielder coming in from the left angle to slap a shot under Lino’s dive and into the far corner.

These two shots, coming in roughly the 25th and 30th minutes, were frustratingly the first two Alford had put on target in the match. They would argue that they took their chances clinically, I guess. The question is, how do you deal with teams who have a solid defence and a slick counter-attack? Well, maybe by counter-counter attacking them? At least that was the source of our goal. The play swung one way as we attacked, and then the other as Alford broke that foray up and threw bodies forward to try and force a third goal. Jan made an interception to terminate that, fed the ball upfield to Olly and the direction of play had reversed three times in fifteen seconds. Olly moved it on to Stu, who drew his man and fed Ali on the left flank. Rob asked for the ball to be crossed, Ali obliged, Rob nipped in front of the ‘keeper and deflected past him. We can do smoothly efficient counter-attacks as well.

The second half had lots of endeavour from both sides without either ‘keeper being truly tested. To be honest we never came close to equalising, but as long as the score remained at 1-2 there was always the possibility of a lucky break. The final minute produced the best chance of the half, when our visitors were awarded a penalty stroke. The taker went for Lino’s top right corner, but it wasn’t wide or high enough as Lino got everything to behind it to save comprehensively.

So we start life in Division 4NW with a narrow home defeat, then. Not great, but that we held our own in a game that felt like it was played at a faster pace and with a greater intensity than most in Div 5. There were many positives to draw from the game, as the atmosphere amongst the team afterwards showed. It was not one of huge disappointment after a match that, on another day, we might have come away from with a point of three.