(Sat 12-Apr-14) vs Haslemere Town Harriers (A): 4-2

The One That Got Away

Every team has a nemesis, the All Blacks have France, England’s football team rarely gets the better of Die Mannschaft, and this year we seem to have one in the form of Haslemere.

We have played them twice at home and twice we have come away with that feeling of “what if”?

That’s as far as we need to go with the negative vibes as there were a lot of positives to take from the game and we still have a chance of a top two finish. Even though we face a month’s break (during which I expect each boy will be running up hills carrying large logs Rocky IV style and eating raw liver ) – we can still focus on an excellent season thus far with the possibility of some more excellence in the ( not very near ) future.

As to the game, credit must be given to Haslemere who are an excellent side who play the game in the right spirit. They have a very talented striker of whom more will probably be seen at a higher level. If one could be a neutral observer then the game was probably quite a good one to watch. Sadly, none of us are neutral observers.
I think it is fair to say that the boys were well aware that this was another huge game. We have a tendency to start like a 1958 Morris Minor on a January morning but Nev and Bryan made sure that the boys hit the ground running. The first half was very close, with Oscar making some excellent saves and Max ST commanding the line at the back. Having said that the Harriers were also causing their own mayhem at the other end and all of the enterprise reaped its reward when Charlie Morris scored from a pass from Noah.
Because this was such a tight game ( and Haslemere have designs on the title themselves ) we knew they would come back, and their striker began to find the odd gap here and there. Max ST, Euan ( again playing very bravely through the pain barrier – hopefully the next month will give you the chance to rest your foot ) and OIlie were holding their own and Oscar pulled off a couple of first class saves.

Sadly the dam broke just before half time when a rather untidy effort dribbled in.
At the turn around the Harriers pressed forward, the midfield of Ryan and Noah, Charlie Beeson and Charlie Morris ( who also deputised well for Euan at the back as did Rowan who took over Charlie Morris’ role – we had only the one sub so the options were tight ) pressed forward and there were a number of goal mouth scrambles where the coup de grace just evaded us. All of the pressing forward does leave the odd hole at the back and we were caught on the break a couple of times and Haslemere took a 1-3 lead. I have to say that some of the combinations between their forwards were of the highest order.

But the Harriers are made of sterner stuff these days. Finally one of the goalmouth scrambles saw the ball bounce kindly in Joe’s direction and after an initial stab came off the keeper Joe stuck to his task and scored. Max ST had taken a break from being Baresi and played the role of provider. At one stage we committed all to attack and with Max ST and Noah both operating in forward roles with Joe and the two Charlies buzzing around behind them it was like Spurs under Ossie Ardilles with a front 5 chasing the game. It was a brave gamble but the dice were not loaded in our favour this day – another break and the final result saw Haslemere win 2-4.
It was clear that the boys did everything they possibly could and we can all be proud of them. A draw may have been a fairer reflection of the two sides but even if the season was to end now we can be very pleased with the improvements we have seen all over the pitch. In fairness it was another game where MOM could have gone to a number of boys but Max ST had a colossal game and picked up MOM to go with his trainer of the week.

We can still achieve something amazing – we have two games to win and ( maybe ) those around us will falter.

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