Game 6, 21 May 2011 vs Kissing Point B
Today was Kissing Point B at Auluba, on another classic autumn day. Kissing Point teams are always well prepared and hard to beat; this was no exception. They kicked off, swiftly rounded our defence, and Matthew couldn't control a short-range shot. Down 0-1 after a minute; our guys hadn't woken up yet. The next 10 minutes were constant pressure from Kissing Point. We barely got the ball out of our half, and most of the time we were scrambling to clear corners and other raids. that included one ball that crossed our goal mouth, and a minor brain explosion from Matthew. He'd picked the ball up, assumed that it was a goal kick, placed it -- and the whistle hadn't blown. A Kissing Point player took the ball from under his nose, moved left to shoot, and I'm still working out how Matthew got back in time to cover it. Great escape. On 11 minutes they broke through again, shot from 5 metres, and... offside. A few minutes later they pounced on a goal kick, this time made no mistake, and we were down 0-2.
Our response was immediate. Pretty well from the restart, Aynsley took the ball down the right wing and crossed in from near the corner. Josh got a toe to it but Cam K was beautifully positioned to first-time into the net. No more goals were scored in the first half but both teams got stuck into what became a very even contest. Greg was having a blinder. One sequence of play saw him take the ball from our goal area, over the halfway, pass to a midfielder and, when we were dispossessed, hare back to cover in defence. Nick wasn't feeling too good and came off for a while; it looked like his game might be over but he recovered enough to play his usual spoiling role in the backs and midfield, closing down the opposing wingers and getting the ball back down the pitch.
The second half started much as the first had finished. We had much better field position, and the ball movement slowed a bit because the midfield was hotly contested. Both goalies were in the game pretty well throughout, and they snuffed out any attempts for the first 10 minutes. Then we had a great chance to counter-attack. Sam H cleared a ball out to the midfield and found Nikki, who turned and outpaced the defence. From 5 metres out, one-on-one, the Kissing Point keeper didn't stand a chance. Things were getting interesting, 2-2 with 20 minutes left. Substitutions were more frequent, with both sides tiring, and scoring chances were harder to come by. At 18 minutes we had our last real opportunity of the game; a shot from about 15 metres, well saved by their keeper, who was having a good game. It looked headed for a draw but KP launched raid with 6 minutes to go. It came from a good throw-in, and one or two quick passes left Matthew trying to handle yet another short-range shot. He got his hands to it but couldn't control the pace, and the game finished at 2-3.
We're mixing it well with the top teams in this division. The lesson from today is that we can't afford a slack 10 minutes anywhere in the game, and if we keep the intensity we will give the comp a serious shake. Kissing Point deserved the win, but we were far from outplayed, and came close to pulling off a draw. Well played to both teams, and I'm already looking forward to the return match later in the season. Our two players of the match today were Greg and Nick, who joked that he was pleased to have got the green trophy! Thanks to the ref and linesmen; we had three black-and-whites today.
Denis (Manager)