Harrys FC : Match Report v. CBF Crusaders on 17 August 2009

2009-08-20T20:57:00.001-07:00

Harry’s FC 4 v 4 Crusaders (Monday August 17th 2009)

Squad: Pistol Pete, Rob Neesome, Al, Stammo, Teko, Nadge, Chef Dave, Ben Marler, Craig Webster, Chris Fern, Lawrence and Man City Dave.

“It’s the Best of Times or the Worst of Times”.

When American humorist Art Buchwald wrote these famous words he could have just witnessed Harry’s FC latest tribulations in the WestTel Indoor Football League. Why? Well, the best of times because it took an equalising goal 2 minutes from time from Harry’s main man Stammo to keep Harry’s recent unbeaten run going, but equally it was the worst of times, as after the confidence boosting performances and results of the previous two weeks against the top two in the table, this draw against Crusaders must be looked upon as two points dropped.

Manager Mick was absent on a European scouting trip to cast his eye over unidentified players. Although press speculation linking the Caybrew Champions with a myriad of players is common these days, Mick was keeping his cards close to his chest and refused to identify the players he was traveling the Atlantic to watch, but the smart money was on a player in the Liverpool v Villa match a week tonight. This is a game Mechanic Mick is known to be attending. So stand in gaffer for the night was Al Glasgow.

Harry’s bench was bursting at the seams for this match, giving Al a selection headache. Harry’s welcomed back ‘Man City’ Dave from his paternity leave, and they also had available for the first time this season Chris ‘Delaney’ Fern who was making his way back from injury. With Stammo running late for the second week running, Al decided to go with the following starting six: Pistol in goal, Al and Rob mopping things up at the back with Nadge holding in front leaving Teko playing just behind Ben who was spearheading the Harry’s attack.

So to the match itself, and the least said about Harry’s performance in the opening 5 minutes the better, but to describe it as Kamikaze defending would be entirely descriptive. It must have been the worst spell of defending since Harry’s were beaten by the Italians 9-1 in a friendly almost a year ago. It was right out of the Keystone Cop book of football, as Harry’s shot themselves in the foot, not once, not twice, but thrice in the opening five minutes to gift the Crusaders an unimaginable 3-0 lead. Each goal was entirely avoidable, but on three occasions in quick succession Harry’s defenders allowed a Crusader striker through one on one with only Pistol Pete standing in their way. Unfortunately, Pistol could not repeat his heroics of pervious weeks and three times he had to metaphorically pick the ball out of the net (metaphorically as there are no nets at Kings, just wooden backboards!).

After such a start many teams would have just folded, but not Harry’s. There is definitely a new mental toughness about the team this season, and probably last season would not have recovered from such a catastrophic set back. But come back they did.

Harry’s plight was aided by a Crusader player being sent off for 2 minutes for a structure violation, and they took full advantage by replying twice while their opponents were a man down. First up was Teko who was set up by his bessy-mate and countryman Stammo, who by now had appeared and was contributing to the cause. This was quickly followed by Mr. Craig Webster’s first goal of the season. Webster, while trying to emulate his school boy chum and footballing idol and hero Danny Cadamateri, who earlier in the day on his Dundee United debut scored two goals against the mighty Heart of Midlothian, found the back of the net to notch Harry’s second on the night. When interviewed in the press room after the game, Webster was playing down his strike and was as modest as a certain ‘Lazza’ Lawrence when describing his goal. “It was a beautiful finish executed in elegant style with enough composure to settle Middle Eastern disputes” chirped Webbo.

Harry’s had certainly made the most of the extra man advantage to pull two goals back, but then settled down in search of the equaliser.

One great chance fell the way of the fore mentioned ‘Lazza’, who was presented with a great opportunity to level the scores after meandering forward from his defensive chores and unexpectedly found himself right in front of goal with the ball at his feet. With all the bench yelling at him, including I think the Ref, to pull the trigger and go for goal, Lazza’s mind must have flashed to his recent goal scoring record – namely one goal in three seasons – and he elected instead to lay the ball off to Ben who was in a much poorer goal scoring position, and with that the chance was lost.

But the equalizer did come, and it was right on the stroke of half time. When Stammo picked the ball up and drove forward it seemed there was nowhere left for him to go as he was confronted with a posse of defenders on the edge of the Crusader’s box. But he managed to twist and weave, and generally turn the defenders inside out and create himself a yard of space from which he managed to squeeze a low shot past the keeper to level the scores. A contender for goal of the season, of that there is no doubt.

3-3 and Al’s half time team talk concentrated on telling the lads to forget the first half and more specifically the devastating first five minutes, and consider the match as about to kick off with the score still at 0-0.

The first notable incident of the second half involved ‘Man City’ Dave who demonstrated that becoming a parent and father for the first time had not mellowed any aspect of his personality what-so-ever, as he got involved in a verbal spat with one of the referees. The biggest surprise of all was that it wasn’t his usual referring nemesis, ‘American Joe’, but ‘Gav the Ref’. ‘Man City’ Dave, never a man to back down to a referee, and who still maintains he has never ever been sent off in his life, continued to remonstrate with the ref long after he had awarded a free kick to Crusaders and as a result was shown the yellow card for his troubles.

Although Harry’s managed to see out the two minutes with only five men without losing a goal it was not much longer before ‘Caybrew’ Pete was exercising his back muscles once again as he picked the ball out of his imaginary net for a forth time on the night. Again it was a goal that could have been avoided, and having gifted Crusaders all of their 4 goals on the night, it is astonishing that Harry’s could go from performing so solidly defensively on the last two games to what they demonstrated defensively tonight. One extreme to another in such a short space of time - quite remarkable indeed.

By now the clock was once again tick-tick-ticking down leaving Harry’s looking straight down the barrel of defeat. With only 2 minutes of play left, and Harry’s going for broke, the Crusaders keeper made a hash of a clearance and with the goal unguarded Teko quickly moved the ball onto Stammo who side footed the equaliser into the bottom corner. Queue jubilation.

Another last minute equaliser for Harry’s and back from the death once again. Déjà vu, is that the term?

Having put in such a poor performance it is a clear sign of Harry’s mettle that they kept their unbeaten run together. The pundits, those in the so-called-know, say this is a sign of a championship winning side; maybe a hyperbole in Harry’s case, but nevertheless it is still a welcome point under the circumstances. This most recent 4-4 result now means that it is four draws in succession for the boys from Harry’s.

A Man of the match performance could easily be overlooked this week due to the nature of the score line, but it would be harsh and unfair not to recognise the vital two goal contribution from Stammo. His first goal especially was an outstanding piece of skill from the young striker, and he is quickly becoming the most famous Jamaican on the Island - anyone heard of Usain Bolt (fastest man on the planet)? – who!

Reporter - Al Glasgow