This was a game against a tough, physical side who we're sure were playing at least one first teamer; on this of all days Emma needed to click. The first few minutes were encouraging, and Alan probably should have scored when Olly's shot was parried to him, the Catz keeper making an incredible save.
However after about 10 minutes of good play we gave away a soft penalty, Carl just clipping the striker on the very edge of the box, and we thought our efforts would have been wasted. Up stepped the striker ... and put it tamely past the left hand post. A let-off if ever there was one.
The runs of Olly and Alan over the back had been causing problems, and from one of these Olly gave Emma a lead on his comeback day, a beautifully executed chip over the keeper and into the net. 1-0 and the hard work was paying off. Now all that was needed was to keep it tight for a while and watch the Catz players get frustrated. Unfortunately there was an almost instant comeback, a quality corner allowed to drop and volleyed in from 3 yards, and at 1-1 it was a much more difficult proposition.
Half time was taken at 1 apiece, with one booking the lead Catz took into the break. The second half also started well, with some good play from Olly, Tom, Alan and Kav in particular, and Richard S (me!) almost managed to break through on goal from left back! But the ball just wasn't breaking for Emma, and the increasingly violent challenges from Catz were breaking the game up.
The last thing we needed was to concede, but a quick break down the Catz left, along with a hint of offside, suddenly found Adam trying to mark 3 players, one of whom put the ball past Hans. At 2-1 Emma had to commit players forward and try to hold a high line, and despite plenty of pressure, no chances were forthcoming, and with 10 minutes to go a good through ball dissected Adam and Richard; Catz' striker took a good touch and then steered the ball in, somewhat fortuitously - Richard's slight touch putting it past Hans.
With the Catz challenges destroying any semblance of passing football, 2 goals in 10 minutes didn't look likely (despite Kav's motivation). The last 10 minutes did produce a notable first for the II's, though - its first official disciplinary record, a yellow card handed out to Olly for a bust-up with a Catz defender, who was sent off for his part.
Emma still sit top apart from the un-promotable APU and Long Road, but this will go down as 3 points dropped, and with any points scored against APU a bonus the game against Corpus looks set to be an end-of-season clincher.
Team: Hans Sutton
Richard Smith, Adam Stevens, Mike Henson, Tim (Rich McBeath, 75)
Rob ?, Kavin Wadhar, Carl (Chris Jones, 20), Tom Richardson
Alan Elder, Olly Frith
Goals: Frith 20
League table:
Team |
PL |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
PTS |
APU II |
7 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
30 |
9 |
21 |
19 |
Long Road III |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
23 |
20 |
3 |
12 |
Emmanuel II |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
11 |
3 |
12 |
Corpus |
7 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
26 |
15 |
11 |
10 |
Jesus II |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
17 |
8 |
9 |
7 |
Caius II |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
6 |
2 |
7 |
St. Catz II |
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
15 |
-8 |
7 |
Trinity II |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
14 |
-7 |
4 |
Churchill II |
5 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
9 |
18 |
-9 |
3 |
*Queens II |
5 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
30 |
-25 |
-1 |