TIGHT GAME ENDS IN A STALEMATE

It was back to league action for the 3s this week, a mildly moist and a touch chilly October day greeted them as they emerged on to the pitch. The mission, to right the wrongs of the previous week's result. Facing a Shene squad who had beaten teams the Borough had previously lost to, Borough were looking forward to a hard-fought game. Some were also hoping for a referee that didn’t enjoy penalties quite so much, we were to be semi-disappointed.

Captain Crow roused the players in the pre-match pep talk, and the team set about delivering its usual style of slick passing play and movement. Early exchanges between the two teams involved both coming up against brick walls in defence, with Andrews and Eoin for Borough serving up some crunching tackles to deny the Shene forwards and assert our authority on the game. Both teams were seemingly not ready to concede an early goal and we were busy setting out our stall to try and achieve the holy grail of a clean sheet, so far elusive this season.

Set pieces seemed to be the order of the day for our opponents, pinging in corners and the odd free-kick, one of which ended up in a scramble to clear near the goal line. Eventually, the ref decided that the wild swinging of legs from our opponents in an attempt to get the ball in the net resembled some kind of crazed Russian Cossack dance than football, and duly awarded a free-kick. Shortly after, Borough once again proved its defensive capabilities, clearing the ball off the line twice from a set-piece, the ref uninterested by Shene protests that it crossed the line, ruled no goal, another good call from the ref.

Shortly after, the mighty Borough flexed its muscles and after some clever play in the midfield, Harold found himself stepping up in the box, the defence finally breached, and delivered a cool finish leaving the keeper flailing. 1-0. The rest of the half played out with few opportunities for both teams and neither defences were to be moved, neither was the weather either apparently, deciding to offer a soaking to both teams.

Spirits were not to be dampened however, and we emerged for the second half hopeful of defending our slender lead. Both teams pushed on, Borough knowing well that another goal might be needed to put the game to bed. The defensive walls both teams had built up continued to be stronger than the Berlin equivalent in its day, and whatever was slung at them was brushed off until the nemesis of recent times, emerged. The opposition player, running at the defence, was suddenly downed and the ref pointed to the spot. The Shene player stepped up, the keeper hoping that the taker might offer up a slice of England style penalty prowess and bottle it, was disappointed when it nestled in the bottom corner. 1-1.

Slim chances relented, Borough knocking on the door with a Bench free-kick narrowly missing, Masa dancing past Shene players like a ballerina on speed, and the captain continuing to try to work an angle at goal to an avail. Everyone put in a shift. It all ended 1-1 though, our style deserving more, but all things considered, a fair result against what was a strong Shene team.

The players returning to the clubhouse for a beverage celebrated their excellent team display where even the Captain finally managed a shot! On to the next… though possibly minus Masa who legend has it, is still asleep in the back of an Uber somewhere.