5s OVERCOME HANGOVER AND LURGY

The fifth team took the long trip to Woking this week which on paper saw two very evenly matched teams who both aim to end at the top of the table come the end of the season. During the week, the squad wasn’t looking healthy at all, Coops was (and still is) coughing like a seal and Tex had been off all week with flu. Add to that, Duncan and Seamus’ wild Friday night which led to one of them dropping out and the other arriving 5 mins before kick off (which led to three other players waiting for him at Woking Train Station).

So with 5 mins to go, the eight players we had were all warmed up just as the vital re-enforcements arrived. Weirdly the Boro were at their strongest during the first 20 mins which led to us taking the lead as their keeper messed up a back pass clearance. Chenge almost dwelled on the ball for too long in front of an open goal as he got chopped by a desperate centre-back, but fortunately the ball rolled over the line.

Cue the referee whose whistle only appeared to work in Woking’s favour in the first half, a goal kick was given as a corner much to everyone’s amazement and yep you guessed it… Woking managed to equalise with a scrappy goal from the resulting corner. 1-1.

Wandsworth Borough had a few chances to take the lead but were stricken by a lack of composure and an awful pitch which led to people falling over as they were about to strike or unable to pass due to the ball bobbling about everywhere. Grassroots football at its finest.

Joe, Tex and Dan did very well at the back and kept us in the game as Woking pressed for the winner. Fortunately for us they missed some glorious chances and some epic challenges from the back three kept the score equal. Tex made a goal-saving tackle inside the 6-yard box, Joe made an incredibly well-timed crunching tackle to stop a counter-attack and Dan never gave up despite playing with a calf injury.

In truth, the game deserved a draw. We had the better of the first half and Woking dominated the 2nd half. Hopefully the fiascos that took place won’t happen again but the 5s showed great spirit to come away with a draw.