BLOODY BIG PITCH

The fifth team this week made the long away trip to New Eltham to face a Sedcopians side that are always strong at home. In the last two years, the fifths had given away a lead at half time to succumb both times to a 2-1 defeat. This time (thank god) turned out to be different.

Immediate dick of the day contenders made themselves known well before kick off… Jonny oversleeping with a hangover and Joe making the strange decision of driving from Putney meant both were late. Those that had arrived quickly observed that the pitch was brilliant but was absolutely ginormous. The passing football we initially dreamed of didn’t match up to our fitness levels. It quickly became apparent that we’d have to do twice as much running as usual…. brilliant.

As we have done all season, the Boro started well. All momentum was with us in the first half. Sedcopians did get the best opening chance which should have gone in but for a brilliant fingertip from Chizzle which guided it onto the post. Tex managed to boot the ball clear from a yard out without putting into our own net (always appreciated). This chance came against the run of play, and fortunately, this woke up our attack. Seamus, Luke and Tim all combining for a great goal to put us in the lead.

Seds then tried the traditional long ball tactics which began to work because of the size of the pitch. They managed to get behind us and somehow how the ball just went wide of the post. The referee of course deciding the blatant foul in the build-up wasn’t worth blowing his whistle. Half time 1-0 up (been here twice before).

The second half saw the Boro sit more defensively to negate the long ball. This worked and despite being under pressure for almost the entire half, Seds were limited to long-range effort throughout. The ref was at it again and might as well have been wearing a Seds shirt it seemed as all fouls went for Seds, but none of those rules applied to them. Tiredness set in and the last 5 minutes saw us finally venture into the oppositions half. After a few optimistic long-range efforts, finally one scuffed effort span into the top right corner, leaving their keeper stranded. It did initially look like it was going high wide and handsome.

It was a bloody relief as the ref’s questionable time management had left us on edge. We were told there were 3 minutes to go…. at least Five minutes passed and when asked how long was left… there was apparently still 3 minutes to go. Weird game but we came out with the desired 3 points. UTB