After the mid winter break, it was a delight to see that all players had managed to stay out of shape on their return to action for the cup game with Nottingham Law School, a game that should have been played just prior to eating turkeys and generally getting drunk (although the latter could be applied to every weekend with this lot!).
We arrived at the Manor to be met by the visitors who quite frankly started speaking in posh accents as they asked for directions to Pitch7 and also how to get into their changing rooms, as they were from Nottingham I’m sure breaking and entering had already crossed their mind.
Manq decided to go all Carlton Palmer on us and adopted a boring 4-5-1 formation, with the line up as follows:
Lormor, Geary, Mellors, Quiche, Ashley, Danny, Jay, Gav, Clarkson, Scott, Gallagher.
Subs were : Bread, Leigh, Daz, new signing Gav Short and making a surprise appearance on the bench was Pirate.
The game started at a frantic pace, but it was the away side that had all the advantage in the opening 20 minutes, and indeed at this stage it looked like a rout was on the cards, although my first notes of action didn’t take place until the 12th minute as a shot across the box caused confusion in the home defence, but came to nothing, however just 3 minutes later, a similar situation led to the opening goal, as again an attack down the right side saw a ball head to the edge of the six yard area, and although facing away from goal, the striker managed to turn round and his cross come shot ended up in the bottom corner of the net, scurrying along the ground.
Jay supplied only light relief just after as he tried to get the shot count going, but his effort gave the visiting keeper his first working out of the morning.
Whilst all this was happening, our attention was drawn to the other pitch as the game was being abandoned by the referee, as someone had said a naughty word to him.
On our pitch, Geary was having none of the visiting striker take the ball past him, and promptly chopped him up inside the penalty area, leaving the referee little doubt but to point to the spot (he was lucky to see it though all the mud), Geary also got told he was a naughty boy by the referee for bringing him down (not the referee, but the player!). Lormor saved the resulting penalty however, but unfortunately the player who missed, was the only one following up to hit home to make it 2-0.
Quiche did an excellent foul just after the second goal, and got a spanking from the referee, Scott who must have said something out of turn was also spoken to.
Luckily the turkey was starting to wear off for the home side, as they began to lift their game, the tackles started flying in, and put simply the side from the shittiest city in the world couldn’t take it. Danny had a good chance over, whilst a free kick just after the half hour mark from Jay tested the keeper.
On 36 minutes, the home side managed to get back in the game, Danny, wanting to repeat what the opposition striker had done minutes earlier at the other end (i.e. dived), won a free kick on the edge of the area. He managed to shake the fake injury off just in time to step up and bang the free kick in to make tit 2-1 to the visitors.
The bridge, now scenting blood, upped their game up another gear, Geary got in a decent cross that Gallagher headed just over, whilst at the other end, Scott denied the on running midfielder a chance at goal by cleverly blocking his path to goal as the ball was crossed over.
Gallagher carved out a chance for himself as the half came to a close, but his effort was straight at the keeper.
The Dave Kitson look-alike for the visitors forced Lormor into a sharp save for the last action of the first half
Half Time 1-2
Two early substitutions were the only highlight of the early exchanges of the 2nd half, Gav Short made his Bridge debut by coming on for Clarkson, and Daz came on for Scott who was struggling with a very heavy hangover.
The chances were very few for both sides, in what was now a very evenly contest. In fact the first real chance of the second half actually resulted in the visitors making the game safe. Sheba, as he was called by his team mates got on the end of a very well worked moved down the right hand side, lifting the ball into the right corner of the net following a decent cross.
Ganna decided to get in on the action mid way through the half, as he flagged for Dave Kitson to be offside, at first the referee ignored him as Dave hit home, but then he changed his mind and gave the free kick, before telling Ganna off and to stick his flag higher up in future.
Our very own mad Mellors fouled the right winger late on and promptly got booked, if not for the foul, but for kicking the ball at his head as he laid motionless on the ground. Geary made way for Bread on 78 minutes, to which point of the second half, the Bridge were yet to test the visiting keeper.
Quiche tried though on 80 minutes, his header going just wide following a corner. Desperate not to be outdone by Mellors though, he promptly got booked himself with an excellent late tackle, in truth it was an exact replica of one he did 10 minutes earlier, to which the referee somehow hadn’t seen!
Lormor tipped over well as the game started to peter (new signing?) out. Quiche though decided to have another swing at a striker, not connecting with the ball but did so with the player, and was promptly sent off.
As the prospect of going out of the cup hit home, Lormor saved down well from Kitson, resulting in a corner, to where the referee blew up for full time.
Not a bad performance at all from the Bridge, although they will be disappointed they didn’t create a single shot on target in the second half, particular after fighting back from 2-0 down, and playing well from the 20th minute up to half time. A good cup run it was though and the players should be congratulated for that.
Man of Match: Jay