The direct debit I had just signed with the burger van at the Manor came in handy as I scoffed a bacon butty compete with runny egg, down me just in time to listen to Manq’s team talk. In it he talked about the recent cup defeat to Lurcher and said it was about time we beat them, I recorded the speech and below is a transcribe…..
“I want to talk about the recent cup defeat to Lurcher, and it is about time we beat them”
With that, the team were inspired, and ready for duty.
The Bridge started with a 4-4-2 formation, which went as follows.
Lormor, Mellors, Quiche, Ashley, Geary, Kirk, Danny Lee, Jay Edwards, Darren Lee, Manq, Gallagher.
Leigh, Scott and Bread kept the bench warm.
Gallagher got stuck straight into the action 1st off, he ran down the left hand side of the pitch, and cut well inside, but his shot saw the keeper get down low to keep it out. He kept himself in the thick of the action by charging a poor clearance which eventually found itself to Jay on the edge of the area, but his snap shot went wide.
A scramble in the visiting area nearly led to the opening goal, Kirk managed to get a shot in which was well saved, whilst the 1st visitors real threat came on 10 minutes, when some very sexy football saw Mellors and Quiche tag team up to clear the danger. In fairness the football was a bit dour for a time in the middle of the half, as the crowd took it turns to entertain each other with various circus acts, I still haven’t quite mastered my seal impersonation yet. James livened everyone up with a slam dunk type elbow on the visiting number 10, strange then that he fell and hurt his ankle, the referee gave him a strict telling off for being naughty, whilst the number 10 was forced to retire from football with Ashley’s elbow as a trophy for his achievements in the game. Shortly after, Jay provides a floated free kick into the area where Danny gets on the end with a headed flick only to see the ball trickle wide. Lormor’s long kicks, which have been copied worldwide by goal keepers, was being used to good effect, one of them found Gallagher in behind the defence, only for him to take it too far wide when rounding the keeper, and see his effort hit the side netting, the crowd thinking it was in, jumping up and down like lunatics, only to be disappointed.
Jay was in the thick of the action again as the half wore on, he passed across the box with Geary whispering for a quick pass, to which he duly received, only for his shot to just go over the bar. Ashley was determined to head the fouls stats for the day, when he jumped in with all 3 arms on the edge of the box, the wall did it’s job however to see of the danger. Scott came up with an excellent quote stating that these were typically two evenly matched teams, “that these were typically two evenly matched teams” he said. The Bridge defence stayed firm as the half drew to a close, blocked excellently two good efforts as the visitors pushed for the opener. The last action of the half saw a well placed Manq totally ignored by Gallagher who went through on his own, but saw his shot well saved.
Half Time : 0-0
As with most half time team talks, we seem to get a famous quote from someone, this was no different today, as Lormor came up with “You can’t win a game in the 1st half, and you don’t lose one either”, everyone else looked confused as well!
The 2nd half begun with the afore mentioned Lormor saving down well as Lurcher pressed early on, whilst at the other end Clarkson did well to create a chance that Danny got on the end of, although his left footed shot didn’t find the target. Lormor was in the thick of the action again, as he first saved with his legs in a mad scramble, then again he got down well from a dangerous looking cross. Following the rebound from Lormor’s 2nd save, Mellors looked to have given a penalty away, only for the referee to point for another corner to the visitors. From the resulting corner, a header looked goal bound, but Quiche managed to deflect wide. The pressure from the visitors was by now beginning to tell, and on 54 minutes they were to take the lead, a ball through the heart of the defence (even though there was a suspicion of handball) found the striker running on, and he stroked the ball home past lormor.
Bread replaced Manq soon after the opening goal.
The Bridge tried to strike back almost immediately, Gallagher homed in on a bad back pass, before taking it round the keeper but then hitting the post from an acute angle, however Danny was on hand (must have got stuck that far up the pitch from an earlier attack) was to poke home the rebound and send the home crowd wild with the equalizer, a good response from the home side.
This is where the referee took complete control of the game, having not featured much in the 1st half he decided to get in on the action, firstly booking Gallagher for lifting his right foot from the ground, then giving Quiche his weekly booking for fouling number 9, maybe because he’d just committed a foul in the penalty area, I don’t know, but I’ve seen the central defender do a lot worse tackles and get away with them, but give the ref his fair dues, he needed to be seen. Penalty it was, but Lormor was more than equal to the task of keeping it out, as he pulled off a superb save to his left hand side. Anther point of note about the penalty, was the fact Pirate was told off from waving his arms about behind the goal, a truly hilarious scene, at one point we thought he might even end up in the referees notebook.
The game was now finely balanced, Manq was also booked, even though he was on the sidelines, all he said was “shock” over a controversial decision.
With Manq banished to the Stands, the team were left to sail alone, with Lormor getting down to save a free kick, whilst the away side were also busy getting players booked. Tackles were now flying in, Kirk was getting well stuck in, and on one occasion, his tackling led to Gallagher being sent into the clear, again he took on the keeper, and as the defence came back, he cut inside a defender, before shooting against the post, however he did well to follow up and hit his rebound shot into the ground, luckily it bounced up and into the roof of the net for a 2-1 lead to the Bridge.
The number 9 for the visitors was booked soon after the goal for trying to be funny, fair play to the lad, he did laugh at his own joke, good job because no one else did!
Netty came up with another famous quote on the referee “Is he on commission”, whilst in the meantime, the number 9 told the ref to go forth and multiply, and was promptly sent off.
The bridge now scenting victory, with having to play against 10 men, poured forward, Daz played in Bread, who in turned passed it backwards to Gallagher, who stroked into the net, please note that use of the word backwards there, as the goal was somehow ruled out.
It wasn’t going to stop the Bridge though, and in fairness now there was only ever going to be one winner. Gallagher crossed for Danny who side stepped a defender to make it 3-1.
The visiting keeper was now all that stood between the Bridge and a real thumping, he superbly tipped over a Gallagher rising effort after Daz had fed the striker.
Kirk again won a superb tackle on the half way line, and with the visiting defence all over the place, Gallagher raced through to take round the keeper and finish the scoring for the day.
A superb all round display, to the battling qualities in the 1st half, to the footballing skills displayed in the 2nd period, and at last a victory over Lurcher.