Our Memorial Day encounter with Wayland took place on the best-groomed field we've played on this season. In a mirror image of our first game against them, we went through extended periods where we lost all shape and were under continuous pressure. Thanks to Mike Orscheln's solid handling, though, Wayland never had a chance of capitalising on their early lead.
The standard of the refereeing was once again questionable. Some of the Wayland tackles, while probably not malicious, were definitely late, and the ref wasn't providing much protection. That said, it also worked to our advantage: when Peter was robbed in midfield and fell to the ground with a yell, we were awarded a free kick. As a sporting gesture Peter played the kick directly to the Wayland 'keeper.
During the opening minutes the energetic Wayland side found their rhythm much more quickly than we did and had us pinned in our own half for long spells. They took the lead after only 10 minutes when a corner from the right bounced around our area before looping into the far corner.
We started to wake up after kicking off again and had a whole series of good chances before equalising. Steve Shea and Karsten both hit good shots from the edge of the area that went inches over the bar. Peter was played in behind the defence on the right, but he lifted his shot a touch high as the 'keeper advanced and the ball rebounded off the crossbar. Our equaliser came when Andy's free kick from the left was handled by one of the defenders in the wall; Andy hit the spot-kick low to the goalie's right to level the scores.
We were gifted another penalty just before half-time as Christer (I think), with his back to goal and the ball moving out of the area, was tackled from behind. Andy's strike was a carbon-copy of the first penalty kick, but this time the 'keeper got down well to parry.
The second half started with the game finely balanced - although we'd created many chances, the scores were level and Wayland were always dangerous with their long ball tactics. But we took the lead when Kelvin hit a free-kick from the left that caused panic in the Wayland defence, and the ball was only cleared to the edge of the area. Tom hit the ball back into the mixer and Peter poked the ball home from close range.
Like us, Wayland were energised by falling behind, and there was a worrying spell of 10 or 15 minutes where we were put under intense pressure. It was the sure handling of Mike Orscheln that kept us ahead - he held everything that Wayland hit at him.
Bardot relieved the pressure by scoring an excellent solo goal. He surged down the left side, swatting away the attention of three defenders before shooting low past the keeper. Shortly afterwards Bardot made a similar run down right and clipped the ball back for Karsten, who was unmarked in the centre of the box. With the goal gaping, he hit his shot at the 'keeper, who gratefully stuck out a hand and pushed the ball over. Karsten compensated by scoring the fourth goal: he ran onto an exquisite cross-field pass played from the left by Victor and easily found the net from 15 yards.
This was not our best performance of the season, by any stretch of the imagination. But it allowed us to show what good teams do - win, even when playing badly.
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