Summer Season

Hurricane 1 - 0 MPS

We kicked off our summer season with a long trip to our first game against Hurricane at Wenham. The pitch looked like it had been installed that afternoon, shiny new turf with a set of lines for every conceivable field sport. After dominating the first half and hardly letting Hurricane over the half-way line, we faded badly and conceded a soft goal to experience the strange taste of defeat.

Starting in a now unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation, Mike A and Mick were solid at the back; Paul and Eric started in the centre of midfield and held the ball well. We had a number of good attacks stemming from moves down the wings, but had difficulty converting our pressure into shots on goal. Mid-way through the half Mick had a good shot from 25 yards but the 'keeper was right behind the ball and held it well. After a penalty area scuffle towards the end of the half the ball broke free to Ivan about fifteen yards out. His shot was blocked and Steve Shea hit the rebound but just over the bar from eighteen yards.

The second half was a very different game: Hurricane were much more aggressive, not giving us any time on the ball and forcing errors. We were having difficulty stringing passes together, and when we found some space it was very quickly closed down by the Hurricane midfield and defence. Mid-way through the half Steve was dispossessed 30 yards out from our goal and there was nobody behind him to block the attacker from running through and slotting the ball past Samuel.

In the last fifteen minutes we came back into the game as Hurricane tried to put a lid on it. Karsten made some space on the left side of the box and threaded the ball square to Ivan, whose shot, while directed exactly at the far corner, was hit so weakly that the 'keeper had time to lie down and wait for it to arrive.

With a different referee we might have had two penalties during this final period. Paul ran onto a through ball played into the left side of the box. The 'keeper rushed off his line and seemed to make no attempt to play the ball as he piled into Paul, leaving him sprawled on the deck. Late on Karsten rounded a defender in almost the same spot and was hacked down from behind, falling at least three yards inside the area. In a novel redefinition of the rules, the referee awarded a free kick, the offence adjudged to have started outside the box. Mick hit the kick over the wall, but it was an easy stop for the Hurricane 'keeper. The final whistle was blown, leaving us with some work to do to get the summer season on track.

Squad: Samuel, Mick, Mike, Kelvin, Tim, Ron, Pap, Victor, Ivan, Tom, Eric, Paul, Steve, Christer, Karsten