We had a rather inauspicious start to our Division 2 season on the lush grass of Nahanton. Weston worked their socks off to keep us under pressure, and it worked well for the first half, but a couple of late goals saw all three points coming to Newton.
The first half of the game is best forgotten, a combination of poor passing, bickering and long balls to nowhere, culminating in a missed penalty. When we did manage to string a couple of decent passes together, such as Andy's lovely through-ball down the right channel to Bardot, we were frustrated by the offside trap. Towards the end of the half Bardot tumbled in the area, and the referee didn't hesitate to point to the spot. Andy stepped up and placed to shot low to the keeper's left - just: the 'keeper got down well and held the ball. The noisy Weston supporters went wild, all six of them.
As the frustration mounted, some heavy tackles went flying in, resulting in cards for Mick and Peter. What does a card cost in Division 2? Shall we collect now or run a tab until the end of the season?
The second half started on a more promising note as Bardot collected the ball in the centre, 40 yards out, and played a diagonal ball to Peter who was steaming down the right. Karsten dived to meet Peter's perfect far post cross but got under he ball and put it over the bar.
Weston had been restricted to a few long-range shots in the first half, easily collected by Mike in goal, and one far post header that he had anticipated well and was perfectly positioned to catch. They had a couple of clearer chances in the second, one when Mick lost his footing at the half way line and an attacker took advantage. Kirk held up the advance well allowing Mike Altchek sweep the ball away. Then a well-directed but relatively harmless shot from 20 yards almost changed the course of the game. Mike dived to his right but the ball hit the ground just in front of him and bounced high over his outstretched arm, only to hit the post and come back into play. Luckily, the Weston attack were also surprised by this and had nobody running in.
After complaining to the ref about some serious shoving, Karsten was finally awarded a free kick for the lightest of touches on the right side of the box. Ivan's low cross was cleared for a corner, and Joe delivered the ball high from the right. Mick met the cross perfectly about 10 yards out and drilled a header into the right corner. Now Weston had to push harder, inevitably leaving gaps at the back, and Tom capitalised by playing Karsten down the left. Although he had to ride a tackle as he got close to goal, he kept his calm and placed his shot past the 'keeper to seal the victory.
We looked a little rusty as a team tonight, particularly in the first half. The long grass and narrow field didn't really help our game either, but we did well to pull a victory out of this one.
Squad: Mike O, John, Kirk, Mike A, Kelvin, Mick, Tom, Steve G, Andy, Peter, Joe, Steve S, Ivan, Christer, Bardot, Samuel, Karsten
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