MATCH REPORT: UWMCCFC 1-0 419 FC
An unreal performance from all involved saw UWMCCFC claim victory against eventual league winners 419 on the final day of the regular season.
The day started in a bit of a panic, as I got out of the shower at 12:40 to a missed call and a message from the league coordinator. The message read; “Is everything okay? Kick off was supposed to be 12:15”. Turns out that our fixture had been moved earlier due to a forfeit in the first game of 419’s double header, and this meant that the opposition had been at the pitch for over an hour by the time we turned up. Looks like we won the mental battle early on.
When we finally did get to the pitch, we found out that 419 played in dark navy. Me being the shcaptain that I am, I had told our team to turn up in black, resulting in a kit clash. I sent Ben Ralli into the reception building to get some bibs, but he came out empty handed. I explained the situation to their captain, and he responded by saying that it’s fine, and we “should be able to differentiate”. I wasn’t gonna be the one to say it.
Finally, 10 minutes before our original kick off time, and an hour and 15 minutes after our actual scheduled kick off time, we were lined up ready to start. Joshua Bennett decided to turn up late, so James Patient slotted into the back 3, with resident ringer Cam McGee convenient lee being on hand to play on the right.
We started the game very much on the front foot, with some unreal football early on. Debut-ringer Sam Elliot did well to hold the ball up and played it back into the feet of Eric Rowley. Eric played a ball over the top to Henry Wilson, who headed the ball back down into the path of Sam who sent a shot spiralling towards the corner of the goal but their keeper did well to tip the ball round the post for a corner.(Anything past this point is being written 5/6 weeks after the game so may not be perfect lee accurate)
419 did well to clear the corner, but only as far as James Patient, who played a ball over the top to Henry Wilson, who headed it down into the path of Sam Elliot who took a first time shot and was unlucky not to score.We continued on the front foot as Sam continued his good performance with some nice work down the right hand side before playing the ball inside to Cooper Smith, who’s shot went just wide of the post.
A rare 419 attack saw their striker bearing down on our goal, before a last ditch effort from Ollie Terrell brought him down and gave them a free kick on the edge of the box. 419’s cameraman took this opportunity to get up close and personal by running onto the pitch to get a great view of the free kick sailing straight into our wall. Ben Ralli, take notes.
Not too long after this 419 committed a foul just inside their own half, and Sam Elliot seemed very keen to take it. I began videoing hoping he would find one of the multitude of heads inside the box, and that we could stick it past the keeper. Sam instead opted for the shot, and with an unreal effort almost scored what would have been one of the best goals I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, he missed, so that doesn’t matter.
In an attempt to see out the half, we began messing around with the ball at the back, and after playing it back to Harry, he cleared it straight into the chest of 419s oncoming striker, and the ball almost ricocheted into our net.With the score somehow still level, we headed into half time. A couple of subs were made, with the biggest of these being Josh Bennett coming on to referee the game, a decision which would later prove to be crucial.Early on in the half 419 were on the front foot with their forward doing well to skip past Sam Hawes, but Eric Rowley did well to clear up the scraps and Terrell headed the ball clear. Ollie was clearly fed up with our failure to score, and attempted a pong shot from inside our own half, which to be fair to him, only narrowly missed the goal.
419 continued their advances, with a long ball being played over the top. Gaurav Sharma was chasing it down, but Harry Rogersscreamed “HARRY’S” and came to get it. Gaurav clearly didn’t understand what this meant, as he tried to pass the ball back to Harry, almost slotting it past him. Luckily, Harry did well to control it and send it out for a throw in.A short while after this, we yet again got a free kick just inside 419’s half, and with Ben Ralli standing over this, I was much more confident of a cross than a shot. Ben played a lovely ball in, and despite Sam Barlow’s missed header, Eric Rowley ran around the back of the 419 defence, and flicked the ball past the keeper to make the score 1-0.The rest of the game was spent trying to hang on to the lead and contain 419s barrage of attacks, Ollie Hotchin decided to do this by taking out a 419 player in our box, but luckily, we had el presidente as referee and he decided to point to the penalty spot while saying “no penalty”.To say that 419 were fuming would be an understatement. There were remarks from the sideline, consisting of, but not limited to: “ref, you’re a joke” and “ref you’ve bottled it”.The whistle was blown after this, and Josh was surrounded by 419 players complaining, I think he was shitting himself a little bit, but he held his nerve and continued to attempt to justify his decision, leading the 419 players to eventually leave him alone.
This was a massive result that kept us with a slither of hope of qualifying for the playoffs, but results didn’t go our way in other games, leaving us finishing 6th in the league, a complete injustice to the season we have had.
I’d like to thank everyone who was involved this season for making it what it was, from the players, to the ‘fans’, to the Instagram coverage, it was a great laugh and was a good way to keep us occupied until the cricket season arrived, and it couldn’t have happened without you guys.
See you in CR2, Tom x
(Craving a cider black, Can’t wait for adoptions!, have written 14452 words worth of match reports this year)