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Men's 2nd XI Vs Penguins Men's 1st XI
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| Season: Season 2009-2010 Date: 13.02.2010 Time: 13:10 Team: Mens 2nd XI Competition: League Location: Away Opponent: Penguins Men's 1st XI Our Score: 4 Opponent Score: 0 Result: Won |
Jack Symons - 0 Goal(s) Luke Helmer - 0 Goal(s) Adam Stephens - 0 Goal(s) Bryan Lock - 1 Goal(s) Chris Wheeldon - 0 Goal(s) Tim Barter - 0 Goal(s) Mark Minchell - 1 Goal(s) John Massie - 0 Goal(s) James Cook - 0 Goal(s) Cirdec Atkinson - 0 Goal(s) Ahmed Ramiz - 2 Goal(s) David Edmondson - 0 Goal(s) Chris Lowin - 0 Goal(s) |
Match Report(s)
Worthing 2nd XI 4 v 0 Penguins 1st XI
Scorers: Ramiz 2, B.Lock, M.Minchell
A return to the bouncy castle was always going to be one of the toughest tests for the undefeated 2’s, playing a very resilient Penguins side on their home patch. The Worthing defence was given a thorough examination in the first 35 mins, with Tim Barter excellent in his patrol of the dangerous Penguins skipper. Adam Stephens was calm and assured alongside him, and Jack Symons improves with every game at left back – not much gets past him. The fact we didn’t concede any short corners in that first period, despite playing mostly in our own half, shows how we coped at keeping Penguins at arms length.
There was one major scare, when Chris Wheeldon was forced into a trademark diving stop, however we reached half time with clean sheet in tact. Offensively we had struggled to get going, finding it difficult to get past a well drilled Penguin defence. We did manage a couple of short corners and a couple of other chances where the ball didn’t quite fall for us, so despite being on the back foot for most of the half, could easily have taken a lead into the interval.
We started the 2nd half a lot brighter and looked far more threatening in attack. Still, the goals wouldn’t come and all that while Penguins looked capable of snatching something. With just under 20 mins remaining Luke Helmer and Mark Minchell were summoned back onto the field from their bench stint. These 2 were to have a major impact on the game, but not before we lost Tim Barter, bravely charging down a Penguins short corner, he caught a vicious rising shot right on the head. Luckily Tim’s head proved an even tougher nut to crack than the Penguin defence! Despite protesting that he was fine to continue, he was sent to the sideline and McLovin was re-assigned into a midfield holding role, with the versatile Johnnie Massie dropping into the back 4.
The incident seemed to galvanise the side and rather than panic that we’d lost arguably our best player to that point, we seized the initiative. Luke Helmer was enjoying some space down the right, and it was from his precise centre that Ramiz deflected home high into the top corner – a fantastic goal to break the deadlock. In quick fashion, Helmer was at it again, this time laying on for the irrepressible Lock to score his 30th league goal and keep his run going of scoring in every game that he’s played for the 2’s this season!
At 2-0 the game was still alive and there was no chance of us easing off. The desire and commitment of young veteran, Mark Minchell, simply would not allow it. He took the game by the scruff of the neck and simply bulldozed his way through the heart of the Penguin defence and keeper to slam home for number 3. This only served to fire up ‘Minch’ even further. At 3-0 we conceded a penalty stroke, as Cooky was harshly adjudged to have caught the Penguin attacker on the wobble in our D. Cooky protested his innocence, whilst the skipper looked away sheepishly, thinking it may actually of been him that made the most minimal of contact. Justice was done when the stroke was placed wide.
Penguin came again, desperately trying to get something to cling to with only 5 to go. Minchell was now fully pumped, as he dived full stretch down in the corner to execute a superb tackle just outside our D. Jumping to his feet like a man half his age, he sent a missile down field 60 metres to the stick of Lock. A couple of touches to control and turn, then Lock released Ramiz on the overlap in the inside right channel. Into the D, the former Bangladeshi international drew the keeper, went around him, then from a tight angle slammed home number 4.
It capped a fine final quarter of the match, and kept us in top spot 2 points ahead of Saxons. However the defensive foundations for this victory in the first half cannot be under estimated. As has been the case for most of the season, a great team performance, sprinkled with some individual quality at key moments.
Team: Chris Wheeldon, David Edmondson, Adam Stephens, Tim Barter, Jack Symons, Luke Helmer, John Massie jnr, Mark Minchell, James Cook, Ahmed Ramiz, Bryan Lock, Cirdec Atkinson, Chris Lowin.
