|
Make
it to the final
By Lawrence Mentesh
After a disappointing draw against Aluma last week Bonus
Weeks needed to take all 3 points against another of the
bottom 4 Teams this week in order to keep their promotion
hopes alive. Quinta Del 50 had a narrow 2-1 loss against
Hermanos Jerez last week and were looking like they have
improved their own football since the start of the Season.
The Match was played at the sandy car park known as Foyetes,
a really bumpy and hard surface to play on, certainly not
conducive to good football. As if to taunt the players even
more, the pristine grass pitch of Benidorm Stadium lay just
over the other side of the boundary wall, hopefully Bonus
Weeks will get to play on it one day, perhaps if they make
it to the final of the League Cup in June!
Despite having signed on several new players over the last
couple of weeks, Bonus Weeks found themselves down to only a
squad of 12 due to a combination of suspensions, work,
sickness and other varying reasons. However, the 12 that did
turn up were determined not to drop any more points and with
a slight re-shuffle of formation they took to the pitch to
put Quinta Del 50 in their place.
However, it soon became apparent that Quinta would be no
pushover, indeed they enjoyed much of the early possession
as their passing and movement off the ball was excellent but
Bonus Weeks were more than up to the task of stifling their
attacks. Once Bonus Weeks had ridden the early storm they
began to take control of the game, managing to adapt as best
they could to the horrible surface to put together some fine
moves of their own. It wasn’t long before Adam Wilson had
his first real sniff on goal, showing great technique to
turn and volley a fantastic shot which beat the keeper to
his right but not the post, the ball rebounding back out to
safety. Several more long range strikes followed from both
Mark Dooley and Ross Musk but none of them close enough to
trouble the goalkeeper.
Quinta also had some good efforts of their own but stout
defending and safe hands from Carlos Parkin in net made sure
that they didn’t find a way through. So, we had to wait
until the half hour mark before the deadlock was broken,
Mark Dooley feeding Adam Wilson on the far left and as Adam
made his way towards goal Alan Spurgeon found himself in
open space in the centre but his shouts for a pass were in
vain, Adam choosing instead to dance past a couple of
defenders himself before burying a great low shot past the
helpless keeper. It was a brilliant goal and beautifully
taken and it showed a glimpse of Adam at his best, if he
keeps that kind of finishing up then he will score over 20
goals this Season.
With the score at 1-0 it was looking good for Bonus Weeks
but half-time brought bad news for them as Nathan Conteh
couldn’t resume the second half due to a hamstring strain so
with Gaz Walling taking his place there were no more subs
left for the last 45 minutes. Jeff Ball was also struggling
with his hamstring so Bonus Weeks decided to push him up to
bolster midfield and play 3 at the back.
This seemed to work well until a high ball from Quinta was
brought down by their No.9 using more of his arm than his
chest but the referee allowed play to continue leaving him
to swerve past the last defender before firing off a low
hard shot to the centre of the Bonus Weeks goal. Normally
bread and butter for Carlos, he bent down to scoop the ball
up but unfortunately it managed to squirm its way through
his hands before rolling over the line.
A very fortuitous goal for Quinta which gave them some hope
but Bonus Weeks were not to be robbed again and although
they were physically flagging after playing with no subs
under a deceptively warm sun they continued to push for the
winner and after 75 minutes their persistence paid off when
Gaz Walling crossed the ball from the right across the face
of goal where it found Jeff Ball who was left with the
honour of applying the final touch to put Quinta 2-1 down.
It was great to see Jeff so high up the pitch and even
better to see him score his first goal of the Season!
Unfortunately for Gaz it was virtually his last contribution
as a couple of minutes later he received his second yellow
card for a clumsy challenge on the halfway line. Down to 10
men for the last 15 minutes Bonus Weeks really had to dig
deep to hold on, but with everybody giving 110% especially
Man of the Match Adam Wilson up front they did just that and
were delighted to take all 3 points.
It was a great Team performance and a well deserved win, now
all Bonus Weeks need to do is build on that over the next
few weeks to put themselves right back up there.
|
Trainer/
Coach