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Best football so far
By Lawrence Mentesh
With 6 games left to play Bonus Weeks were looking a bit
static on 15 points and they desperately needed some more
points today to stop their Season from running away from
them. Unfortunately, they were missing several players for a
difficult match against second in the League Cafeteria
Galera. Galera had beaten them in the first round after
Bonus Weeks had been reduced to just 8 men so hopefully the
game today would be more of a true reflection of the two
teams.
Missing today were Rich Billam, Mark Dooley, Ross Musk and
Lee Frape who were all away on holiday and Jeff Ball who was
taking a few weeks off to rest his hamstring. Also missing
were several fit players who didn’t turn up for a variety of
reasons, maybe the early 10am kick-off was one of them!
However, Bonus Weeks were able to welcome promising new
signing James Charles, and with only 13 players turning up
he was given a starting role on his debut.
With 3 of their normal defenders missing, Bonus Weeks
decided to play 3 at the back with Nathan Conteh sitting
behind the 2 strikers to make a 5 man midfield. This was
designed to give them more control and possession in the top
two thirds of the pitch, a tactic which was further enhanced
by the sending off of the Galera No.11 after only 10 minutes
for using foul and abusive language to the referee.
With an extra man advantage so early on it was looking
promising for Bonus Weeks but they were hit by a real
shocker not long after when a Galera player received the
ball just inside the Bonus Weeks half, and, after noticing
that the keeper was somewhat off his line, he chanced his
arm and sent a deep lob towards goal which did indeed catch
Carlos off-guard, the ball floating into the back of the net
as Carlos tried to scramble back.
Suckered by such a soft goal Bonus Weeks set about in search
of the equaliser but despite lots of possession and some
good passages of play they were again unable to convert any
of the chances that came their way in the first half, and
they reluctantly went into the break still trailing 1-0.
The second half brought more of the same by Bonus Weeks and
on the hour mark their persistence paid off when they won a
corner on the right. Alan Belshaw sent in a great ball which
was headed toward goal by Adam Wilson but although the
keeper managed to block it back out the ball then came to
Alan Spurgeon who made no mistake in dispatching it into the
back of the net to level the game at 1-1.
Boosted by the equaliser Bonus Weeks were confident of
scoring what might be the winner but unfortunately the
quality of their passing began to deteriorate and after they
gave the ball away cheaply in their own half the Galera
striker who was standing miles offside was allowed by the
referee to carry on with his run before deciding which way
to put the ball past the helpless keeper.
A very cruel goal to put Bonus Weeks 2-1 down and their luck
didn’t get any better soon after when a Bonus Weeks attack
led to a penalty claim when the Galera defender appeared to
handle the ball in the area. However, the referee gave
nothing and to add insult to injury Galera managed to clear
their lines and send the ball back up-field to one of their
strikers who showed a quick turn of pace to hold off the
last defender and sprint toward goal where he showed great
composure under pressure to slot the ball between the legs
of the keeper to make it 3-1 to Galera.
As the usual story seemed to be unfolding before them Bonus
Weeks began to run out of steam and despite a handful of
half chances which were either saved by the keeper or simply
spurned Bonus Weeks never really looked like getting back
into the game. Indeed, their misery could have been
compounded even further when they conceded a penalty 15
minutes from time but Carlos pulled off a fine save to his
left to spare their blushes and keep the final score at 3-1.
It was a real shame to have lost the game in such a way as
for 90% of the match Bonus Weeks were equal or superior to
their opponents but it is that sloppy 10% of the game when
they seem to implode and offer the opportunities to the
other team which they are invariably willing to accept.
On a positive note Bonus Weeks did play some of their best
football so far this Season, particularly in the first half,
but they still need to be more effective with their
possession and more clinical in their finishing as well as
defending consistently for the full 90 minutes. It sounds
like a lot to do but Bonus Weeks are not that far from
achieving this and perhaps next Season will be the real
catalyst for their success.
As for this Season it is now a case of taking as many points
as they can over the remaining 5 games and to remain at
least 3 places from the bottom of the table, a position they
should never really be in considering that no team so far
has actually managed to turn them over. They may not always
get the results but Bonus Weeks will always give the
opposition a really hard game and the result after 90
minutes is normally a lot tighter than the final score might
suggest.
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Trainer/
Coach