Not fluent and instinctive
By Lawrence Mentesh
A 6pm Saturday kick-off saw Toldos Baixa returning to the
Albir arena for their second instalment against Bonus Weeks.
Bonus Weeks had won the first encounter 2-1, but they were
helped by the sending off of 2 Toldos players. As it stood
before the game, Toldos were one position above Bonus Weeks
in the Table but were clear by a good 7 points so Bonus
Weeks were looking to close that gap to just 4.
Missing for Bonus Weeks were Rich Billam and Ross Musk who
were both back in England, Mark Dooley and Alan Belshaw who
were both working and Jeff Ball who was giving his hamstring
1 more week of rest.
With the emphasis on attack and goals, Bonus Weeks continued
with a 3 man defence and 5 in midfield, with Adam Wilson and
James Charles continuing up front. This tactic was well
employed in the first half with Bonus Weeks playing some
good football and dominating possession, keeping the ball
high up the pitch and forcing Toldos to defend deep.
Though still not fluent and instinctive, the passing and
movement of the Bonus Weeks players was starting to show
some improvement and this was rewarded after only 15 minutes
when Nathan Conteh put through Adam Wilson who used both his
pace and skill to evade the last defender on the right
before rolling the ball past the front of the keeper and
into his far left corner. It was another great finish from
Adam and it looked like only the start of a goal fest for
Bonus Weeks against a Toldos team that looked like they had
very little in reply.
However, the Bonus Weeks party went a little flat only 10
minutes later when midfield lynch pin Alan Spurgeon had to
be substituted when he somehow managed to pull a muscle in
his abdomen after an innocuous turn on the ball. Luckily for
Bonus Weeks they had turned up with a good bench this week
so Cameron Parker was sent on to replace Alan.
Bonus Weeks resumed their onslaught of Toldos and they came
so close to doubling their lead when Adam Wilson dummied a
pass by Pete Frank to leave the defender for dead and in a
similar run to his first goal he slid the ball past the
front of the keeper towards the left post but this time the
ball rolled agonizingly just wide.
A real let-off for Toldos who also had to contend with
strikes from both Gaz Walling and Dave Mold but fortunately
for them both efforts were snuffed out. Toldos themselves
did manage to get forward on a couple of occasions, their
best chance being a great strike across the face of the goal
which brought a fine diving save from Carlos Parkin.
Then, with just 5 minutes to go before half-time, there was
a real turning point in the match and this time it had
nothing to do with the referee, who to be fair, had a pretty
decent game. It came, instead, from a bizarre series of
events which saw, in the space of just a few minutes, 3 more
of the Bonus Weeks players having to be replaced due to
injuries. The first to go was James Charles who badly
twisted his ankle in a challenge, he was followed by Nathan
Conteh who pulled his groin whilst turning with the ball and
finally Adam Wilson who fell awkwardly on his right arm. It
was a triple whammy of big players but Bonus Weeks still had
plenty on the bench with Chris Griffin, Lee Slevin and Ryan
Moorhead coming on to help Bonus Weeks maintain their 1-0
lead to the half-time whistle.
At the start of the second half Adam Wilson came back on but
it was clear that he was still struggling with his arm and
he only lasted 10 minutes before being replaced for the
second time by Lee Slevin. Bonus Weeks continued to push for
the all important second goal to kill the game off but they
did not seem quite as effective as they were in the first
half despite some good work and crosses from John O’Leary on
the right wing.
Doing a great job at the back were the solid trio of Adam
Tauber, Lee Frape and Gaz Walling but eventually their clean
sheet was punctured when a hopeful ball into the far post
was missed by the attempted punch of the keeper and the ball
ended up bouncing off the head of the Toldos striker who
probably didn’t know too much about it except that the ball
managed to end up in the back of the net to make it 1-1.
A soft goal to concede but Bonus Weeks still had a good half
an hour to make amends but despite some good possession they
couldn’t do too much with it and it was left up to Toldos to
claim the next goal, their striker finding a little too much
time and space just inside the area where he was able to let
fly with a low shot that squeezed under the keeper’s body as
he tried to get down to save it.
Another goal against the run of play but it really seemed to
inspire Toldos and they began to get more of a grip on the
game as Bonus Weeks struggled to maintain their shape and
purpose. Soon after Toldos virtually put the game to bed
when another speculative shot from outside the area caught
the keeper a little flat footed and he could do nothing but
watch as the ball found its way into the far left corner of
his goal.
Now 3-1 down and with less than 10 minutes to go Bonus Weeks
were faced with a real mountain to climb but they did give
themselves hope when good persistence in the area by Ryan
Moorhead led to a pass to Lee Slevin who swivelled well on
his feet to hook the ball over the keeper’s head.
Unfortunately it was too little too late and even a great
strike by Chris Griffin which he pulled just wide was not
enough to salvage any points for a deflated Bonus Weeks who
deserved at least a draw from the game. However, there were
still many positives to take from the game, not least for
the much berated Adam Tauber who not only managed to stay on
the pitch for the full 90 minutes without even a yellow card
but who also put in a man of the match performance.
So, more points dropped in the cruellest of ways and it
leaves Bonus Weeks now well adrift of the top 8 and looking
over their shoulder at the bottom 3 who they have still to
play for a second time. However, with 5 games still to play,
I can see Bonus Weeks picking up many more points before the
Season finally ends and it is highly unlikely that they will
drop into the bottom 3.
Trainer/
Coach