Post by oggy on Feb 19, 2012 19:46:06 GMT
Vets today welcomed Grafton to poplar road a team in which we have a very good record against over the years but recently have improved tremendously with the addition of a couple of ex-pro players inc Phil Babb ex Liverpool/eire international added to their squad,although today were missing they are still a strong determined team to play,Old ruts had a strong 16 players to pick from also so a good game was allways on the cards, after 3 week layoff we took a little time to get into our game espiecially after some very good performances before enforced winter break but defence held their pacy forwards at bay, gradually we gained momentum and took control of the game and should of scored when first blomeley beat their keeper to through ball just inside the area and rounded him to miss the empty net, then a little later after a corner the ball wasnt cleared and from point blank range a shot was somehow blocked on the line by defender and finally scrambled away,now on top ruts pushed forward again and were awarded a penalty after blatant handball, with knotty on bench our regular taker al whiter stepped up and his shot was saved by keeper and bundled away, then Grafton attacked and a free kick was given outside our box for a foul and resulting in them taking the lead when athough we had seven defenders marking four forwards still we managed to allow a free header from close range to score so from should of been 3-0 up were now somehow 1-0 down, even their manager remarked how they are still in the game he will never know,eventually just before half time we drew level when making up from pen miss alan whiter headed home from close range last bit of action saw roland save surperbly from a good low shot,h/t 1-1. second half as allways i make sure everyone has a good run out regardless of how tight the game is and scoreline and although its great having so many players wanting to play it does interupt the flow of the team making so many changes to positions even though the players are all as good as eachother and in truth the second half was scrappy from the off resulting in Grafton scoring when a slip from phil rea allowed forward to score unopposed,ruts worked hard to get back into the game and levelled the score when darren knott scored with fine finish,but again another mistake from rolands kick out allowed Grafton to take the lead once more,frustration setting in now and after some finger pointing/argueing amongst ourselves which is unusual for us Grafton scored a again to lead 4-2, but credit to ruts we never gave up and could well of scored a couple more ourselves when first raife had a good shot tipped over the bar then blomeley heading against the post from close range also a few shots missing the target when really we should of done better that with some good old fashioned defending/blocking of shots from their centre half Grafton saw out remainder of game winning 4-2 doing the double over us this season,,so our recent run of wins was ended by a good determined Grafton team who definetly wanted to win more than us at times but on another day we would of been comfortable winners.