Post by greygraham on Nov 26, 2019 22:23:43 GMT
Bedfont and Feltham 1 - 1 Godalming
If the Tuesday night game against E & C saw the Gs not getting their fair share of luck, then we certainly made up for it at Bedfont and Feltham. It almost seemed that the Gs might amazingly take all three points until the home team finally equalised with a deflected shot in after several minutes of extra time.
It was an unpleasant day, drab and cold, raining throughout the game on a pitch that was already quite soft at the start. Hard to watch as a Gs supporter as we rode our luck for long periods and endured some of the most perverse refereeing that I have witnessed for a while.
Hendo, with his Health and Safety hat on, was convinced that the game should be abandoned as the sound levels he was recording were well above 90 dBA. Certainly, the planes are a lot noisier when taking off than landing. Not sure that Hendo’s other suggestion that the teams should wear ear defenders would work, but H&S is always top priority, so who knows.
All that said, to come away with a point from this fixture against a team a fair way above us when we were without Darren (calf injury on Tuesday night) and Raisan who has been so impressive for us at left wing back, was not a bad result. Jordan Cavender showed how hard he can work in defence as well as attack.
In the opening minutes we saw the Gs scrambling to clear the ball off the line. There were a number of periods of pressure from the home side throughout the game and this coupled with the ability of the B&F forwards to mishit shots and clear the bar on many occasions meant that the Gs managed to prevent a goal in the first half
We did have chances in the first half. We came close when Matt Brown drove a free kick low across the B & F goalmouth and Reegan Scotcher just failed to get his foot to it at the far post.
Matt himself had a good opportunity when he worked his way towards goal but tried to pass to Richie when he could have hit a shot himself.
It had been a strange half with the referee largely ignoring his linesmen. There were plenty of physical challenges including uncontrolled challenges, but these only called for several chats with the B&F captain. In the second half the Gs appeared to get a whole handful of yellow cards for no apparent reason that I could see.
But, whilst it was 0-0 at half time, with about 15 minutes played of the second half a long clearance from Adrian cleared the home defence and their keeper advanced as a sort of sweeper keeper only to realise that Reece Weekes was bearing down on him at a rate of knots. With absolute confidence and no little skill Reece was able to touch the ball delicately around the keeper before hitting the ball crisply into the back of the net. Much to the annoyance of the home support that was bolstered on the day by 30 or so small children and their parents.
As the first shot from the Gs on target in the game it was definitely against the run of play. But, as they say, it is only goals that count. How many times have we had the majority of the possession without being able to turn it into goals?
Slightly cruelly it gave us the belief that it was just possible we could take all three points. How well our defence played as the home side threw everything at us and the clock ticked down. They won corner after corner, but we were defending well led by Rory and Reegan and Adrian showed confidence in coming off his line when he needed to.
So, as we kept squirming as the referee awarded corners to B & F and yellow cards to us for no apparent reason, Reece kept threatening to do the same thing again whenever we were in possession, but the home defence played the roulette game of offside very well to cut out his threat.
All praise to the whole squad as they defended as if their lives depended upon it. Matt Brown sat back with the midfield, but in the end the home side got their equaliser.
The human psyche is a funny thing. Had we been a goal down and scored an equaliser in the last few minutes to grab a point we would have been quite pleased as we drove home.
But because we were in the lead for about 30 minutes and they equalised at the death it felt as if we had lost something.
In truth I see that that extra point has moved us for now at least to fourth from bottom so how important is every single point.
COYG’s
Bedfont and Feltham Godalming
attempts 21 3
on target 8 1
corners 12 0
fouls 11 ( 1 o/s) 17 (6 o/s)
pos 1 70 30
pos 2 67 33
cards 1 5
Bovril status: The incredible Bovril Cubes were back in action. But here is a funny thing. You put a cube of Bovril in a cup of boiling water. Logic tells you it should dissolve away to leave a tiny cube at the end... instead it dissolves away to leave a very salty brown smudge on the bottom of your cup. So much more than a winter warmer- it is a shape-changing miracle cube!
If the Tuesday night game against E & C saw the Gs not getting their fair share of luck, then we certainly made up for it at Bedfont and Feltham. It almost seemed that the Gs might amazingly take all three points until the home team finally equalised with a deflected shot in after several minutes of extra time.
It was an unpleasant day, drab and cold, raining throughout the game on a pitch that was already quite soft at the start. Hard to watch as a Gs supporter as we rode our luck for long periods and endured some of the most perverse refereeing that I have witnessed for a while.
Hendo, with his Health and Safety hat on, was convinced that the game should be abandoned as the sound levels he was recording were well above 90 dBA. Certainly, the planes are a lot noisier when taking off than landing. Not sure that Hendo’s other suggestion that the teams should wear ear defenders would work, but H&S is always top priority, so who knows.
All that said, to come away with a point from this fixture against a team a fair way above us when we were without Darren (calf injury on Tuesday night) and Raisan who has been so impressive for us at left wing back, was not a bad result. Jordan Cavender showed how hard he can work in defence as well as attack.
In the opening minutes we saw the Gs scrambling to clear the ball off the line. There were a number of periods of pressure from the home side throughout the game and this coupled with the ability of the B&F forwards to mishit shots and clear the bar on many occasions meant that the Gs managed to prevent a goal in the first half
We did have chances in the first half. We came close when Matt Brown drove a free kick low across the B & F goalmouth and Reegan Scotcher just failed to get his foot to it at the far post.
Matt himself had a good opportunity when he worked his way towards goal but tried to pass to Richie when he could have hit a shot himself.
It had been a strange half with the referee largely ignoring his linesmen. There were plenty of physical challenges including uncontrolled challenges, but these only called for several chats with the B&F captain. In the second half the Gs appeared to get a whole handful of yellow cards for no apparent reason that I could see.
But, whilst it was 0-0 at half time, with about 15 minutes played of the second half a long clearance from Adrian cleared the home defence and their keeper advanced as a sort of sweeper keeper only to realise that Reece Weekes was bearing down on him at a rate of knots. With absolute confidence and no little skill Reece was able to touch the ball delicately around the keeper before hitting the ball crisply into the back of the net. Much to the annoyance of the home support that was bolstered on the day by 30 or so small children and their parents.
As the first shot from the Gs on target in the game it was definitely against the run of play. But, as they say, it is only goals that count. How many times have we had the majority of the possession without being able to turn it into goals?
Slightly cruelly it gave us the belief that it was just possible we could take all three points. How well our defence played as the home side threw everything at us and the clock ticked down. They won corner after corner, but we were defending well led by Rory and Reegan and Adrian showed confidence in coming off his line when he needed to.
So, as we kept squirming as the referee awarded corners to B & F and yellow cards to us for no apparent reason, Reece kept threatening to do the same thing again whenever we were in possession, but the home defence played the roulette game of offside very well to cut out his threat.
All praise to the whole squad as they defended as if their lives depended upon it. Matt Brown sat back with the midfield, but in the end the home side got their equaliser.
The human psyche is a funny thing. Had we been a goal down and scored an equaliser in the last few minutes to grab a point we would have been quite pleased as we drove home.
But because we were in the lead for about 30 minutes and they equalised at the death it felt as if we had lost something.
In truth I see that that extra point has moved us for now at least to fourth from bottom so how important is every single point.
COYG’s
Bedfont and Feltham Godalming
attempts 21 3
on target 8 1
corners 12 0
fouls 11 ( 1 o/s) 17 (6 o/s)
pos 1 70 30
pos 2 67 33
cards 1 5
Bovril status: The incredible Bovril Cubes were back in action. But here is a funny thing. You put a cube of Bovril in a cup of boiling water. Logic tells you it should dissolve away to leave a tiny cube at the end... instead it dissolves away to leave a very salty brown smudge on the bottom of your cup. So much more than a winter warmer- it is a shape-changing miracle cube!