QE C vs Hartlepool B

With a disappointing result first game of the season against the Boro, we were all keen to get our first win of the season under our belts. The bus journey was fairly eventful with the tunes of Davo and Conner Underwood (who looks remarkably like Stephen Quinn from Hull city). However the good atmosphere on the bus was not to last due to our bus driver, who was completely clueless when it comes to directions, got us completely lost. This meant we had to get changed on the bus which is always a struggle. Arriving for a 2 o’clock kick off at quarter past was not the best preparation for the game. After a quick warm up of about 3 minutes PC informed us of what he wanted out of the team and he tried to implement his pass and move tactics onto a baller friendly pitch which we were playing on. Suited me right down to the ground.

We lined up as follows:

GK: Tomo

RB: Sam ‘the rock’ Williams

CB: Davo

CB: Conner

LB: Josh

RM: Tom

CM: Curtis (skipper)

CM: Doug ‘the gazelle’

LM: Murphy

ST: Jack

ST: Harry

We started well with some good possession football, especially playing out from the back. However they started to get on top and in their main man who was playing a free role started picking the ball up and driving at our defence. We started giving away sloppy free kicks in dangerous areas and Tomo was pulling off some decent saves (for once). Ten Minutes later we were let off the hook when a corner came and the ball had appeared to have crossed the line but the ref didn’t give it, it was miles over the line if I’m being truthfully honest. However we began to create some chances of our own and we got a lucky chance when their keeper miss kicked his clearance that fell to Murphy who was roughly about 30 yards from the goal, he unleashed his shot and it flew into the Hartlepool goal. Look up the word ‘worldy’ in the dictionary and there is a picture of that goal. After the goal however we started to play poorly and spent the rest of the first half trying to get the ball into their half of the pitch. We were defending excellently with Sam playing exceptional at right back. Going into half time one up but on the back foot, PC gave some inspirational words and we went back out for the second half. However the second half was not much better than the first, we were giving away too many free kicks which fortunately for us, their guy that was taking them couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo. We did concede shortly after due to a refereeing error in which the ball had gone out of play from the corner, literally it was out of the cage before the wind brought it back in. Nevertheless they scored from it. A classic case of the old saying ‘play to the whistle’ in which PC loved saying to us all game. With the introduction of Ali with 20 minutes to go we started to push forward and create chances but failed to finish.

Final Score:

Hartlepool 1 – QE 1

MOM:

Sam Williams

Although Ali was excellent when he was brought on

Attendance:

6 (including PC and subs)