QE A Team vs Darlo College A

On a very dull Wednesday afternoon, we travelled across town via minibus due to the poor driving standards of our lads, once transport was sorted we turned up to the ground full of optimism for the big derby. In the changing room Mark rightly pointed out that there is no banter once Denny stops talking. so after the lads got changed we went outside to warm up. A simple warm up was organised by skipper Wrighty and at 1:45 we were ready for kick off. The lineup was Jacob, Batesy, Nelly, Grocott, Bell, Maddo, Wright, Pest, Bradders, soft lad and Clarky. We dominated the opening exchanges and were clearly the more technical side and this was illustrated as Bradders turned well inside the box and finished smartly to put the Q.E boys in front. Sadly this was as good as it got and we lost control of the game after this goal and Wrighty was clocked by a cowardly off the ball incident, however he made the most of it by going down instead of fighting back and then retiring from the game, poor. They received a very controversial penalty decision for a handball incident although Belly would have done well to have got his arm out the way, just before the handball however a very late challenge was put in on Nicholson (Wrighty's replacement) however the referee did not see fit to give this a foul which mystified Mark, however the decision was made and they scored their penalty. Shortly before half time they went ahead from a sloppy corner, however that's football and you can never be happy about conceding from a set piece. Half time subs saw Westy and Batesy come off for Cookson and Hutchinson respectively, after some smart tactical changes we looked sharp again and got in a few times before Craig saw his rifling shot massively deflected by a defender to deceive their rookie looking keeper. they went on to score just after and then another two before the games end which left the score at 5-2.In the midst of these goals Grocott had to come off with concusion after another damaging elbow saw us lose another of our men, his concussion not only meant a gap in the defence but also an irritation for the subs as he repeatedly asked the score which led to decent crack on the bus back by Wrighty and Pest in particular. This concluded a disappointing day at the office but we move on and recover for the next game which hopefully isn't as physical, as the sides were well matched but aggression saw the the opposition prevail. 

Man of the match Maddo good display of skill and stamina in the centre of the park.

Cheers Denny.