March 25, 2004

Oldboys march on

Last Saturday's Surrey Intermediate League Reserves Cup Semi-Final went off with a bit of a bang at Fortress Varsity. Our oppo were table-toppers Bedfont Green, who had beaten us 2-0 at their ground a few weeks previously. That game had been a bit of a farse though due to the ref crying off and Bedfont's volunteer replacement being less than indifferent, despite being apparently qualified to officiate. So we were relieved that for Saturday's game we had not one but three officials (all independent) plus a 4th official observer from the League. And boy did the game need them.

Winning the toss the UniS Oldboys captain opted to switch ends and defend the gale in the first half, and we set out to keep a clean sheet in the first half and maybe snatch a goal on the break. 45 minutes, two yellow cards and 3 sendings off later we went into half-time 3-0 up thanks to a hat-trick from Dom Walker (his second in two games), but minus Nobbie in the centre. The ref and lino's were interpreting the laws of the game to the letter and Bedfont didn't seem to know how to play to the rules!

To Be Continued tomorrow!

Posted by jonah at March 25, 2004 04:27 PM | TrackBack
Comments

"two yellow cards and 3 sendings off later"

!

were they all totally seperate incidents or were there two yellows=red type things going on? in forty-tive minutes. jeez...

Posted by: rich at March 25, 2004 11:54 PM

To clarify, first of all one of their midfielders got booked for tackling from behind, then five minutes later got booked again for throwing the ball away after conceding another free-kick... so that became sending off number one. Then Dom was pulled down cynically by one of their defenders (could have been a sending off offence, depending on interpretation) and he was booked. Justice was one though when Dom scored from the resulting free-kick.

Then just before half-time there was a bit of a ruck (to put it mildly) over a throw-in and both Nobbie and one of their fellas were (eventually) sent off by the ref for violent conduct.

So, at least three yellows and three reds in the first half alone, and those are only the ones I remember! 2nd half report to come later...

Posted by: Jonah at March 26, 2004 09:31 AM