Everyone was chomping at the bit for this one. It's the one game that could even tempt the defending guru Steve 'Turk' Sharman out of retirement. We don't have a great record playing at Jockey Farm so to come up against a young team there who play at a higher standard we were always going to be the underdogs.
Numbers were good but we were missing a few key players in key positions so again Harrison, Lawrence and Warburton had to shuffle the pack. Big Phil Scolari came in at centre midfield replacing the impressive Bert who was playing ‘Mums & Dads’ with his Doris at the Wendy house and Gent Jim Edwards returned at centre back with the young Grant Jefferies being farmed out on loan to Penshurst Park Res to gain some experience. Mantis returned to the squad after a week off to peruse the whore houses and titty bars of Prague and the most notable name returning to the squad was Kenny who finally realised that golf is for old men and people that are rubbish at real sports. Kenny and Mantis were joined on the bench by 2Gun.
Rusthall fielded a youthful energetic team and looked lively in the warm-up but they weren't prepared for the way the B&A came out of the starting blocks. With Baggo and Zac Effron occupying the wings there was plenty of pace as they went straight to work on the Rusthall full backs. Latts was looking crafty as he ghosted in and out of the Rusthall box and, abley assisted by the Hobbit were hassling their back four and giving them no time on the ball. Indeed it was this doggedness that led to the opening goal. But before that I'll tell you about the first real chance of the match. Rusthall pounced on a rare mistake 15 minutes in and the break was on. Their striker was 1 on 1 with Jeff Overton in the B&A goal. Jeff narrowed the angle and pushed the shot onto the post, the black & red shirts were getting back and managed to block the first rebound but it fell kindly to their player who shot again this time with Overton beaten Bowlesy showed great agility to tip the ball over the cross bar and save a certain goal. This chance helped to fire up the team and it wasn't long before they scored. Latts took advantage of a sloppy back pass to slot the ball past the young Rusthall keeper. This sent the travelling supporters into raptures and sparked some extreme high fiving in the dugout. The chances started to come now, Adam Jefferies was starting to get forward and cause problems in the box, I've heard its the first time he's got in to anyone's box for quite some time! Late in the half B&A had a throw in deep into the Rusthall half, Hobbit quickly grabbed the ball and took it quickly straight in to Latt's stride, he ran clear and coolly lobbed the ball over the keepers head to make it 2-0. Just before half time Jeff Overton started to feel faint and his vision became blurry, he made it to the half but was replaced by 2Gun with Big Phil dropping back to his natural position (by that I mean Goalkeeper not the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk) The second half was tight but the well organised B&A back four (not often we get to say that) stood firm and dealt with everything under the guidance of the superb Bowlesy. Latts had the best chance of the half with an excellent drive from 25 yards out. It was heading for the corner but the Rusthall keeper pulled off an unbelievable save to tip it over the angle. Mantis was introduced up front and had two decent chances to seal the win but couldn't quite find the corner on either occasion. Baggo and Zac looked dangerous every time they got the ball down and were both outstanding for the 90 minutes. In fact the whole team were excellent throughout the whole game. Everyone did their job and did exactly what we told them to do at the start. Another good win for the B&A and the prize is a monster tie with Hawkenbury in the next round.
