The county cup always holds an element of mystery as 90% of the teams in the draw we have never played before. It’s also a good chance to test ourselves against opposition from higher up the footballing pyramid and also from teams at supposedly equal levels throughout Kent.
We were drawn against Tenterden Town from the Kent County league Division 2. In theory a division above us. We had nothing to lose and after winning three out of three travelled down in convoy in a buoyant mood.
There was a change in the formation returning to the tried and tested 4-4-2 with Hobbit partnering 2Gun for the first time since the opening day. Luke Leppard came in to the starting line up for the first time and there was a return to the squad for Gandhi after his early season scare with aids. Good to have you back pal. In true Coach Pat fashion the ginger match stick managed to break himself in the warm up. The downside for us was nothing compared to the implications it had for the Tenterden players. Pat was now free to sit there an abuse anyone not wearing the black and red of B&A, and to no one’s surprise that exactly what he did do.
From the off B&A looked like the better side and there was certainly no divide in quality. The only real difference was the opposition were much quicker at shutting us down and closing the middle down. That said we moved the ball well and used Luke and Baggo in the wide positions. Baggo was looking sharp and was getting the ball in and Luke was just powering past the full back with apparent ease. The back four looked very well organised with Junior Slade a constant outlet, also linking up well with Leppard. But it was the big man up top that was standing out from the off. 2Gun Willy was doing everything a big target man should do, holding the ball up for his colleagues to get forward and also putting in the occasional turn to keep his markers on their toes. At the same time Hobbit was scuttling about making nuisance of himself and looking for scraps. In fact it was his endeavour that led to the break through. He chased down a loose ball deep in the Tenterden half and beet the defender forcing him to slide in and make the tackle winning a corner. From the resulting corner Bish rose to head back in to the mixer, Fergy nudged it on and a blue and white shirt forced it over his own line while trying to hand ball it away. From then on the B&A boys didn’t look back and went in to the half time break high on confidence. Things took a downward turn early in the second half when Baggo had to come off injured after one of the Tenterden Town players had breather heavily on him out on the wing. The pain was too much for the young Jewish wing wizard and so was replaced by Zac Morris from Saved by the bell. Soon after Bayley Woggles was introduced and provided exactly what was needed, some good old fashioned steel in the middle. With twenty minutes to go up popped Hobbit again. After being slipped in by Thumbelina he thwarted the defender and, at the second attempt slotted the ball in to the onion bag. It was then left to the man of the match to seal the deal with the strike of the day. After Hamish Macbeth won the ball in his own half, he fed 2Gun who played a neat one-two with bayley before dispatching the ball in to the top corner. A well deserved goal after an extremely hard working performance. We conceded a soft goal late on, a lesson to keep going and keep concentrating until the end but all in all a very good performance against a solid opposition.
