Goodfellas 1 V 1 AA
⚽ Result
Goodfellas 1
AA 1
🏆 Competition
Home league match
📅 When
Sunday, 10 April 2011
📍 Venue
Home
<p>By James Parry It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The sun was high, we had the girls cutting us half-time oranges, Vinnie was topless, and already there was pre-match talk of post-match beers. Splendid. Justin gave us our pre-match talk before plunging me in to it, I could only draw on the arsehole who missed a penalty the previous day as words of inspiration. Sorry arsehole. I also muttered something about us being the form team in the league, which we are.. Starting line up: Mullens Garrow Kettz James David Howard Sam We kick off, and **** me it is hot out there. We are looking comfortable and finally have a natural forward in Sam to lead the line. First five minutes both teams are figuring each other out. It is quickly establised that we have come to play football and the opposition are content with long goal kicks, with spells of passing between the goalie and the defenders before yet again belting it forward. The heat was intense, I for one felt like my feet were on fire (a combination of new socks, cheap boots and HK astroturf). We are passing the ball around easily though with little potency, Mullens chilling though understandably distracted by the pasty topless fellas on the sidelines. Less than 30 minutes gone and the heat is taking it's toll. Justin notices my lethargy, off I go with Sam, on come Justin and Koh. Koh immediately makes an impact with some more direct running and natural width. We look more dangerous and better balanced. I look on from the sidelines with embarrassment, questioning how I have been affected so much by the heat yet Garrow seems to running around like a lad who has just been given new legs. Much needed reality check I tell myself. Even in form Kettz struggles with the heat, Belgian comfortably slots in and we continue our utter dominance until half-time yet with no goals to show for it. Half-time team talk something along the lines of "they've got nothing, we are by far the better team, let's just fucking score". Half-time substitutions, Alessio on for Howard - who understandably looked a shadow of his former self. Sam on for Justin. 2nd half line up Mullens Garrow Belgian Koh David Alessio Sam Second half sees us pick up from where we left things. Better passing, better movement, better players, the better team. Alessio looks assured in his debut match for the fellas, though in the future will remember not to slide tackle on that surface unless absolutely necessary! We continue to probe without looking too dangerous. Koh picks up an injury in a collision. Double substitution - James on for Koh, Justin on for Sam. AA have a corner and somehow nick a header, and it's in??? It's a set back, especially given how pathetic their previous attempts had been. Goodfellas 0 - 1 AA. To our credit, we don't panic, continue to pass it around fluidly and with the right amount of urgency. WIth Dave in the thick of everything, a series of half chances and long range shots see us edging closer. Substitution: Koh back on for Alessio, Howard for Dave. Moments later I somehow elude their rightback, run down the line before cutting in, roll it across to Justin - who takes his time and slams the ball in to the net. Keeper no chance! As if already planned, Justin takes his shirt off and sprints to the adoring Panther girls. Screams and joyous scenes all round. Yellow card. Must add to help one envisage the goal, it was not too dissimilar to the Giggs assist and Hernandez conversion last night! Goodfellas 1-1 AA, game on. Fellas continue to get to work on AA, who were clearly running low on batteries (sorry, had to), and we create a series of half chances. This passage of play goes something like this: Attempt at goal - goal kick - defence deals with goal kick with ease - another Fellas attack. Mullens rarely looking troubled. Somehow we are unable to find another breakthrough. It's the last couple of minutes, and I jump in the air out of disappointment as another chance goes begging. I land awkwardly on my left ankle, which rolls on the unforgiving surface and I know immediately it's not good. I'm on the floor and I don't even remember who came on for me, sorry. Shortly after, final whistle blows. Final score - Goodfellas 1 - 1 AA. It was a frustrating game and a much needed wake up call to the conditions we will playing in for the rest of the season. We dominated from the start, but if the truth be told never looked dangerous enough until we fell behind. We came back very strong and could have nicked it at the end. Of the few games I have played in, we seem to be finishing the games very strongly which I am quickly learning is the undeniable spirit of The Goodfellas. I had previously talked to a couple of people about how I don't feel like I am getting in to the game until too late in the game, this is something that I need to work on when I get back to full fitness. I checked in to the hospital yesterday as the swelling and bruising was still pretty bad 48 hours later. The doctor confirmed it was a sprained ankle, sent me home with some medication and essentially told me to stop being such a pussy. I am able to hobble around today which is a lot better than I thought I would be at this stage, but I'm not going to be stupid and rush this back. As Howard suggested, I think I'm a month away from playing football again. To be honest, I'm pretty fucking pissed off, especially as I have been really enjoying playing football again. Big shout out to Garrow and Mullens for carrying me to the pub. I guess a shout out for Howard for offering his seat when I arrived. Thanks to Justin and Dave who seemingly became less interested in a beer at the Jockey when faced with the prospect of helping one of their team-mates across the field!!! haha. Apologies if any subsititutions or details were missed out, have tried my best to recall it all, but leaving it until today is perhaps too late. Will of course be keeping up to date with all the Goodfellas action and coming along to watch the matches when possible. Keep me involved with pub and watching premiership matches too. Thanks for your supportive messages. Still genuinely believe we can take this 7's title. Unbeaten in 5, let's keep it up!! All the best and see you soon. James <br />
