Immediately following their morale boosting 2-2 draw with Pete, the Badgers had to face Khaleeji.
Manager Ben Wheatland gave an inspirational team talk, attempting to draw from his players every last ounce of effort and energy for the game. He invoked the injustice of having to play back to back games, trying to force more from the team. It appeared to be working, with the shattered Badgers all seeming to gain a second wind. However, this was all brought to an abrupt end, when the ever optimistic Tomlin pointed out that Khaleeji had also played a game before hand, and that they also didn't have any substitutes.
This hit Wheatland hard, as his teamtalk had been entirely based on the unfairness of the situation, which was now not true.
Because of this, the Badgers squad took to the field in a state of utter confusion. Himpe decided he was having none of this, and took the game by the scruff of its neck, immediately reminding the Badgers of the task at hand. An excellent through ball from Himpe released Wheatland who, on the edge of the area, managed to hit his shot just wide. The Badgers were beginning to dominate the game, with chances coming thick and fast. Old school Badgers teams would have struggled to make this dominance count, but this new breed are made of stronger stuff. This was proven when Marshall's searching through ball sent Dutton on his way. Dutton rampaged through the centre of the pitch, swatting Khaleeji players aside like flies, before unleashing a shot in to the bottom corner of the net. Dutton and Himpe ran to each other, eager to share this moment with each other. The dance that followed was as heartwarming as it was questionable, and both players have since been cautioned for the inappropriate amount of bare skin involved.
This gratuitous display of affection between Dutton and Himpe seemingly distracted the Badgers, who began to let Khaleeji back in to the game. Khaleeji were technically skilled but displayed none of the team spirit on show (sometimes literally in Dutton and Himpe's case) from the Badgers. However, this individualism eventually paid off, as a Khaleeji player rounded two Badgers before slotting awkwardly home. Pedro Badger immediately responded with a fountain of Portuguese profanity, which quite literally (although not LITERALLY) forced the Badgers to respond. Good movement and passing were evident from the Badgers, who were able to use the fact that their opponents had no positional sense to their advantage. Eventually, after a calamitous string of misses from Wheatland, he managed to break the deadlock. McAttaturk lofted the ball over an onrushing Khaleeji player, and Wheatland used his height (and, some might say, weight) advantage to shield the ball. Wheatland then turned and fired a fierce shot through the legs of the onrushing Khaleeji goalkeeper, before turning and "tekkin' a boo son".
The Badgers comfortably saw out the remainder of the half, creating chances at one end whilst Tomlin, Marshall and Pedro kept the defence utterly solid.
The second half began with controversy, as Wheatland forced a backpass across the Khaleeji box. Another Khaleeji player confidently strode unto his area, before kicking the ball down field, before equally as confidently claiming that he hadn't given away a penalty. Sensing the game changing potential of this decision, Wheatland and his Badgery accomplices argued long and hard. At one point, a Khaleeji player appealed to the referee for a decision, before being informed that there was no referee, thereby throwing in to question how he had seen the controversial incident when he hadn't even noticed that there was no referee.
Suffice to say that the Badgers were once again denied a penalty. And of course, straight after the restart, the cheating bastards (Khaleeji) went down the other end of the pitch and equalised. Fuming at this injustice, the Badgers retaliated with the force of a thousand coiled springs, in some cases literally hurling themselves down the pitch to get the goal that they deserved. Wheatland missed, Himpe missed, MCAntmntmenemenenyty missed, Dutton missed. Chances continued to flow (which is a positive, I guess...) but the Badgers continued to miss them. Then, the hammer blow. As the Badgers pushed more men forward to force a goal, the defence (by now consisting of Ben Brazier and Will Downs) were overrun. Faced with a four-on-two situation, there was nothing that they could do as Khaleeji's goal-hanging-bastard striker slotted home.
Even more angered, the Badgers once again set about their opponents with the anger reserved only for Honey Badgers. Himpe found himself shooting space, but couldn't hit the target. The closest they came was when Wheatland struck the post of the goal with a long range effort, but alas, it was not to be. Even more stretched at the back, Downs and Brazier could do nothing to prevent the sweaty goal that followed, as one cheating knob squared the ball to another of his cheating colleagues, and he beat the hapless Pedro.
The final score of 2 - 4 does not reflect the performance of the Badgers, who put in an excellent shift. Without some questionable calls from the 'referee', the game could have gone much more positively.
Oh well, onwards to next week!
