Wycliffe hit new heights...
21st November 2008 16:21 | by Timothy StoreyWycliffe Hall 2-0 Christ Church 2nd
“We were hard pressed by the other side, but did not concede; generally very poor, but did not despair; provoked, but did not react; pushed around, but not defeated. We always carry around in our body the post-footballing niggles, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our being… (top of the league - temporarily).“
2 Cor. 4:8-10 (The Common Room Version)
After last week’s cuppers exit how would the plucky Wycliffe lads respond? Could they pick themselves up from the disappointment the first loss of the season? Opponents this week were Christchurch 2nds skippered by a certain Alex Bexon (of Val Bexon fame who seemed to think we were all “Vicars and Christians”, obviously he hadn’t met the football team yet!) So, with this added spice to the game Wycliffe lined up, happy to be back on home soil, playing on the parks for the first time this season. A capacity crowd had gathered (well 6!) and the game was doused in atmosphere. Father Firth made his first appearance of the season and made an excellent vocal contribution with some familiar songs such as, “I shall sing of the wondrous Storey” and other such classics!
The game was a strange one. Wycliffe started very strongly and were all over Christchurch from referee Shelley’s first whistle. Dominance immediately paid off as Leady picked the ball up on the edge of the area, jinked past two defenders and calmly slid the ball past the approaching Christchurch keeper. 3 minutes gone. A very good start. 1-0.
This pressure on the Christchurch defence then only seemed to increase with Leady, Lower, Slade and Tindall all having magnificent chances in the next 20 minutes. It was quite literally men against boys at this stage. However, the men were constantly missing the target and seemed pretty incapable of depositing the spheroid in the net!
Fortunately on 34 minutes Vaughan played an excellent ball across the edge of the Christchurch box and Gaster (SCIO) popped up and struck a sweet shot first time with his weaker left foot. The ball flew into the corner of the corner of the net - a super finish. 2-0.
At this point the redundant Wycliffe were thinking of going for a cup of tea and leaving the midfield and strikers to it. However, very bizarrely, we decided to take our foot off the pedal for the final 15 minutes of the first half. Christchurch came back into the game strongly and Wycliffe just couldn’t find that third goal to kill the game off. Leady and Lower seemed to be feeling the effects of recent illness and the rest of us weren’t controlling the ball or working hard enough. We finished the half in ragged fashion. Storey let the ball through his legs, Coleridge mis-kicked and Simons got nowhere near with a lunge. The Christchurch striker completely missed the target from all of 2 yards out with the Dingall (another on the sick and dying list) nowhere to be seen.
Amazingly, the half-time score was 2-0 but it really should have been 5-1! Storey was slightly worried and addressed the lack of shape and work rate in his half-time team talk.
Christchurch bought on two of their 1st XI players at half time and they were bristling with confidence on the sidelines. “It’ll all change now,” they thought. To be honest the 2nd half was poor from the Wycliffe point of view. The defence nullified the ever-strengthening Christchurch forwards with Coleridge, Storey and Simons, Gregory really strong in their challenges. The problem was we couldn’t keep the ball and we were losing possession in midfield. We held out well under conditions that roughly resembled the Alamo by the end! Slade and Vaughan kept running well up front and we did look threatening on the break but chances were either well saved by the new Christchurch 1st’s keeper or missed the mark. The problem was though the ball was coming back too fast and Christchurch were now tabernacled in our half! We continued to defend well though and we held out … just. Final score 2-0.
Man of the match: the referee (which speaks more about our performance than anything else)… Captain, Commandant, Field Marshall Shelley.
We remain unbeaten and went top of the league (all be it temporarily) for the first time in three and a half years. Your correspondent is honest enough to admit that we were quite poor, equipping ourselves worse than when we lost last week. However, a clean sheet is commendable and one of the first lessons we need to learn if we are going win this league is how to play badly and win!
Also commendable were our reactions in the midst of some disappointing play-acting and “chat” from one of the Christchurch forwards. Gregory held his temper admirably and referee Shelley was well on top of it. Our witness remained a good one in spite of some strong provocation.
St. Hugh’s at home next Thursday. We need a bigger and stronger performance to maintain our 100% record. Still, played three, won three!
