Charlie-Dependent Hall thrash Wadham
21st November 2008 18:39 | by Nicola IelpoSt Edmund Hall 1st 4-0 Wadham College 1st
A splendid overall performance from the home team secures them access to Cuppers quarter-finals. But the score isn't entirely truthful of the way the match developed.
Wadham was clearly the better team in the first half in fact, with Centaurs captain Ben Quigley dominating in centre midfield and Versailles' flair on the wing being a constant threat to the Hall's defence. The maroon and gold back four held surprisingly well though, with a fantastic performance from both fullbacks Herbert and Gilbert and great reliability guaranteed by the legendary Lefanu-Waldron central axis. Disadvantaged by the very strong wind blowing towards their goal, Teddy Hall would have definitely been happy with a 0-0 draw at half time. The same cannot be said about Charlie 'Gary the Overlord' Southern who decided to change the match in the last few minutes of the half. After his 43' minute goal was disallowed for a (very dubious) offside, he photocopied it just a minute later, with a finish (this time probably offside!) that was the apotheosis of class and technique: a goal that reminds Zidane's epic finish against Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final.
Two halves, two entirely different stories. Teddy Hall came in galvanized by the unexpected goal and, after just a couple of minutes of pressure, found another wonder-goal from another Charlie: Allen sprinted down the wing, saw the keeper badly positioned and beat him with a beautiful lob from 30 yards out. Absolutely stunning. Want an analogy? Shevchenko's goal in Milan-Juventus in their 1-1 draw (2001).
The second goal made a big impact on the game: Wadham's players lost faith in their chances of success, while Teddy Hall gained full control of the pitch. Hoffmann and Clark rose to season best standards with the first winning the long awaited Belgian duel (sorry Bruno!). It was now time for what is known as "Champagne football", first touch passing game, with loads of great runs from Storey and Theodore and with the Overlord waving his magic wand and just making the hardest look so easy. Southern himself closed the match definitely with an accurate finish to make it 3-0 and then, as if we hadn't seen any good goals yet, made it a personal hat-trick with a classy lob. Already on goal double figures after 7 games, journalists are beginning to ask themselves just how much better the boy can get in the remainder of the season.
With the three second half subs integrating very well into the team's schemes, Teddy Hall were able to close the match on 4-0, having been close to conceding only twice throughout the whole game. Impressive, if you think Wadham are a solid top-tier team with two very valid additions from the Centaurs.
Ecstatic atmosphere amongst the Teddy Hall players at the end of the match: Lemecha-Sim defined the match as "a joy to watch. And an absolute honour to play in." Waldron's comment was: "vey well done boys i'm so happy we kept a clean sheet risked so little" (all without punctuation, obviously). Much more ambiguous, to the uninformed spectator, was Tom Thedore's comment: "I want to dedicate this win to the Jeda. I owe everything to him. If we win, it's because he's inspired us to. I pray to him 7 times a day."
On the whole, it was very unlucky for Wadham to play Teddy Hall in their best form. The latter now have high hopes of maintaining their posittion as premiership leaders and have a long successful run in Cuppers. Only the future will tell....
