A consistent start for Iscape

I neglected to put up a report for the first game of the new league at Wimborne last week. Suffice to say most people would say it was likely to have been because we lost: they'd be right. We had a bit of disappointing game despite the return of big Murph and the skills of stand-in Nick in goal. The sole highlight was a stunning goal from Kev following a swift move starting from a throw out by Nick to my left foot and a first time cross field ball which found the blond(?) striker in space. He lobbed the keeper with a first time shot and brought a little respectability to the scoreline. Having said that, we almost got back to a goal behind when a penalty was denied for a blatant handball which the defence conceded was a dead cert pen. Instead we conceded again ourselves and that was that.

We played better last night in sub-zero temperatures which caused Spanish Dave to cry off claiming he was in Devon. It is likely that he couldn't find his gloves. Within seconds of the start we were a goal behind in comedy fashion. As Nick put it, a Youtube moment from Kev left the striker free cutting in from the left and sliding to the floor as he smashed a shot curling inside the far post. Kev was still looking for the ball at that stage. He had stepped over it several times without seeing it in an early pantomime performance as we resisted the urge to shout' "It's behind you!" at him. Impressively, Kev was able to claim later that someone should have been covering for him.

To be fair he followed that up with a quality goal thanks to his finish but also the Coombes- Salmon combination that provided a gilt edged opportunity. A ball in from the left was headed on by Matt and crossed right footed to Kev who unleashed a fierce volley into the net at the keeper's left. A cracking goal. Better was to follow in respect of the score with a second goal flwoing from the same providers. Matt played a ball through to me and I flicked over the defence to give Kev a chance on the volley which he wrong footed the keeper with as the ball rolled into the net.

We were playing well at that point with a new 2 man defence, Dom and Doug, supported by Matt I, Matt C and Kev in the middle. Sadly the lead was lost when a kick out was interecepted and smacked in and then we fell behind when an underhit backpass was interecepted and slotted home. Resisting the temptation to allow the guilty party to remain anonymous, Dougie held his hands up later and accepted it was Nick's fault as he had not anticipated well enough. Clearly the keeper ought to have been moving forward to the edge of the D to clear the backpass but not having played with Dougie for long perhaps he didn't realise the specialism in underhit backpasses. Now he knows!

A fourth was conceded from a cross from the left which was headed back across goal, saved well, but followed up with a shot that confirmed our defeat.

The only other point to report was comedy Kev's clearance to prevent a corner in which he hooked the ball over his shoulder but simply kicked it forward and high over the 60ft fence surrounding the pitch. Some people though tit was a shot but that would be cruel. Pepper would not have been impressed.