Unbelievable

Incredibly Sparkshop have won their fifth game in a row with a hard fought victory over U Drive who were languishing at the bottom of the table but played in a manner which belied their position, especially in the first half.



It was a bizzare start to the game which cost us a goal early on as an attck fizzled out and Dougie found himself tackling in front of goal. The ball cannoned off the attacker and trickled back toward goal waiting to be collected by super Rich. In his games so far (all victories!) he has only conceded three goals with one a penalty and a second goal the result of being blocked and unsighted. The third was just awesome as he failed to reach the gently rolling ball as he was 50 yards away! The person to blame here is Kevin Trill. Let me explain.

In the warm up Kev had a great left foot volley which went soaring up, up and away into the outer reaches of the courts. We all got ready to kick off whilst Rich, a well mannered young man with a conscience, trotted off to recover the ball. The ref started the game without checking our keeper was ready or even there. By the time Rich returned, and bear in mind this was Kevin shooting and the ball had gone quite some way off into a different post code zone, the ball had run gently into the net.

One down, the remainder of the first half was tough. As Dougie pointed out later, we seem worse kicking downhill but I prefer to think that the turn round was due to superior fitness. As it was the break came with us a goal behind but we pressed from the start of the kick off to the second period with a much improved attitude to closing down and squeezing the opposition into areas dangerous to them. A lovely move saw new Matt lob the keeper only to watch in disbelief as the ball rebounded from the bar but a similar shot from a well created attack did fall into the net to put us level. Matt took it superbly but his namesake, Matt C was nearly on the scoresheet moments later afetr a lovely dribble which exposed three defenders mesmerised by his tricky skills. Despite a lunge from behind which would have brought a penalty if he'd gone down, Matt composed himself for a shot which looked in all the way only to see it rebound from the frame of the goal again.

Increasingly it looked like a draw as we played against the prospect of the floodlights going out but there was still time for a winning goal. New Matt again but a very different goal this time. Dougie swung through an attacker and knocked the ball to Kev. It could have been a free kick but play was allowed to continue. Kev looked up and, falling back, swung a fierce left foot pass toward Matt who was blocked by keeper and defender. The resulting melee brought momentary confusion but Matt looked up and realised the ball had run free leaving an empty net to slot the ball into.

We never looked in trouble after that point and even had the luxury of Dougie playing ambitious free kicks passed into the box rather than going for the blaster we all know he wanted really. Perhaps Kev would just have shouted at him even more.

We are third in the division with 15 points out of 18, the top side having won all their games on 18 and second place on 15 but ahead on goal difference. Just two games to go with second and fourth to play. It could well be the end of the winning run but it could also see us move into second ourselves and the heady heights of promotion!

Rich Matt C Dom Dougie Kev New Matt (2) Iain