Friday, March 26, 2004
Drop The Shoulder
Didn’t work last night.
On Tuesday Or…Zico (I believe that’s something approaching the rather idiosyncratic spelling of the team’s name) won 9-3 in the FA Pitch Invasion 5-a-side league, although to be honest I’m sure we scored more like 12. It was only the second time I’d played for Or…Zico, called up at short notice by Alastair the Russian film lecturer, and I’m definitely not used to the kind of non-stop pinball football that five-a-side of that ilk encourages (long pitch, outdoors, wham-bam thank you ma’am). Plus I’m not fully recovered, psychologically as much as anything else, from my dodgy knee of the other month. I’ve only just started playing without strapping, and I’m definitely not pushing myself quite as hard as I otherwise might. Nonetheless we won convincingly on Tuesday, and I scored a nice left-footer, dropped my shoulder and skipped past the defender before drilling it low and hard past the near post. Vivek came on just before I went off (rolling subs), and scored about four or five as the other team, demoralised, started really lagging. I like to think if I’d stayed on I would’ve scored a few more as well… of course… Or…Zico are now top of the league on goal difference (+4), ahead of Hotel Barcelona.
Didn’t work last night.
We played 11-a-side, 35-minutes each way, against a load of postgraduates. And lost 5-1. Which was unrepresentative. Alastair, who’s a great five-a-side player, and, I get the impression, a very good 11-a-side player, was carrying a nasty thigh injury, and thus spent the game in goal, where his impaired mobility (and the fact that he’s not a goalkeeper by nature) meant he was vulnerable to low shots from distance. Which made up at least three of their goals. One of the others was a freak 35-yard lob. In the closing few minutes we had one header over and several other crosses that were just too high or too fast for people to get onto, a flying volley that the keeper somehow managed to save, and a couple of other shots that failed to find the mark. Unrepresentative.
The game was lost in midfield, essentially, where we left great big holes in the first half. I’m gutted, but I’m already plotting what needs to be done for the rematch, whenever that is. It had better be soon.
And goalkeepers, strapping centre-halves or shit-kicking midfielders in the Exeter area, get in touch!
NJS
3/26/2004 10:38:00 am
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