Another slant on our victory over FC Talbot courtesy of Fiss
V’s FC Talbot
Venue – Common Edge

After last week’s loss a win today against FC Talbot was vital. With a full compliment of players for the Gaffer to choose from all he had to do was turn up on time.

We set ourselves - Ross in nets. Strong looking back four of Scholes, Macca, Greeny and Nico. Engine room, Mercer, Ben, Fiss and Jeff. Up front, the usual partnership, Sean and Wozzer. With a bench made of Kevlar waiting in the wings the starting 11 knew anything short of a great game would see them replaced.

Off we went kicking in to the wind for 45 minutes, starting the brighter of the two teams. Wozzer came close with a decent hit from 30 yards; the keeper did his best to get out of the way, the ball was almost atomized as it hit the upright.

Talbot hit back a couple of times, getting behind the back four with the good old long ball, not really threatening but held the ball well for moments. Overall they were condemned to half an hour pegged back in their own half.

We did not take our chances in the first half and we were eventually punished for not taking advantage of some award winning comedy defending. A dubious hand ball in our box was given against Macca, the ref pointed to the spot and it was Ross V’s Pen Taker, my money was on the pen taker and he did not let me down. 1-0 Talbot

The heads stayed up and we pressed the Talbot harder than a remote control with low batteries. Hard work is always rewarded. We won a corner on the left which Mercer took short, after a one – two the ball was pinged in to the box and finished by Wozzer.
One each and in for half time, the common cry was we need to finish our chances and the next goal has to be ours.

We got going kicking with the wind. The second goal came our way sooner than expected from back to top form Sean Lonsdale. A cool finish past the keeper completed a very nice move from the Excelsior, 2-1 us.

We had the measure of Talbot; they were out witted, out foxed and out played for the rest of the game. As expected more Excelsior goals followed. The first a free kick from Fiss, taking his tally to 4, Wozzer and Sean got another one each to finish the game 5-1.
Final Score 5-1
Man of the match – Nico
Moment of the game – Finding out Greeny’s left peg is prosthetic. Couple of moments for the Christmas DVD from the big man today.

Ratings
Ross – 6 – Little to do
Scholes – 7 – Made light work of it
Macca -7- Good game, got emotional with the ref but the block off the line was vital
Greeny – 6 – Lucky to get a 6
Nico – 9 – Defended well and got forward well, great game
Jeff – 7 – Best game all season and still only in 3rd gear
Ben – 7 – Worked hard, pressed them right back every time they tried to come out
Mercer – 7 – Involved in pretty much everything attacking
Sean – 8 – Best game so far, back to pressing the defenders and two good goals
Wozzer – 8 – Wozzer + ball at his feet = goal
George – 7 – Not much time on the pitch, steadied a youngish goal thirsty ship as soon as he stepped on. Great introduction
Huntelaar- 7- Saw a lot of the ball in what little time he had on it and did pretty well
Dezzy – 6- Only got a couple of touches.

FC Brun grove on Sunday, undefeated so far, at our home pitch, the place where 2B teams come to die.

We know the pitch will be hard for them to adapt to, just like it was for us, so we must make the most of this time and put the game out of sight by the time they do. There will be people out of position, poor long balls and plenty of flapping and we have to put them to sword.
Discipline in our positions and working hard for each other will be the key to all 3 points.

Fiss