OTFC III’s 3 – 5 Brent III’s

After a few weeks off Tiffs returned to action with a tough game against top of the table, and already promoted, Brent.  Having not played for a while it was important to have a good warm-up and get back in the swing of things, so Tiffs spent 15 minutes wildy firing freekicks into next week.

The pre-match team talk focused on such tactical genius such as;  making sure that Brent “knew they were in a game” and “scoring some goals”.  There was some discussion about how up for it Brent might be, and the opportunity to take advantage if they took their eye off the ball – pun, very much intended.

The opening 10 minutes seemed to suggest that Brent very much did have their eyes on the ball.  Tiffs struggled to keep hold of the ball and a couple of close calls from set pieces suggested a long afternoon was ahead of them.  But Tiffs are made of sterner stuff than that.  Tiffs started to get their act together and protect the ball a little more and started to push themselves out of their own half.  Inevitably they then conceded the opening goal.  A hard pitch always comes with some unexpected bounces and bobbles and this was on show here.  A nasty bobble led to a mostly shin based touch in midfield, which would probably have been OK, except it was immediately followed by a bobble induced shin based touch in defence, and before a Tiff was able to actually get a foot on the ball Brent had seized on the chance and taken the lead.

Tiffs were determined to go down with a fight, though.  Some good work going forward was starting to work the Brent back 4, and soon paid dividends.  A slightly scuffed shot (we’ll blame another bobble, why not) wasn’t gathered by the Brent keeper and an alert Al Doe was on hand to tap in on the follow up.  In the pre-match teamtalk skipper Conrad Bell had mentioned working the keeper, as he didn’t look like their regular goalie.  Potentially an assist for good advice – we’ll see what the stats say?

This was only the start to a high scoring first half.  Brent got their noses in front again when 4 Tiffs players surrounding the ball were all unable to get a block on a strike.  Tiffs again equalised.  Some quick feet from Ali Kashan on the left wing gave him space to whip in a cross and Al Doe was again on hand for a well controlled finish. 2-2.  Sadly, there was still enough time for Tiffs to concede a soft goal from a corner and go in at the break 3-2 down.

The half time chat focused on keeping in touch with Brent, and that if we kept on playing football we could get back into this game.

Tiffs were the equal of Brent for most of the 2nd half, and with about 15 minutes to go they won a free kick in a dangerous position.  Skipper Conrad Bell and vice skipper Al Doe both stood over the ball.  There was a brief discussion about which one of them was going to score from this free-kick (just knock it to the far post, not a problem) before Al Doe was given the green light.  He dutifully knocked it into the far post and completed his hattrick.  Another assist for good advice – again, we’ll have to wait for the post match stats to see.

Sadly, that was as good as it got for Tiffs.  With around 10 minutes to go Tiffs surrendered possession in their own half and Brent scored a decisive 4th  goal.  With only a few minutes left, Tiffs searched for another equaliser but were caught on the counter and Brent wrapped up the win and another 3 points.

A strong performance from Tiffs, but nothing to show for it.  The trend all season has been to play well and lose against the best teams, something that is very frustrating, but at least a sign of being a decent side.  With just 2 more games to go this season, if Tiffs can play like this again (although I think we all know that it will be a different side again for both of the next two games) then they should be able to end the season on a high.

POTM: Al Doe