County Cup

Old Tiffinians IIIs 0 – 4 Old Blues IIs

I’ll keep this one short, nobody likes to dwell on a defeat for too long.  The runup to the game is probably a familiar one to many; a lack of players was followed by some begging and borrowing before, finally, eleven players were magicked out of the ether ready to play.

It didn’t last long.

One pulled calf muscle in the warmup (always a risk, we should follow the lead of A. Belemet and show up 5 minutes before kick off and skip it) and Tiffs were already down to 10.5 players.

The game was always going to be tough, up against a team from the division above, but starting with an injured player threatened to turn it into a test of character instead of a football match.  Tiffs started off well enough, even having a few moments of threatening Old Blues goal.  Sadly, two identical goals by Old Blues mid-way through the half put them in control. An inswinging corner wasn’t dealt with and some tall lad at the back post scored, what seemed to be, the only 2 goals of his entire life.  Tiffs still had something to contribute before the half ended, sadly it was just another pulled calf muscle.

The half time team talk focused on keeping our shape, working hard for each other and seeing if we could sneak a goal to get back in the game.  J. Campbell bravely emerged back onto the pitch, with instructions of being a roadblock and Tiffs were up by half a man again – 9 fit, 2 hobbling.

The second half started well enough, with Tiffs keeping to what was said at half time, before the inevitable struck.  In a nice little change to the other injuries, H. Hatch pulled his hamstring and not his calf, and Tiffs found themselves down to 8 fit players and 2 walking wounded.

It was a long final 30 minutes, with Tiffs mostly just defending for their lives or shamelessly wasting time (Whispered conversation: “I might go down” – “are you ok?” – “yeah, just wasting time”).  But they stuck to their task well, and it was only through tiring legs that Old Blues were able to score two more late goals and run out comfortable winners.

POTM: Ellis Cartlidge-Llewellyn