OTFC III’s 1 – 7 Old Thorntonians V’s
The one thing you need when going up against a team 2nd in the league is your strongest team. That ‘one’ thing was the first of many things that Tiffs 3’s didn’t have this week.
Another thing missing was 11 players. During the run up to the game almost all of the Tiffs sides were struggling for players, so when the call went out for reinforcements the answer was more muted than normal. With a lot of begging and borrowing, the 3’s managed to steal a few club legends from the Vets and pushed their numbers up to the heady heights of 11.
Another, another thing missing was a goalkeeper. We didn’t have one all week, found one on Friday evening and managed to hang on to him all the way until 3 hours before kick off, when we carelessly lost him again. Back down to 10.
So, a bit more begging. Luckily, one of the 4’s had half an hour to kill before their game kicked off and a passing Vets goalkeeper showed up early for his game, so the Tiffs were up to the dizzying heights of 12. Yes, it would leave us back down to 10 for the 2nd half when they needed to leave for their own matches, but even more begging is never beneath the Tiffs 3’s captain. The 1’s game was due to finish towards the end of the 3’s game, so they promised a couple of completely knackered players to help us see out the last 20 or so minutes of the game. So a plan was formed – start with 12 (well, 11 and a sub), drop down to 10 at half time, drop down to after an hour when someone had to leave early and then go back up to 11 for a rousing last 15-20 minutes.
Another, another, another thing missing was a midfield. The problem with begging for players, is that you’re not really allowed to be a chooser. Getting 11 players out (well, 14 on the team sheet and anywhere from 9 to 11 on the pitch) doesn’t guarantee a well balanced side and all the talk before the game was what formation to play, how many square pegs in round holes is feasible and would a 3-1-6 formation work? A more practical 4-3-3 was decided upon, and 3 brave Tiffs volunteered themselves as midfielders as we finally took to the field.
Considering the thrown together nature of the team, the first half was surprisingly competitive. Thorntoniains rattled the bar with a header from a corner and Tiffs hit the post after a mazy run and shot from debutant Luke Jeffrey. Sadly, midway through the half Thorntonians managed to break the deadlock with a well taken goal, before quickly adding a second. It briefly looked like Thorntonians might run away with the game, but Tiffs steeled themselves and got through to the half with the game still up for grabs.
Half time saw our temporary goalkeeper head off to his own game and after having lost our loaned 4th teamer 15 minutes earlier (I hope you’re keeping up), Tiffs faced the prospect of going out for the second half with only 10 men. As penance for failing to get enough players to the game Tiffs skipper Conrad Bell was forced to don the gloves for the remaining 45 minutes.
Another, another, another, another thing missing was any cover in defense. With the skipper now in goal the back four got shuffled around and Tiffs went out in the 2nd half with 3 square pegs in defence to go with the 3 in midfield and 1 in goal – 7 square pegs out of 10, a pretty impressive pegging achievement.
For 15 minutes or so the 10 men of Tiffs managed to keep their shape well and kept Thorntonians chances to a minimum. However, the extra man was inevitably going to make the difference and Thorntonians found themselves camped in the Tiffs half, with only the occasional counter attack to deal with. When Tiffs dropped down to 9 players (as, incredibly, someone had to go home early) it all became a bit too much to handle and Thorntonians were able to capitalise and make the game safe. A flurry of 4 quick goals put them out of sight and complacency was the only remaining threat that they had to worry about.
Luckily, just as Tiffs heads were about to drop, the cavalry arrived in the shape of 2 knackered 1st team players. Fresh from 90 hard minutes in their own game they came into our match with the brief to simply make up the numbers and maybe get some pride back in the last quarter of the game.
After a few minutes of acclimatising to having 11 players again, Tiffs were finally able to get a small foothold in the game. Their hard work paid off when Joe Campbell was at hand to score at the back post from a set piece and the muted celebrations were more out of tiredness than lack of enjoyment. There was just enough time left in the game for a comedy of errors to let Thorntonians score a 7th, but after the hard work the team had put in during the game, no-one had any energy left to point fingers.
The final score ended a convincing 1-7 to Thorntonians, but if you just take the parts of the game where Tiffs had 11 players, then the scoreline was a much closer 1-3.
A big shout out to the club for rallying round to help the 3’s get a squad out, with particular love going to the Vets, the 4’s and the 1’s for shifting things around on the day.
POTM: Joe Campbell