COWHC Mens 3s vs. Kenley Mens 4s - 12th Dec 2015

It's clichéd to be cynical at Christmas, but something about this result doesn't quite ring true... in fact there were so many jingle bells that wherever you are in the Kenley area, or should I say were, on Saturday you would have thought a carillon was falling down the stairs! You could probably have heard it 2000 miles away!

Warlingham School is a relatively short sleigh ride away from our home pitch, so the local derby element added an extra frisson to the last match before we all start driving home for Christmas. Ordinarily, at a moment like this, we would concentrate on our normal game, try not to do somethin' stupid and keep calm. Unfortunately we started more like Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west) than anything else and tried to force the game a bit too much.

Yes, we did have a lot of possession early on, but couldn't make it count. Our passing was letting us down a bit, wherever you are on the pitch, if the ball is played too far in front of you then the move will break down. We were all having an off day, Corny up front was more like Mr Blobby than his usual clinical self, and the oppo slowly began to gain a foothold in the game, aided significantly by three or four "stand-out" players who began running rings round our midfield and defence.

We did manage to take the lead though. A bit of pressure on the opposition D saw the ball come to Dav on the edge, who for once said "that's my goal" and drilled the shot into the far corner It's a mad world sometimes!

By half time we were down 2 players from the squad, with Hoops and Cleashy just walkin' in the rain to the sidelines, unable to continue. I'm not sure either will be saying "I feel fine" soon...
The call in the team talk was "we can work it out" - sharpen up when in possession and defensively stop the waltzing opposition (beating 5 players at this level, really?) from getting them back into it.

Sadly, it turned out to be less the 12 days of Christmas and more the 12 men of Kenley in the second half, as suddenly a number of decisions started being given in predominantly one direction.

Their equaliser came from a free hit that left Phil in goal so incensed that I thought he was going to start killing in the name of COWs. A free hit was taken from well away from where we thought the offence was committed (first one counted, apparently), allowing one of the bellboys to run through at pace into the D and finish.

This did rattle us slightly and although it wasn't always on my mind, I think we were wondering can we fix it? We were still creating half chances, but as earlier in the game, they just weren't quite coming off.

Sadly we were then punished for our sloppiness as the opposition won a dubious short corner while John (of all people) was off the pitch for a green card. The ball was played back to the injector who managed to find a gap between Phil and Julian.

We could stay another day playing a game like that and not get back into it. And so the final whistle went and we had suffered only our 3rd loss of this half of the season.

Never mind boys, when you believe, anything can happen and it's been a pleasure playing with you all so far this season. Let's not let this result make it a blue Christmas, instead let's have a wonderful Christmas time and pick up again in January!
MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY!