Mighty 4's, 4 - Stratford, zilch

Match Report by Tony Dwyer

Sils were determined coming into this game, though somewhat nervous having dropped 5 points in the previous two matches. The draw in the last game versus Edgb being particularly hard to take given Andy Rush's disastrous p. flick miss, and then Yogi's inability to cover a simple ball to his far post.

But these catastrophic failings forgiven, 13-man Sils were in no mood to take any less than 3 points from this game. First minute, though, and Stratford smacked our post, and the "effing wake up" calls echoed around the pitch. Stratford had started well, and used this grabbed initiative to boss the game for the first ten minutes. But slowly, Sils began to find their men, and a first effective attack resulted in a short corner on 14 minutes, and after a longer-than-would-later-be-tolerated-by-Umpire-Quentin huddle, Rushy banged the ball in the back of Stratford's net.

Against the run of play, but Sils were now "at it", and another great attack saw shots from both Andy R and K Willetts saved well by their apparently female keeper (blame Pat Lane for this early insight).

We were now holding our own in the game, although no more than that, but a second short resulted in a second goal. Another great execution by the injection/smack-it team of JH and AR saw the ball rebound to an in-form Happy, who slammed it in! Clinical by Sils on 24 minutes.

Another spell of even-stevens, a third short for Sils, and an even more clinical third goal! Out from JH, switch left from AR, goal by Alex Willetts. We're good at short corners these days - it's official!

Half time, three nil, and Stratford could justifiably wonder quite how they found themselves in this position, having probably had 50% of the possession. But they had few actual chances, showing just how well our unsung guys at the back and in midfield had negated the threat of their 12 year old star striker. Basic good marking, basic good positional play, marshalled as ever by "The Hairdryer" (SB), had been the sound platform for an unspectacular, but solidly effective performance.

Second half, "Start fast" said The Hairdryer. Short corner Sils - no comment on it in Pat's notes. Come on guys, what are you playing at!?

Then a first short for Stratford found Sils to be again just too well organised, and too well positioned, with Craig in place on the line (unlike last week!) to clear the ball away. We bossed the game now, Stratford's spirits having dipped, and a now inevitable fourth goal came from maintained pressure in their D, which they finally just couldn't resist, and Rushy scored, ending up in the net, along with the ball.

Four - Nil, from just sheer good organisation and team commitment - and hence our organiser, Batesy, gets man-o-the-match, though Happy is unfortunate, as this was probably his best game for Sils.

(Next week Old Hales - what're the chances of Hacker H staying on the pitch for the whole of that one? Ha!)

Post Script

1/ "Beer bother in the bar" - nothing to do with the rugby boys, more a logistical "faux pas" at the bar when Dave incorrectly passed Keith a half pint of Tunnel Vision (the current micro-brewery offering) instead of Brew XI. "No bother" said Keith, as he supped on his alternate ale. "That's mine!" claimed Craig, "I wanted a half of Tunnel Vision!". "You've just had 70 minutes of that" came the acerbic response from Rushy's wingman.

2/ MOM : a difficult one, but on this occasion it goes to Shaun Bates.