|
Hachioji Park, Sat 4th February. To paraphrase Lindsey, if the last few performances were Middlesborough then this one was certainly more Jupiter than Beijing.
Lining up with a keeper and back four with a combined age of 203 (and no - Adrian wasn’t playing in defence) and a bare bones team of 11 players, including debutant Mark, this one had the makings of another tough evening. Add the fact that Timmo, following Richard in December and Adrian in January, scooped the February dodgy groin award with the month a mere 4 days old and had to leave the field with 20 minutes to go it made the points even sweeter when the ref blew the full time whistle.
Copel lined up with a youngish looking team and after the first 10 minutes or so it became clear that they were not going to be a push over despite languishing just one place above the Vags going into the match. They were moving the ball around quite nicely and putting a lot of pressure on the back 4 both when they had the ball and when we had it. It was difficult early on to play out of defence and the unnecessary pressure that we were putting ourselves under was soon punished as another lost ball in midfield led to a quick 3 on 2 break and the extra man tucked it past Jyrki. 10 minutes or so gone and a familiar feeling.
To our credit though heads didn’t go down at all and midway through the half it was all square after some good work by Lindsey who finished off hoisting the ball over the keeper. You could sense the equaliser affected Copel and the Vags totally took control of the game, adding a further 2 before the break.
The second was started with a fantastic ball by Ian out to the left with the outside of the foot and when the ball came across it was eventually finished off by Dave. Even from where I was (60 yards behind in a direct line) he looked off side but Copel’s own linesman didn’t flag and the goal stood.
A few minutes later Wayne was put clear by a long ball over the top, which their defender totally missed, and having taken the ball 30 yards or so, tucked it away nicely to leave us with the unfamiliar team talk at halftime of ‘more of the same’ along with the rather more familiar rantings of Ian concerning the ref and an off the ball kick landed on him.
We had decided to try to keep things a bit more direct in the second half and were fairly comfortable for the next twenty minutes or so. Copel threatened occasionally but were limited to half chances which Jyrki dealt with comfortably. Entering the last quarter of the game, and even before Timmo went off, the Vags started to tire however and Copel caused more and more problems as the game went on, finally finishing off a very nice move with around 5 minutes remaining, which due to the ref’s elastic watch turned out to be nearer 10. Great running and battling during this period kept the Vags ahead though and special mention should go to Wayne, Graeme and Lindsey for closing down their defenders and midfielders.
A vital win then and a climb of three places in the table but just to prove that not everything can be perfect in one day the after match beer suffered a bit from the general lack of eggs. They’re going to have to get that sorted.
Report - Richard Straughan.
|