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YC&AC, Sat 17th December. On a great sunny, but cold day, Barbarians and Stoneds faced off for what was going to be one of the more important games in the Barbs season.
Great news came early on when the Ref. asked if Barbarians could supply an extra linesman as the Stoneds had only 9 players. The Barbs were happy to oblige.
The Barbs themselves were struggling for numbers themselves earlier that week and a lot of last minute favors and offers of free beer were made to get some stand in players. With the above in mind, Barbs had been given a bit of a let off fielding their most 'hybrid" team of the year to date.
In Goal was Sato with Hideki, Danny, Ferg and Austin across the back, in the middle was Richard, Gaafar, Bash and Hiro, with Hussein and John D upfront. On the bench was John Howell, Manabu-san and Hakeda-san.
In what was a very scrappy affair, there were no clear chances early on and Barbs never really made the extra two men count. There were lots of loose balls in the midfield with the Stoneds players putting in the extra effort to get a piece of them. After 25 minutes, a very well taken free kick on the half way line from skipper Ferg, split the Stoneds defense and was weighted perfectly into the path of the hard charging right back Hideki, who took one touch and then slotted neatly past the Stoneds keeper, 1-0. The rest of the first half finished with the Stoneds pushing for an equalizer, but a solid display from the Babas back four kept them at bay.
The second half saw Stoneds run out of steam a bit and Hiro and Gafaar working harder in the midfield to keep control of the ball. Babas at this point were happy to sit back and protect the lead and just looking to counter. A nice ball into the box from Gaafar was met first by Richard but the Stoneds had three men in the box to block has path, it fell to John H who also couldn't find a way through and then back to Richard only to see the Stoneds clear from his trusty right boot. The Stoneds managed to put together a couple of good attacks, with their number 9 showing quick feet and beating 2 men, but they struggled to put enough men in the box and never looked like they would score. Danny and Ferg both needing particular mention for snuffing out everything the Stoneds could muster.
All in all a scrappy affair with Barbs left feeling happy that the Stoneds didn't turn up in force.
Man of the Match: Danny Lubben
Report – CR
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