Jul
31
Social One Exit the Social Cup
The Social One team took on Brooklands from the Premier League in the quarter final of the Social Cup at Hartfield Park in Forrestfield on Tuesday 27th July, 2010. On a chilly and showery night it was always going to be a daunting task for Rovers against an outfit looking for the league and cup double.
The early going saw the ball camped a lot in the Rovers half. Brooklands were playing wide on the flanks and on the occasions when the ball was knocked out of play, up stepped Brookland's secret weapon, a long throw that equaled any corner kick taken on the night. Rovers dealt well with them though, but did concede one goal from this well rehearsed set-piece and another just before the break and went in at half-time trailing 2-0.
Rovers were keen to continue with thei "counter-attacking" style displayed in the first half, but alas almost straight from the restart, Brooklands extended their lead to 3-0. Ten minutes later they had blown the lead out to 6-0, courtesy of great finishing that saw them score with almost every attack. Rovers hung in there and made the last hour competitive and forced Brookland's keeper into some good saves.
A good effort by the boys and a great effort to reach the quarter-finals, well done.
Jun
01
Social Cup Round 3, Social One vs Shamrock Rovers 30/5/10
It was a balmy Sunday afternoon as our fierce green-clad rivals Shamrock Rovers, with their often-unintelligibly funny accents, turned up to Carine. We were there to fight it out for a place in the last 16 of the cup, with Shamrock currently sitting mid table in the Metro premier division, and ourselves mired as lower table team in division 1, so we knew we were up against it from the start. The start of the game was a funny affair, as Hamersley took control, whilst Shamrock were still figuring out the size of our pitch. A long ball down the ground caught the goalkeeper in a bit of a daze and he grabbed the ball outside of the box, only to be flagged by their linesman. From the following freekick, Ross tapped it to Jack, who stroked the ball in to the bottom corner to make it one nil to the whites.
The game was being played at a hectic pace right from the off, and most of the control for the first 20 minutes came from Hamersley, with Shamrock still in a bit of disarray. It was no surprise therefore when Hamersley took a 2-0 lead. The ball was played out of defence by Doddo to Kim, who turned and ran into space to the edge of the box. Shamrock were nowhere and with a clear opportunity for himself, Kim took it with aplomb, smashing the ball home in to the bottom corner to give the keeper no chance. Hamersley were flying high.
Then the sour point of the game came, with frustrations throughout the ranks of Shamrock, there was a tangle between Kim and Shammies Number 4 and a bit of handbags ensued and then boiled over while the ref followed the ball. Number 4 lost his cool and punched Kim in the face just as the referee turned around, and was justly given his marching orders. Hamersley regrouped, but Shamrock seemed to get a bit of an injection from going down to ten men, bringing on a lively forward who added a lot to them. They were faster to the ball and first to react.
We let in 2 soft goals for Shamrock to draw level at the half time break. The half time talk was all about just playing our football and tiring them out. We knew if we settled and played how we could and fought for every ball then the game was ours. We came out strong in the second half and it wasn't long until we got our chance. With shades of offside not flagged by our red-carded friend Number 4, Dingers rounded the keeper and slotted home to make it 3-2. Then it was a back to the walls job for the final 25 minutes.
Hamersley were denied a penalty when Martin rounded the keeper and was taken down, but the referee didn't recognise his languid style and he stated he wasn't in control of the ball – apparently if you don’t have the ball then the keeper is allowed to knock you over! Hamersley also brought out 2 good saves from there keeper from freekicks as we sought to make the game safe. There were a few nervy moments in the final five minutes as Shamrock threw caution to the wind and flooded forward, but Hamersley held their nerve and fought hard to see the game out. A 3-2 win over a premiership team, and through to the last 16, I can feel a Portsmouth style cup run coming on here (note from Doddo – I don’t plan on being relegated!). Bring on the next round!
Luke Grundy
May
26
Social One vs Sutherlands Park 23/5/10
So we turned up a Sutherlands Park, on a road that Jason Akermanis would be scared to tread or talk about, Gay St. We were up against an unknown team, out in the sticks (there's a shearing shed next to the ground!) and didn't like the feel of the gusty wind blowing in our faces. Everyone was pumped and ready apart from Scott, who was A.W.O.L with our kit, and Dingers, who was A.W.O.L. with our Chris and Jerome. Scott finally managed to turn up with a comfortable 6 or 7 minutes to spare, and the game can get underway with a stern warning from the referee about bad language and late tackles, the boys got stuck into it.
We started very lively with Doddo getting a lot of time on the ball down the right hand flank. He was putting balls into the box but we were struggling to get the numbers in there for him. On his debut for the club Andrew Harrison had a golden opportunity to open his account only to see his headed effort sail over the bar. The first corner of the game caused confusion in the oppositions box with the goal keeper fumbling then making amends, only to have his defender kick it out of his hands. Unfortunately neither Dingers or Luke could add the finishing touches and the ball sailed wide. A great cross found Jack with time to shot but his first time left foot shot dragged wide of the mark. Sutherlands' enthusiastic slide tackling and 5 man midfield was causing us problems, and the pressure began to tell as a few lapses in concentration at the back throughout the first half allowed the opposition a sight on goal. Desperate slide tackles and blocks helped Hamersley to go in at the break 0-0, wondering what could have been in a half that promised so much more.
The second half started and it was Sutherlands who were quicker out of the blocks, from the half's first corner, the ball was swung in over the keeper's head and guided past Matt on the post to give them a 1-0 lead. It was slack defending at the back that cost us dear, as a man was left to head home with no challenge. The lads rallied and went up the other end, a few good chances were carved but as in the first half, frustratingly we couldn't find the back of the net. In the middle of the park it was very crowded, as such any mistake could be costly. Jerome put in a tackle to win the ball, but unfortunately was a bit late. The opposition player broke his ankle and play was stopped for 10 minutes. The challenge was very unfortunate with even the referee agreeing that there was no intent or malice, as we know at this club a simple thing can go so wrong, our thoughts go out to the player and we all wish him a speedy recovery.
After we resumed Hamersley finally had the ball in the back of the net, even though it took Jack a few tries. We looked the better of the sides and we pressed for a winner we thought may have been coming. It was certainly squeaky bum time for any of our spectators. Unfortunately our cavalier attacking got the better off our formation and we lost the ball between defence and midfield, with the ball was knocked long to split our central defenders. The Sutherlands player hit a lovely shot into the top corner, in nearly the last attempt of the game. With only seconds to go Sutherlands had a long range effort clear Jon but come back off the cross bar, sparing us more damage to our goal difference. So a 2-1 defeat, the team will be asking themselves how, in a game where we had plenty of chances and most of the run of the play.
May
14
Social One vs Morley Inter 9/5/10
Hamersley Rovers Social 1 turned up at the graveyard ground of Morley Inter, Emberton Reserve. Many a fine team has lost their way here through dodgy refereeing decisions and hopeless linesmen, so the team knew we had to keep our wits about us. Andy 'International Duties' Hawley was back to take the place of the absent Scott 'The Leach' Le Serve. Jon Lochead, our faithful (stand-in) goalkeeper, started the day well for us by forgetting the kit. He then proceeded to get his wife out of bed to bring it to us, on Mother's Day of all things...
After this little set back the game started in earnest. Hamersley started off brightly with some great passing play from back to front, with Mark 'Chopper' Tucker, and Jerome 'who likes short shorts' Georget, controlling the play through the middle of the park. The whites were having most of the play, and our greatest attacks seemed to all start from the left hand side, which is ultimately where our first goal came from. The ball found its way across the box to Pete ' Wayne Rooney' Webster, who looked to have lost the ball before swivelling and finding the roof of the net from 3 yards out for 1-0.
It happens to the best teams (and to us) and we lost our way a little bit after the goal and let in the unlikeliest of equalisers. With Ian 'John Butler' Dodson in control of a ball over the top, Jon 'Red Mist' Lochead got excited and came out of his box to the wing to clear it...straight to the Morley forward. His shot wasn't great, but was bouncing awkwardly as Jon caught up to it only to fumble it across the goal line for an unlucky goal. It was a great try, but only in the rugby sense! The first half ended a bit flat for the whites at 1-1.
A half time rousing team talk and a box of oranges (nice work Chopper) later and we came out all guns blazing. For the first fifteen minutes we were in complete control of the game, with great triangular passing routines and foraging runs down the wings, we looked as though we could do no wrong, but desperately needed that goal. We kept the pressure up and after having the ball cleared off the line and a few near misses, we eventually got there. Jack 'The Pivot/Forward' Ballard threw a quick throw in to Mark, he steadied himself and with Jack's words of encouragement ringing in his ears, unleashed a shot at goal the keeper parried, only to have Christophe 'I'm Belgian not French' Vandenhoven there to knock it in with his head. The lead had been restored.
We looked much more confident now and in control and a cross to back post found Abel 'Marathon Man' Bhebe who cleared the ball over the bar when he was supposed to be scoring. The unfortunate Luke 'should be a striker' Grundy, was getting forward and whipped in arguably the ball of the game. Abel got onto the end of it and tucked it away but the linesman was doing his best to help their defence and flagged that one. Morley were pressing, and the ref was helping too, calling a penalty for handball and then changing his mind when he noticed Doddo was 15 feet outside the box. Andy went off with a sore hammy and Mark dropped into defence, and we tried keep Jon on his toes with some shaky defending. Amongst all of this mayhem, Martin 'affected by turbulence' Kruit caused havoc down the left wing, picking up two cracking goals, hitting the post on at least four occasions, falling over a few times, being a general nuisance to the opposition, and had arguably his best game for us.
Special mention must also go to Abel, who despite missing that clear header, did eventually score for us, even though he had played a full game previously. So the game ended 5-1, keeping Matt 'I can play anywhere' McGonigle's good luck charm reign as captain afloat, 3 wins out of 3 now for the big fella. So the social ones are on a roll who knows where it will take us, with Ibex up next the world is our oyster.
Luke Grundy
