Result 2-2
Squad:
Phil Bray
Luke H
Pat F
Kev B
Bernie M
Stevie P
Tom Bonsall
Andy C
Andy
Nick Ashman
Ronn M
Nigel R
AWOL:
Jamie J
Jamie Mac
Well you've all seen a really positive report from Phil Bray about the game and he was really chuffed with the result.
Personally I thought you were all pretty crap and could have done a lot better.Can't have any of you thinking you're
actually half decent at footy.
Watford turned up (on time) with 16 players and we turned up (not on time) with a whopping 12 players. Not bad when the
team list the day or so before was 16-17 players. Good too see the type of commitment we have from our players.
A fine system will soon be brought into place which means that anyone who doesn't turn up at the last minute will have to
pay £5 towards drinks at the next team function / worldnet. I'm only saying that as I'm a cheapskate, mind you I hardly pay
for any drinks anyway.
Jamie J who had contacted Phil Bray the day before to ask what time kick off was hadn't turned up because his favourite soft
toy was suffering from chicken pox and he had been up all night nursing it.
Jamie Mac who was going to play in goal hadn't turned up because he might have been suffering from chicken pox. No one
actually knows because his mother didn't have a clue where he was.
The general consensus was that both Jamie's had let the team down and had been drinking too much. They have both agreed to
buy a round at the next team function (honest!).
So that meant that we were going to struggle a bit as it was another hot day and Watford looked like a good side. We had
a debutant (Andy C) and Ronn was playing his second game for the IF's after a few years off. Tom B, Andy and Nigel were all
playing their first games of the season as well. You know we only had 12 players and I can't even remember who started
the game.
Nick A in goal, Kev B on the right, Phil Bray and Tom Bonsall in the middle with Steve P on the left. In the midfield
we had Nigel R on the right,Ronn and Bernie in the middle and Andy C on the left. We had the other Andy and Luke H up front.
That's a new centre half, a completely new midfield and a new striker. It was going to take a little getting used to.
This time we kicked off in the opposite direction to Fosse Park and we still had no Chris Foster to blast the ball towards
the changing rooms 3 pitches over.
It wasn't long before we worked out that Watford were a very good passing side and they had a very strong midfield. They
were making things particularly hard for us as it was a hot day and with only 12 players we were going to run out of energy.
Watford were also after revenge for that guy with the dodgy accents shocking career threatening challenge at Worldnet
that cost them the tournament.
Said dodgy accented bloke was too chicken to turn out for us today and come to think of it I've not heard from him at all
(not that I'd know what he was on about anyway).
Watford had a couple of fast wingers and their central midfield was very strong and by that I mean whenever I got within 5
yards of their centre midfielder I bounced off him and ended on the ground. I've never known someone to shield the ball
so well especially as I'm such an incredibly strong player.anyway enough about me again.
Watford were doing a fantastic job of building from the back.They were passing the ball about and making us do the running.
They were also switching the ball from wing to wing well. This meant plenty of work for our entire team and everyone had to
conserve their energy.
We were defending very well and Nick in goal was actually coming off his line for a change and collecting the ball well. The
communication at the back was excellent and it needed to be. With the Watford team using their wings a lot Stevie P
and Kev B were being turned a lot. It was so funny watching Stevie P turning let alone chasing back after the winger!!!
Seriously Stevie P and Kev did an excellent job, backed up by the two wingers Andy C and Nigel, to stop a lot of the
attacks down the wings. Even if they weren't going to get to the ball they put enough pressure on the Watford players so
they tried to cross the ball earlier than what they would have liked. This often meant them over hitting the ball or
when it got in the middle Tom Bonsall or Phil Bray were there to head the ball away. The IF's were defending from the front
and everyone was doing their job.
When we got the ball it was being banged forward for Luke H and the other Andy to run on to. They were doing a job when
they got the ball and that gave everyone else a breather. Luke H in particular was causing the Watford defence all sorts
of problems with his pace and they had 2 - 3 players on him every time. He still beat them often enough. Pity he couldn't
shoot from a distance to save himself.
Now with all this attacking being done by Watford they were bound to get a good goalscoring opportunity. And they scored to
make it 1-0 with a little bit of Phil Bray's assistance. Phil went in for a challenge and he won the tackle, unfortunately
the ball richocheted to the Watford player and past Phil. The Watford striker ran on and finished brilliantly giving Nick
no chance in goal. If truth be told it was a pathetic attempt at a challenge / clearance from Phil and he needs to be more
commited next time. 1-0 to Watford.
Watford were bouyed by this and started to attack more trying to go for the jugular. The IF's didn't allow this though and
defended brilliantly cutting everything off. Watford's shots were going wide or Nick by some miracle had them covered and
we held them out for that crucial period after conceding the first goal.
And Watford weren't the only team having chances on goal. Through our good defensive work we were either sending the ball
long for our strikers to cause problems or we were working the ball out with some very good passing. We had three excellent
opportunites to score and should have put at least one of them away. Firstly Luke got the ball wide on the right about the
half way line. He then used his pace to get away from the Watford defence, running around about 3 players. Unfortunately
Luke doesn't have a left foot and the one remaining defender pushed Luke to the left. He kept running and running and
running and eventually he decided he should probably try a left footed shot. Well he might as well not have bothered as it
was absolutely pathetic. He practically fell over his own feet and the ball trickled to the keeper who didn't want to pick
it up as he thought he'd just been given a backpass!
The second chance was even more comical and is really funny because it didn't happen to me. Once again from a defensive
position the ball was played to Bernie, he first timed a pass to Ronn who in turn played a first time ball perfectly to
Luke on the right. Luke took 3 hours to control the ball and then played a perfect pass to Andy. With Andy now clear on
goal and with only the keeper to beat you could see that Andy got caught in fourteen minds and didn't know what exactly to
do. I guess that makes a change from Jamie J not thinking at all. Andy decided after quickly sizing things up that he
wanted to have a first time shot. Now Bernie was behind Andy at this time (admitedly about 30 yards away and too tired to
be getting any closer) and had he had the shot everyone could see the ball flying into the top right corner (honest). As
it was Andy had thought too much and he tripped over his own feet. The ball trickled to the keeper who thought that he
couldn't pick it up as he'd just got another backpass. Classic stuff and the way he fell over would have made both Damo
and John the Greek proud.
The third goalscoring chance came not out of skill but more out of the fact that Nigel was so tired he couldn't be arsed
doing anything else! With the ball passed to Nigel who for some reason was in the middle of the park. Nigel by now was
really panicking and thought that there were Watford defenders coming towards him so he did the only thing he could think
of at the time and had a shot. Knowing Nigel, these normally go towards the corner flag but run out of steam. On this
ocassion he seemed to hit the ball very well and from 25 yards out it sailed towards goal. With the Watford keeper scared
and wondering why he hadn't got a nice backpass the ball was going for the top left corner for almost the goal of the
season (but it never would have been obviously). Unfortunately it just went wide but it was a great effort. Everyone was
congratulating Nigel for the effort and he just shrugged his shoulders - not out of modesty of course, just because he
knew what a bloody fluke it would have been.
By now it was getting close to half time and we wanted to go in without conceding another goal. We needed a rest as well.
The team was also now down to 11 players with Kev Batchelor seemingly dying on the sideline. Looked like he needed an
oxygen mask - he wasn't the only one.
The team continued to defend well and Bob blew the half-time whistle which was good. Bob then disappeared (which was also
good!). We had some time to rest and Phil was telling everyone to keep on going. Most people couldn't get back up let alone
keep on going. And poor old Kev was still dying on the sideline.
Much the same was required for the second half.
I guess I should mention what a good job Pat had been doing in the first half - especially as he was so bloody awful in the
previous game.
So we kicked off the second half with poor Kev still dying on the sideline and the other eleven of us dying on the field.
Watford were still playing very good football and passing the ball about but with our team still defending very well from
the front and everyone giving their all they were struggling to break down our side. Steve Parker was still covering for
the useless left midfielder only he forgot that Bernie was in the middle of the park so he was in fact insulting Andy C.
Phil Bray had turned into Micky Adams (note MA was still Leicester's manager then and fortunately the useless git is now
Covs manager) and was swapping everyone around left right and centre. With our players not being the most intelligent it
must have been very hard work for them to be playing left back, right back and right midfield all in the space of about 10
minutes. But he could get away with that because all the poor players were on the wings and fullback positions. Phil made
sure that the classy players were in the middle of the park where it counted. He made sure he was there as well.
I have to mention that Phil made a goal-line clearance because he wouldn't let me get away with it. The Watford striker
went in for a one-on-one having left Phil in his wake. Nick made a good partial save and took out the striker at the same
time. The ball then trickled at a very very slow pace towards goal (it must have been slow - Phil caught up with it!).
Phil got to it just in time putting it away for a corner and keeping us in the game. It was a good clearance as a lot of
players would have stopped earlier.
We were still having the chances at the other end forced mainly by the pace of Luke. Luke however kept doing all the hard
work and then doing naff all when he got close to goal.
Andy (the other Andy) wanted to make up for falling over his own feet in the first half so tried a bit harder this time and
did loads better. This time he tripped over his own feet twice. Getting the ball wide on the right Andy once again thought
too much and he foolishly looked up. This was his first mistake. His second mistake was to move as he stood on the ball -
but let's give him credit. He managed to stay on his feet and that was impressive. Regaining his composure he then stood
on the ball again, this time falling over, once again rather comically. Unfortunately the ground didn't swallow him up.
The game was very even and it would have taken something special for another goal to be scored. It DID take something
special. A fantastic piece of work by Phil Bray. The ball was crossed in by the Watford winger and Phil Bray didn't know
what to do with himself. Normally he is yelling "AWAY!" but on this occassion he just went for an almighty clearance.
Unfortunately he thought he was playing for the main LCFC team and he mis-kicked the ball. It went flying into the corner
of the net with Nick Ashman standing like a statue in goal. We were now down 2-0 and Phil Bray looked like he'd just
commited murder or something. Cheer up mate, it's only a game (apparently) and when you look at it, we all thought it was
one heck of a finish. I think the word of advice would be stick to using your left foot if at all possible.
So 2-0 down and only about 30 minutes to go. We needed something quick. You couldn't get much quicker than scoring from
the kick-off! We kicked off, passed the ball a few times and Luke ran down the left, cut in and fired the ball past the
keeper. An excellent finish and a great goal. Now the joke was on everyone else as of course we all now know that Phil
deliberately scored the own goal so as to make Watford relax a little, thus we could score a goal and get confidence from
it and go on and possibly win. He's a canny captain Phil is.
We were now going for at least a draw and battling hard. Watford were still getting chances but the IF's defence was being
well backed up by the midfield who were covering the space in front. We knew that Luke would get another chance at some
point and sure enough he did. With about 5 minutes to go in the game,after a great pass by Nigel Ritchie (who was too
knackered to do any more running) Luke broke through and powered the ball home to bring the scores level on 2-2. What
celebrations after this goal as it was so deserved for all the hard work put in.But still 5 minutes to go and this was
Leicester!
There was still time for another Phil Bray right footed swipe. Almost the same consequences as the last time. Everyone
took a deep breath and the look on Phil's face was priceless as the ball just creaped past the keepers right-hand post.
I mean it touched the paintwork it was that close. Oh well - what fun.
Fortunately for us that was the end of the game and it was great to finish with a draw. A well deserved result. A game
where everyone gave 100% and more and there were a lot of very tired football players there. Phil Bray was tired too.
Man of the match - Andy C, if not for the entertainment value.
Now writing reports for each player is kind of difficult as I'm finishing this report from memory over 6 months after the
game but here goes - I reserve the right to make things up although as you all know, I never do that. This is partly
taken from Phil Bray's report straight after the game so that means it is complete rubbish. I think you'll work out what
he said (start of each rating) and what I've added.
Nick A - what a performance in goal - his catching of crosses in particular was superb. He still conceeded two goals and
he should know Phil B well enough to have anticipated his shot on goal.
Defence
Tom B - played full 90 mins as centre half and had his best game ever for the Foxes by a mile. Won everything in the air.
Still lacking a bit of pace and listens to Phil Bray too much.
Kev B - did as he always does, stopped most of the crosses coming in and was as solid as ever. But by far his most
valuable contribution was in the coughing your guts up competition. He beat the Watford players all ends up.
Steve P - did as he always does, stopped most of the crosses coming in and was as solid as ever. Won't get any arguments
from me about the solid part. Steve is becoming increasingly disappointing as we aren't seeing so many Parker Flops at
the moment.
Pat F - did as he always does, stopped most of the crosses coming in and was as solid as ever. Well that's a nice way of
saying thank &$%^ he wasn't in goal.
Phil Bray - "gutted after scoring that own goal - ecstatic after my goal line clearance - reallly pleased though that the
Foxes had again competed when everything seemed to be against us". What a load of rubbish that is. Everything wasn't
against us - we just had Phil as centre half and Nick in goal - that's close to having everything against us but not the
same as having everything against us. It was a great goal line clearance and it was a fantastic own goal. Just imagine the
report had his other shot on goal gone in!
Midfield/Forwards
Andy C - on debut, fitted in superbly. I can't remember much about Andy C which means he was probably pretty rubbish
really. Having said that, this report is so big I haven't read it back so I could have already mentioned him.
Ronnie - on debut, fitted in superbly. Well this is rubbish too. It was Ronn's second game for us and he did pretty well,
helping to run the midfield. Only the one overhead kick this game - that's pretty slack really.
Andy (Tom's mate) - ran his heart out. Hahahaha - is that all you could say Phil? Provided great entertainment and has
some promise. He really should try and go out on the field without his two boots tied together though.
Bernie - centre midfielder on the day - was everywhere and seemed very happy when Luke bagged the 2nd goal! Well that's the
first time Phil hasn't talked rubbish. I played pretty damn well considering I was expected to run all day and I don't like
doing that. Played as a defensive midfielder and made a big difference of course. And very happy about the 2nd goal because
that is what we deserved.
Nigel R - same as Tom B - had his best game for the Foxes by a mile - made the second with a fantastic pass and nearly
opened his Foxes scoring account with a 25 yard chip - what a goal that would have been. Well we've already ascertained that
the chip was because he couldn't be bothered doing anything else and that pass was also done because he couldn't run any
further. Not a bad performance though.
Luke - Scored 2 - had 3 watford players with him everytime he got the ball but he was still too good for them to score those
2 one on one goals!!! (Luke also scored the winner at Worldnet which was the only goal they conceded all tournament - no
wonder they were pissed off at the end - they seriously thought they were going to win Worldnet!!) That is quite true but
Luke had loads of other chances he blew and he simply should have scored more. We expect so much from him now and now that
he won't be going to the next Worldnet who cares what he did in the last worldnet?! You're only as good as your next
worldnet. Luke kept running the whole game which was lucky because none of the rest of us could!
Well that's the end of a match report - I don't know if it was worth the wait. It's slightly detailed as some of my reports
are. Of course despite the fact that it is partly written 6 months after the event, it is entirely true and all characters
are based on fact.
Anyone wishing to complain will get ripped to bits the next time I write a report which will be in 2007.
Thank you - this has all cost you £2.