Aleks: Named in the squad, but curiously not by Jade.
Albion won a pulsating Marcus Lipton cup tie 4-3 against AFC Putney.
There was a punctual meet-up outside The Alex. Even Aleks was on-time much to the surprise of Jade who had forgotten that he’d selected him in the squad. This was an away match at the Richardson Evans playing fields. With their billiard table surfaces the pitches are possibly the best in the league. Apparently, Wimbledon used to train there back in their long-ball clogging days. No wonder the grass is in such good nick. The changing rooms even had functioning light switches. Albion have rarely known such luxury.
Anyway, to the game. After a few weeks of missionary position 4-4-2, Jade was back on the tantric sex vibe opting for a frisky 4-1-3-2. The line-up: Walt in nets, a back four of Rich, Aleks, Stew, Will, a midfield of Eddy, Jim, the other less good Will, and controversially Dave in the ‘Dave role’. Up top Charlie and Haz. Mike and Stu on the Judy Dench.
On the basis of the first 20 minutes it looked like it was going to be a torrid morning in South London. Putney’s forward line – an impossible to tackle siege tower, and a pace to burn speed merchant – were causing all sorts of mayhem. It wasn’t long before they cut open Albion’s defence and opened the scoring.
Albion slowly worked their way back into the game. Dogged work by the defence and midfield reduced the impact of the Putney attacks. Better use of the ball with Dave ‘Xavi-esta’ McPhee increasingly influential meant we started to make chances of our own.
Shortly before half-time our resolve was rewarded by an equaliser. A foul 25 yards out gave us a free kick. The curiously positioned defensive wall simply invited Harry to despatch the ball into the far corner of the goal. 1-1. Half time.
In the second half, Albion started quicker than Stewart making a bolt for a pre-match shit. While Putney were still dangerous, Albion were controlling much more of the game. Can’t remember the build-up to our second goal, but it ended with Jim shooting against the post and then finishing the rebound himself. Number three came after a great move down the right wing. Walt rolled the ball out to Rich, who worked the ball up the right hand side. We played it round in midfield for a bit and then a nice through put Harry away who lobbed the ball sweetly over the keeper. Number four was simplicity itself and the kind of goal that would’ve have had Dave Bassett purring with satisfaction. After collecting the ball, Walt arrowed a kick straight down the centre of the pitch. The centre back let the ball over his head only to find himself in a foot race with Charlie, who flicked the ball over the onrushing keeper. Simples.
While the score line made the game look comfortable, Putney continued to carve out openings and Walter was forced to make some great saves. The final 20 minutes became a bit tense as Putney made some of their chances count. But it was too little, too late.