The Albion FC

Nobheads, racists and trendy warm-ups. Read Steve’s match report for the cup tie encounter against Westminster Wanderers ‘A’.

Evans: Prefers unfashionable warm-ups

Well, our warm up started in style. Doing a hamstring loosener, Vilem said that Paolo di Canio was a “nobhead and a rascist” to which Nick responded “just like you”.  Nick went on to declare that non-solo quad stretches were “too trendy” and you wouldn’t catch him doing one.

Onto the game, we were playing a third division outfit who looked like no mugs and this turned out to be the case.  Playing on a difficult rutted surface, we soon found ourselves under pressure, with much of the battle being fought in the air, a task to which Barny rose best to the challenge. 

We created a couple of early chances but after 25 minutes we gave away a free kick outside the box that was drilled low into the far corner.  A few minutes later Bill brought down their striker close to the byline as he moved away from the goal. A bit harsh perhaps but a penalty was awarded.  The same player who’d scored the free kick hit the ball low to the left and fortunately Bill got down brilliantly tostop it.  This let off seemed to gee us up a bit and we launched a few more attacks but couldn’t pull one back before the interval.

Following a rousing team talk, we started the second half more brightly.  We were quicker to the ball than previously and more aggressive.  Rich’s introduction stretched the defence and resulted in dangerous crosses, with rebounds enabling our midfielders including Dave and Vilem to strike several times at goal. 

Abbott: Felt penalty award was harsh, but Nick Evans confirmed "he'd seen them given"

After 15 minutes, another attack resulted in Steve finding the ball six yards out at a narrow angle, and he drove it underneath the keeper.  Equality restored we didn’t relax and soon created a couple more chances.  However, the oppo kept pressing too and got another penalty when Simon kicked the ball onto his own arm in trying to defend a cross.  Their penalty-taker exacerbated his nightmare by hitting the ball wide of the left-hand post.  Unlucky – haha! A few minutes later, Nick smashed in a ball right-footed from a short distance after another attack.

Job done, but few people probably came off the pitch feeling they’d played well.  We need to show a bit more composure and keep the ball on the ground to beat better teams than this.