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18/02/2000 - 18:30 - Attendance : 5
Alltraders arrived at tonight's game to find that they had actually climbed into fifth place in the league, just one point away from the qualifying pack. A good result tonight could see them with a real chance of making it to the knockout stages for the first time in two years. The even better news was that Alltraders had the luxury of all six registered players to choose from tonight. A real bonus is there ever was one.
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Sal, Jamie and Tim limber up
The first half started with an Alltraders kick. In the opening stages it looked like the game could go either way with both teams looking reasonably sharp. Alltraders made several good openings only to be let down by their dire finishing. Although having the best defensive record in the league, they have the worst attack having scored only four goals in six games.
Alltraders were nearly caught out on two occasions when apparent soft efforts crept agonisingly under the normally assured Warren Fiveash in goal. By his own admission he had difficulty gathering the ball tonight. Any slip-up in defence would almost certainly be punished by a loss of three points if Alltrader's finishing didn't improve.
Imagine our surprise then when Tim Leader was put clean through by Kevin Burton, not only to hit the ball on target but actually past the 'keeper to put Alltraders one up with just a minute of the first half remaining. Could they defend their lead through the second half?
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| Get that thing away from me | Tims shot actually hits the target | and the net bulges! |
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| This weeks 'spot-the-ball' competition | Jamie does a 'Klinsman' | The half-time chat |
The game restarted with an unchanged Alltraders side. It was agreed to swap Tim with Sal half way through the second half if the score remained the same due to Sal's strength in defence. It was more important to get the three points tonight other than risk conceding a goal.
As the match continued it became apparent that neither side was making any real progress, so the switch was finally made bringing Sal into the game to bolster up the Alltraders defence.
This move drew the opposition further forward, leaving Kevin and Jamie unmarked on the counter attack, Again, if their finishing had been better Alltraders could have increased their lead by two or three goals.
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| I'm
not certain I agree with that decision, referee. |
Jamie
still finds time to comb his hair while the ball is out of play |
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| Assured defending from Paul | Warren
shows great goal-awareness as he saves a shot that was going at least three yards wide |
Another
Alltraders chance misses the target |
Time and again, Alltraders found themselves clear on the opposition goal only to have the final shot saved or miss the target completely.
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| Kevin misses | Jamie misses |
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| Paul is knackered | Another miss from Kevin | The familiar sight of the ball going wide |
Eventually the ref called a halt to the proceedings with Alltraders one-nil victors. This result not only puts Alltraders in an even stronger position in the league, but also extends their run to four consecutive clean sheets. At least now Alltraders have a positive goal difference (even if it is only one) but compared to previous seasons this is a major improvement!
Just four more games to go in this tournament, all of which are against the top four sides. We know what we have to do!
Final Score:
Alltraders 1 (1) - (0) 0
Tim Leader