On the day that Nostradamus predicted would be our last, Alltraders returned to Crawley leisure center to meet their latest opposition, the '7 guys called Elvis'.
Twenty four hours earlier, Alltraders had the luxury of six players to choose from for this game. Kevin had promised his long-awaited return, and Neil was '98% sure' that he would be available. It came as no surprise, therefore, when he rang one hour before kick-off to say that he was unavailable due to work commitments. No matter, we still had a squad of five...
Rather, that's what we thought. As the referee tapped his watch to indicate he could wait no further, there was still no sign of Kevin. This was quite unlike him, being one of Alltraders most consistent players.
The decision (if we ever had one) was to go ahead with the bare four players.
Strangely, Alltraders seemed to rise to the challenge, and battled hard against the full strength opposition that were as young and strong as we have come to expect so far this season. However, the missing player was exploited in an early move that left Warren Fiveash one-on-one with an unmarked attacker - the move finished quite cooly.
Straight from the restart, a quick interchange of passing from Paul and Barry found the ball threaded through to Tim Leader who cut past the last defender and slipped the it under the 'keeper with his left foot.
At this point, it looked like Alltraders were going to confound the odds and get a result from this game. The passing and running off the ball was excellent. The problem was that the opposition allowed Alltraders to work hard and simply wait their moment to yet again expose the gaping hole at the back and take the lead for the second time. Three goals in this game with only four minutes past - a goal feast seemed to be on the cards...
Although being played at nine o'clock, it was still a very sticky night, and the pace started to show on both sides. Alltraders continued to go for broke and push hard on the opposition defence, and were unlucky not to equal the scoring again when Barry was put clean through by a Tim Leader pass. This time it was the turn of the opposition 'keeper to prove his agility as he palmed the ball against the post and out for a corner.
From the kick, Alltraders were left stranded with the remaining two outfield players around the semi-circle to meet Tim's cross. The bad news was that the kick was met by an opposition defender who simply nodded the ball to an attacker that had strayed un-noticed into an un-marked position half-way down the pitch. Despite Paul's valiant efforts in retreat, was only a matter of time before the ball was placed into the path of another unmarked striker who had time and space enough to pick his spot with ease.
Any chance of a good result had now evaporated with the opposition players all behind the ball to defend their lead. It was always going to be a struggle to regain a hold on the game with one player missing. Needless to say, the lead was extended further as another failed Alltraders attack left Tim Leader thrashing from one side of the pitch to the other to try and cover the defence against two players that seemed content to watch him running around like a headless chicken, smiling as they passed the ball between themselves. Eventually they decided to put him out of his misery and buried it for number four just before the half time whistle.
Resigned to yet another thrashing, Alltraders decided that 'attack-and-be-damned' was the only real option tonight. I'm not certain if it was the heat or something, or maybe the opposition felt that they had done enough, but Alltraders started to put some good moves together resulting in more shots on target this week than the other games put together.
After a couple of minutes of the second half, were were joined by Andy Derby, a midfielder form the eleven-a-side team, who had been watching from the gym and noticed we were short. After hurried instructions to ensure that he picked a shirt from the right kit bag, he joined the action to bolster up the Alltraders defence.
From this point on the game started to change. It was now the opposition's turn to defend. In one move, a quick throw down the line was met on the bounce by Tim Leader in full stride that was hit with such power and top-spin that it dipped wickedly past the static 'keeper and against the underside of the bar back into play.
Time and again Alltraders pushed forward, but the 7 Guys Called Elvis battled hard to keep the score unchanged. So, the second half brought no further addition to the five goals scored in the first half.
Again, a defeat for Alltraders, but strangely one of their better performances. Next week we meet CLC, and if we can get a full side from the start my prediction is that we will win that one. Let's hope my predictions are better that those of Nostradamus.
Final Score:
Alltraders 1 (1) - (4) 4 The seven Guys called
Elvis
Tim Leader