Lancing Old Boys v OC 3rd XI

Result 1-2



Boom! What a way to bury the ghosts of our opening fixture against Haberdashers with a very competent 2-1 victory against a solid Lancing side. We started superbly and for the first 45 minutes there was only one team in it. We kept the ball down, played it about beautifully and tore them apart on numerous occasions. Rich, Al, Frenchy and Kibbs all came close early on as we passed the ball slickly from defense to attack, creating opportunities with ease. But it wasn't until James Moss stepped up after 20 minutes that we made our mark with what will go down in history as the best tackle goal ever scored. Mosser will argue he meant it, others will claim it was a tackle that somehow ended up a spectacular goal, either way it was an absolute belter and deservedly put us 1-0 up. Spurred on by Mosser's accidental brilliance, we pursued our second, which dutifully arrived courtesy of a quick snapshot finish from James Kibbey off a Dolly Parton throw after some hesitancy amongst the Lancing defense. 2-0 half time. Job done? Not quite. After a massive lecture about keeping a clean sheet from the gaffer at half time, he then bizarrely decided to change the back 4? This of course only served to add some totally unneeded confusion to a defense that hadn't put a foot wrong for two and a half matches and Lancing were quick to capitalize. Suddenly back in the game at 2-1 and growing in confidence, Lancing started to play a bit more football. In the past, we've been guilty of succumbing to this kind of pressure, panicking on the ball, kicking everything away, not keeping possession. But there's a new belief in this squad. We didn't panic. We didn't kick the ball away. We didn't concede possession. Instead we protected the ball, defended stoically and continued to create chances at the other end. In fact we should have wrapped it up when George headed in off a Rudden free-kick, only to yet again be wrongly judged offside by an aging Dave Mann. In the end we managed to dig deep and hold out for an excellent and thoroughly deserved 3 points. Oli Plummer put in a superb and very intelligent performance on debut in goal and was supported brilliantly by yet another great defensive display. Decisive, cool under pressure and using the ball well, our defense this season has been a far cry from where we were last year. Angus, George and Ryder were as composed as ever and Moseer put in the stint of a lifetime for 45 minutes at left back. But the standout performance came again from Wilkinson - experience and maturity personified and very unlucky not to be this week's man of the match. Dolly and Ben were as always the unsung heroes as they continue to dominate midfields with their fitness and rather weird gay telepathy on the pitch. Rich, Kibbs and Frenchy worked tirelessly all afternoon, offering width, speed and spunky delivery and it was great to see Jacko back after what seems (and looked) like years. But this week's Man of the Match goes to Al Fenton. He was an absolute menace all day - won everything in the air, held the ball up brilliantly and linked up superbly with Rich and the midfield to create a plethora of chances. He hounded their defense all day, not giving them a moment on the ball and was very unlucky not to be on the scoresheet.