It was a positive start from City in this home fixture against Copplestone United on a cold morning at KGV.The well attended fixture by supporters of both sides was played on freshly mown drying ground and saw some competitive football plus one or two points of law for the purists to discuss.
City played towards the car park in the first half and the chances were at halftime that they might rue the missed goal opportunities.With a couple of players unavailable the team relied upon a roll on substitution system and had Alfie,new gloves sported,between the sticks.City played so well though that it was fully 15 minutes in before he was forced to make a save.
It did seem one way traffic for much of the half as City pressed and effort after effort went close.Tom D rifled in what was to be the only official goal of the game after about 10 minutes play following closely on from a Tom O chance.Dan,Will A,Dylan and Will P all had shots agonisingly close to increasing the goal tally,as was a Cameron freekick.Just before the half ended the crowd were treated to the optical illusion of the ball passing through the City net and 20 yards behind it as a Copplestone player hit an up and under: or over,when the trick was revealed by Penn and Teller.
The second half was always going to see more Copplestone pressure and to some extent it did.But City held on,refusing to be caught on the break with the defenders keeping Alfie cold and away from the ball.Josh cleared off the line to avert the biggest scare of equalisation.
City were able to get into their opponents half though,goal drop kicks being seized upon by the midfield for passing and distribution and Charlie finding right side space and Sam left side.When Oner started a move,the ball broke free and a City shot rattled in off a defender for an own goal,dissallowed for offside.This was a decision that John explained the academics off to all after the game,and one which would have exercised the minds of the Match of the Day panel well into the night.
Man of the Match,for relentless running,tackling,shrugging off harsh tackles and exemplifying the spirit of the team,was Ewan.
Lawyers,experts,interested parties,uninterested parties.....
There are some good learning points on this,especially on the PDF.
Point 14,on the PDF of this,perhaps demonstrates the source of major misunderstanding,and shows why flagging as soon as a player is in an offside position but not guilty of the offside offence,frustrates our expert coach the most.
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