Old Challoners Old Parkonians
AFA Senior Cup 1st Round
Team: Sunil, Walsh, Redders, Gardner, Dias, Fallon, Lowes, Allen, Croucher, Fuz, Baker, Weisz
Score: 2:0
Scorers: Fuz (2)
Att: 1 Pissed abusive ginger!
Round one of the AFA senior cup saw Challoners travel the length and breadth of the Home Counties to play Old Parkonians in Ilford. After playing the local blind team last week we knew this was going to be a different kind of encounter - especially as our opponents were the first of a nine team club. Concentration was a must on what was an exceptionally large pitch.
The team remained unchanged apart from Allen stepping into Powellie's large boots in the middle of the park with Weisz remaining on the bench nursing a dodgy knee.
The game started well with Allen and Lowes playing some nice stuff in the centre and the team genarally taking advantage of the space on the large pitch. With the home team not really troubling us early on we started to push on. A sweeping move saw us create our first scoring opportunity; Lowes picked up the ball in our own half and played it into Baker's feet on the right hand channel. Baker then played a delightfull first time ball which sent Fuz flying down the right wing who spotted Fallon racing into the area, a great ball was delivered only for fallon to slice wide with his left peg. This gave Challoners some confidence and the next opportunity fell again to Fallon. A long ball up field from Gardner got the flick on it deserved from Baker which sent Fallon bearing down on goal with the ball on his right side ( Oh Dear!) with an attempted lob with his left Fallon sent the ball high and very very wide of their right hand upright. This confirmed what most of us already knew : Fallon's right foot is as much use to Challoners first team as a step aerobic class would be to Stephen Hawking!
Aside from a few long distance attempts from Parkonians which were comfortably handled by Sunil we went into the break with the upper hand but with the score still at 0 -0.
The second half started with us addressing some of the problems of the first. We cut out some of the long balls and started to get the midfield involved in the game. After some scrappy exchanges we started to apply some pressure to their goal. The breakthrough looked inevitable. It came from us working the ball across their box, Allen side-stepped and found a great slide rule ball through to Croucher on the right side of the area. He accidently delivered a pinpoint ball to the far post where Fuz (with the help of a push) rose like a salmon and headed the ball into the bottom corner on 70 ish minutes. 1 - 0.
We then pushed on again and 10 minutes later we won a corner. With the big guns coming up from the back Fallon and Fuz decided to take a short corner. This was met with infuriated cries of 'Noooooooo' from Lowes and Gardner. What the hell do we know? Fuz skipped past the first defender and ran acros sthe edge of the box and Lashed the ball into the bottom corner from 18 yards. 2 - 0 and game over.
the back Fallon and Fuz decided to take a short corner. This was met with infuriated cries of 'Noooooooo' from Lowes and Gardner. What the hell do we know? Fuz skipped past the first defender and ran acros sthe edge of the box and Lashed the ball into the bottom corner from 18 yards. 2 - 0 and game over.
This was a good, well disciplined performance and even though we should have scored more we were never really in trouble. We march on into the second round where our opponents will be Polytechnic FC at home on the 12th November. Bring it on!
Man of the match: Fuz - Two excellent finishes!
