Barney lose again with 10 men

Barnstoneworth United AA1 v Maccabi Hakoah

Chris Moore’s day started like any other Sunday morning, with a sore bum and a look of confusion on his face as he tried to recollect where he had abandoned his car following a classic sesh on the Friday. The answer was to be found at Bondi Junction, where he located his car beside the gas cookers and much to the relief of The Mitchell Brothers and Ian Beale as he offered them a lift.

As he approached Hefron, he could see his BUFC team chilling in the sunshine watching the Coogee, a bad sign of things to come. Following a warm up that lacked intensity, and Gaffo complaining that he should have in fact gone out drinking the night before the game kicked off.

Within the first two minutes, a mistake down the left led to an excellent individual goal from the Maccabi player however it was clear BUFC were not yet switched on.

Disaster struck for a second time within 10 minutes as poor clearance and confused defending gifted Maccabi a second before BUFC had time to gather their thoughts after the first.

BUFC needed a reaction, and following 15 mins of chaos started to come on strong. Captain Welsh and Zlatom rekindled their on-off Pete Doherty/Amy Winehouse relationship up front and started to cause some issues for the Maccabi defenders. On the 20 min mark, an excellent driven ball from Jay ‘The Tail’ Ello landed perfectly on Walshy's head who cushioned the ball into Zlat’s path who thundered in a half volley from a tight angle. Game on.

With Barney applying all the pressure the score could have been levelled if Grant decided to go for 1 point instead of 3 in front of an open goal following a saved effort from Tom. Grant had mentioned he couldn't shoot before the match and was swiftly moved to centre half for the remainder of the game with Jay pushing into the middle.

As BUFC continued to work their way back into the game with some excellent play between Chris, Charlie and Tom down the right, Chris drilled in a ball (described by Chris as “the greatest pass I’ve ever made in my career, I meant it and everything”) to Merv who had time to overthink the situation, which is never a good thing for Merv in any part of his life, with the chance going amiss.

Chris Moore, obviously devastated that his moment of proxy glory through Merv had been missed, whipped the Magic Man off to sit in the corner and think about his sins.

Just as it looked as if Barney would get the equaliser Maccabi made their 20th substitution of the half and the fresh legs started to cause problems in the midfield. Completely against the run of play Maccabi ventured forward and after having his initial shot blocked on the edge of the box the ball fell kindly to the striker who managed to bend it into the far corner at the second time of asking. Barney didn't let the goal affect them though and continued to press right until half time.

With Merv's replacement Neil buckling his ankle after a promising start, he was back on with a vengeance. After another good piece of play by BUFC, with the ball being semi cleared out of the Maccabi box, Merv crashed in a tremendous volley from 20 yards, running over to Chris Moore and being heard shouting “How do you like them apples you big potato munching bell end??”. No response from Chris Moore.

HT [3-2 ]

BUFC started the second half as strongly as they finished the first. Wave after wave of attack came, with some excellent chances created both down the left and right, and reminiscent to last season the confidence was there that we had at least another 2 goals in us. 

Walshy found himself through one on one on a tight angle and delicately rolled the ball past the keeper only to see his effort come back of the post. With Tom following in the rebound it look destined to be the equaliser but he put it over the bar under some pressure from the Maccabi defence. 

Barnstoneworth continued to press and worked the ball wide into some dangerous crossing positions. One of these crosses found its way to the back post where Walshy headed back across the goal line looking for Zlatom to put it in, but again Maccabi hung on as the defender got there first and some how put it over the bar for a corner when an own goal looked more likely.

Just as the pressure was starting to show and an equaliser and eventual winner looked imminent the balance then tipped back in favour of Maccabi on the hour mark. A shriek was heard from a mile off, and both teams turning round to see one of the opposing centre backs on the ground with the Zlatom the nearest culprit. Poor discipline from BUFC for the second week in a row with a straight red shown. 

Barney tried to lift and continued to press but shortly after the sending off Maccabi made it 4-2 with a quick counter down the right hand side. A long ball down the wing and a quick cross into the box caught the defence out and effectively killed off the game. 

On another hot day with no subs and 10 men, it was now an uphill battle for Barney, however every player on the pitch continued to put in a great shift with Joe bringing the ball out from the back to try and start attacks and Sam rugby tackling the troublesome number 9 just to stop him getting the ball.

The game came to an end with Barney suffering a second defeat of the season. All is not lost though as there are the makings of a good team here and given time the wins will start to come. Last season Baneys record at the start was P3 - W1 - L2 and we all know how that season ended. Onto Coogee next week and a win will kick start the season, MTB!

Man of the match: Merv 

FT [4-2]