Match Report
Saint Martin’s day, also known as the Feast of Saint Martin, Martinstag or Martinmas, as well as Old Halloween and Old Hallowmas Eve, is the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours (Martin le Miséricordieux) and is celebrated on the 11th November each year. This is the time when autumn wheat seeding was completed, and the annual slaughter of fattened cattle produced “Martinmas beef”.
So this was not a good day to be playing a team called St Martins.
After two minutes, the ever reliable McGuckin passed a ball straight into touch. If ever there was proof that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery it was what followed for 78 minutes. Again and again and again the Vets gave the ball to the opposition in threatening positions. Soon the deficit was 2-0, but Chester slotted home a neat goal to make the game close. Player pressure had forced the captain to try out a 3-5-2 formation, which worked brilliantly going forward for a while, but left enormous problems defending. It hasn’t been abandoned, but at 20 minutes it was 4-0 against. By then the purring Rolls Royce of Crutchley had suffered engine problems and was replaced by the Austin Maestro of Sykes, and a reshuffle saw a return to 4-4-2. Another goal conceded and half-time came.
The second half was better, despite the fact that the half-time oranges had been left in the changing rooms. The Carling Opta Stats would probably show that the Vets dominated possession and territory, but giving ten years a man to the opposition left the them vulnerable to the break. McNay hit the post from 3 yards out with his first touch, Chester hammered home his second and then McNay managed to score with the goal at his mercy. These goals, though, were punctuated by St Martins goals.
9-3 flattered the opposition, though perhaps not by much. They weren’t as crap as the skipper predicted before the match.