Match Report
Liobians 5-3 Ramblers, Bebington Oval 4th November 2017
Whilst the Wimbedon crazy gang of the 1980s had a ghetto blaster in the dressing room booming out gangster rap to fire them up for their various assaults on pre-Premier League domestic football, the Vets changed to the more melodic sounds of Chariots of Fire emitted from Matthew Sykes’ mobile telephony device. The music was of course befitting of the occasion, the fixture being deemed sufficiently prestigious, and £170 having been exchanged into the relevant hands, for the game to take place on the show pitch at the Bebington Oval, which had doubled for the Stade Olympique Yves du Manoir in the 1981 film.
The wet and windy conditions perhaps influenced the low crowd turnout and there was sufficient space within the main stand for the Ramblers subs to take shelter. It was mooted among the subs bench as to whether watching from a more elevated position would make our football look better or worse. Certainly the opening exchanges weren’t too shabby. Liobians, kicking from left to right from the viewpoint of the Grandstand, and with a fierce wind at their backs, had most of the play but the Ramblers defence stood firm.
The absence of skipper Power created opportunity for youth (in Vets terms) and young goalkeeper Nelson seized his opportunity. The Liobians front 2 were fairly useful but whenever the defence was breached Nelson was there with acrobatic skills and stunning saves. Some were heard to remark that they’d never seen such skills in a Vets keeper but I shall not name names. Despite some fine if at times desperate defending the only slight disappointment was that both Liobians first half goals were a little soft. The home side opened the scoring when their striker latched onto a through ball which had evaded the defence. Their lead was doubled after Nelson, perhaps naively not appreciating the high risk associated with such strategy in the Vets, rolled the ball out to a defender only for it to be given away in a dangerous area with calamitous results.
A weaker minded set of fellows would have capitulated. However Ramblers, and more specifically Lewis, always looked dangerous on the break. In the space of a few minutes before the break Ramblers had pulled it back to 2-2. The first goal led to an unkind chant of “Are you Power in disguise” at the home goalkeeper from the grandstand. However Lewis’s second goal was a screamer which no goalie would have stood a chance with.
Ramblers therefore changed ends level and with the benefit of the wind at their backs for the second half. The first 10 minutes of the second half were fairly even, the game was on the proverbial knife edge. And then there followed an incident which was the most controversial refereeing I have witnessed playing for Ramblers – a high bar and surpassing the time at Moor Lane a couple of seasons ago when the ball was blasted at my hand (which was below chest height) from a distance of 3 feet only for Jim to give a penalty. The injustice never leaves you. Fortunately your correspondent was well placed to see all that occurred and I report as follows. Gorton was shepherding their centre forward running through on the edge of the area. Gorton’s superior body strength caused their forward to fall to the ground. In my opinion it wasn’t a free kick, but that controversy was then eclipsed by what followed. Nelson, adopting a position at his right post, was positioning his wall which needed shifting left significantly as the striker had re-placed the ball from its initial position. The referee was holding up his whistle towards the Ramblers wall in very much the same way as FIFA Referee Benito Archundia is doing in the photograph below:
Your correspondent and his fellow constituents of the wall interpreted this to mean that the kick would be taken on the whistle. We were therefore somewhat taken aback when, admittedly not without some degree of skill in its execution, the Liobians player promptly kicked the ball into the unguarded left side of the Ramblers goal. Heated representations were made by the Ramblers to be met with the response from the referee of “It’s not my fault you lads don’t know the rules” and “You’re a shithouse”. Whilst the latter allegation may be fair comment / matter of opinion, the former was particularly offensive to players steeped in knowledge of the game. Speaking for myself I was a devotee of the Guardian’s You are the Ref column before it was ridiculously axed in 2016, I suspect by loony lefties wanting more space to whinge, and I generally scored pretty well on its fascinating if sometimes unlikely refereeing dilemma scenarios. Anyway, despite the unseemly scenes the goal stood. The goal turned the game Liobians way and further, albeit less controversial, goals followed. Heroics from Nelson prevented a heavier defeat. The referee repeatedly refused to say how long was left, pedantically (for that was his way) citing a FIFA directive that referees were only permitted to inform players of the time that had been played. Anyway, 38 minutes of the second half had been played when Lewis completed his hatrick with another impressive strike, rounding a couple of defenders on the edge of the box before firing home.
On the whole this was a decent performance by the Vets against strong opposition. It is not in the habit of Ramblers match reports to comment on referees and so, to use one of big Ron’s more quotable lines, I won’t be making an exception for that clown.
MoM Nelson (GK), notwithstanding a fine hatrick by Lewis