Match Report
The Cheshire County Sports Ground is a venue that many of us have frequented over our time at the Ramblers but it was a new fixture for this squad against Upton Magnates. The 15 minute walk to the pitch from the changing rooms served as a good warm up and gave us plenty of time to chat about how young the oppo looked ?. This was not to scare the plentiful squad of Ramblers who had assembled for our third fixture of the season. We welcomed back this week Jimiesta fresh from his rest after the MoM performance in Pollenca and Eddie Jones after recovering from. Broken toe suffered at Shrewsbury. A new recruit was making his debut in the form of Kenno who the skipper was hoping he would recreate his formidable centre midfield role he played for the 2nd XI a few seasons previous. A last minute injury to myself meant I had to pull out on Friday and Yatsey bravely stepped in net which was very much appreciated. The usual 3-5-2 formation to start meant that we were dull of attacking verve.
As with most of our matches the first half was a feast of entertaining football. We went a goal behind to what seemed like a gaping hole in our back 3 and their Calvert Lewin look a like striker Cooley slotted home. Not only did he look like him but he was rapid and caused us a few problems. However the goal woke us up and the rest of the half we played our best football for a good long while. We were excellent on the counter attack playing really really good football on the deck. The midfield Looked really good and the interaction between the wide midfielders and the front two was excellent. Ste Hogan equalised from a great move and the angle of his finish reminded me of Van Basten 88. A great finish. A fine ball from Eddie over the top led to Ste scoring his second of the game and putting us 2-1 up within the first 25 mins. Mike Wright made it 3-1 and looking back at my notes I was in dream land because I just haven’t written anything about it!!!! But what a come back. Upton got a good goal Back before half time so we came into the break 3-2 ahead and we’ll deserved.
Oranges at half time were a step up from
Last week. Bagley suffering from Man Flu / Covid especially liked the tartness of them. Only positive things were said and just go out and keep playing. A check was made on fitness of everyone and all were keen to play on forever. A captains dream.
The second half started and we were immediately under the cosh. The oppo pressured us a lot and equalised early into the second half. Only Mike Wright can explain how he manages to hit their keeper from a yard out when the whole goal was open to him!
My notes on the side line say it all. The oppos scored again to make it 4-3. We were hanging on a bit subs were made to inject some energy. This helped and to be fair we still created some great opportunities. Pete Bibby had a glorious header from a corner just over the bar! Ste had some chances but as we ran out of steam the oppo made in 5-3. The final score. It doesn’t help when they bring a Crewe U23 player on to play at the back!!!
A few points to note. Yatsey was magnificent saving at least 2 1v1 and the greatest save I’ve seen a Rambler keeper make from his own right back as he put a shot into the bottom corner ? also his bravery was outstanding. I loved our commitment every player gave 100% and this was great to see. Brilliant to see everyone stay around and have a pint and a chat after the game as well. To quote one of the squad who messaged me after the game “A loss is never easy to take but when everyone gives 100% and has a laugh along the way and a few pints after it makes it easier” I couldn’t agree more. Thanks to everyone who made themselves available and our spectators in Murph and Bagley.