It was snowing when we arrived at Feltham to play a very strong Predators team in the Quarter Final of the Div 4 Cup. The game started badly for us when Bran tried a Glasgow handshake on one of the Predators players, and came off second best. Big softy! Clive took him to the hospital to get stitched back together, and Tim came on at centre back for his Coalie Debut. The defence took some heavy pounding early on and Scholes, Tim, Danny & Simon worked heroics and Sav pulled off some Banks-like saves to keep the Predators out. When we managed to get the ball on the floor and play the beautiful(ish) game Chalkie, Jez, Geoffer and Sam in the midfield made some good openings for Keith and Lee up front, but we couldn't convert any of these chances into goals. Predators kept up the pressure and went one up after about 30mins.We gifted Predators a 2nd goal just before half-time when Big Sav came over all charitable and after a throw in from Simon did a Chalkias and gifted the ball to the Predators striker. (ed. don't tell him I mentioned it - he's bigger than me!)In the second half we gambled on pushing more players forward and created more chances but the holes at the back were exploited by the Predators and they made the score-line a rather flattering 5 v 0.
This was an historic occasion for the Coal Exchange Football Club. It was the first time in our illustrious eight year history that we have ever had two clean sheets in a row. We can thank stand-in keeper Geoff for this. Despite spending most of the first half leaning against his post waiting for some action, when it did come he pulled off a cat-like save to maintain the clean sheet. Big Sav (our usual keeper) played up front and despite showing some classy touches and a devastating long throw, he failed to add to the the two goals that he has scored this season (while playing as keeper!) Factoid : The Coalie keeper (Big Sav) has scored more goals this season than the rest of the regular Coalie defence combined! Scholes 1, Andy 0, Danny 0, Simon 0, Brian 0. (Sam has also scored 1, but not while playing in defence).The game started well for the Coalie with lots of chances. Keith and Sav had some promising pops at goal, and Jez had a couple of long shots which went close. But despite Bran, Chalkie, Jon and Jez dominating the midfield, we couldn't find the breakthrough. It was 0 v 0 at half-time and it looked like that would be the way it finished. Then Keithy took advantage of an Amberley slip (on a dreadful pitch) to nip in and put the Coalie one up. Amberley had some pressure in the second half, but the Coalie defence...Hatchet, Scholesy, Scummer, and the Bank Manager lapped them up. Keithy scored at the end...2v0
A&B Rovers felt the full force of a Coal Exchange backlash this week. After all the press speculation the Coalie players were fired up and ready to go from the first whistle. It was possibly one of the best ever performances from the Coalie against a team who we had drawn with a couple of months ago and who came to Emsworth with what looked like a pretty solid team. The Coalie players led by skipper Scholesy tackled like Italians and and passed the ball like Brazilians. The first goal came early in the game when Keith pounced after a defensive mix-up. Bran managed to scoop a close range effort over the bar (Bran for Scotland!) before combining with Jez and Chalkie to put number two on a plate for Lee. Next Jez thought he had scored when his long range dipping effort just cleared the bar. The third was a Keithy special volley into the top corner. 3v0 at half time, but still A&B looked dangerous and had a couple of good efforts saved in the top corner by Big Sav. Sam came on for Scholesy and Jon replaced Bran in the second half. Both settled in quickly and ensured the pressure stayed on. Jon was instrumental in the build up for Keiths hat-trick. Geoffer saw a trademark pile driver come back off the post. But he did get on the scoresheet a few minutes later when he skinned the right-back and shot into the far corner. LeeJ got number 8. Then Simon looked like he had finally laid to rest his many dissallowed goals, but as he slotted a close range effort into the net the ref blew for a penalty. Keeper Sav cooly slotted it for his second of the season putting him sixth in Coalie golden boot list! The Coalie were determined to hold on to their clean sheet. A&B threw caution to the wind but Danny, Sam, Andy & Simon held firm. Lee grabbed his fourth and the Coalie's ninth goal to seal a fantastic victory and the players first free pint of 2005.