Like Pompey we had several players away on international duty this week. Like Pompey we were looking for an away win against tough opposition. Like Pompey this was a six pointer.
We travelled over to Westergate for this return fixture against Middelton. We had beaten them at Fortress Emsworth and they were well up for revenge. Middleton went one up in the first few minutes after an obvious hand-ball! Their second came after the ball bobbled as our stand-in keeper attempted a clearance. Then Simon went in for a 50:50 challenge and got studded by one of the Middelton knuckle-draggers. He came off with a painful souvenir!
After half-time we pulled Darren into midfield, which helped make more chances, but as we pushed forward Middleton took advantage, and like Pompey we ended up getting stuffed 5 v 0, although I'm pretty sure Birmingham City aren't quite such a bunch of unsporting missing links as the square headed munkeys of Middleton!
Team : 'Rugby' Joe, Danny, Tim, Jez, Simon (Brian 30mins), Chalkie, Derek, Bran, Darren, Joe.
Match Report from Jez :
The Coalie started with a strong line-up and were hoping to make amends for the recent perfromances, and started well for the first twenty minutes, creating several chances. Milland soon got into the game though, and managed to score from a corner that the Coalie failed to clear. Milland extended their lead soon after.
Things started looking worse early in the second half when Milland scored a third when their midfield descended upon the two centre backs. Derek and Joe came on and were able to liven things up for the Coalie. The momentum soon picked up and we were back on top, with Geoff slotting away from a tight angle. Despite having most of the possession the Coalie failed to create too many clear chances, with Milland defending well the game finished 3-1 to the away team. We can take confidence from a much better perfromance in the second half, but being asleep in the first half cost us at least a point.
Team : 'Rugby' Joe, Sam (Joe 60mins), Scholesy, Tim, Simon, Chalkie, Jon, Jez (Derek 60mins), Bran, Lee, Geoff(1)
We arrived at Petworth on saturday to find, to our horror, that the game was being reffered by Mick 'Ref from Hell' Khalli. We had written a complaint letter about him last season....we wondered if he would be out for revenge!!
The game started well for the Coalie with some excellent passing football culminating in a brilliant volleyed goal from Lee Good. But after that we seemed to tire and reverted to good old coalie 'up and under' tactics. It was still one-nil at half-time, but after the break Petworth turned up the pressure and scored two early goals. Their third came from a penalty after Chalkie up-ended their chunky No.7 in the box...'That's not a penalty ref...he deserved it!'.
Despite Khalli making a few dubious decisions in OUR favour, there was no 'Liverpool-style' heroic comeback and the game finished 3v1.
Team : Scholesy, Danny, Andy, Tim, Simon, Chalkie, Jon, Jez, Sonny, Lee(1), Bran