| Horwich Town 4-2 HSM Trojans League Saturday 8th May 2004
This was Trojans last game of the season, and one that saw them hoping to build on previous good performances from their last three matches. Trojans opted to play downhill on a badly sloping pitch � a decision they perhaps should have taken advantage of. In the opening few minutes, the ball was rarely out of the Horwich Town half, and their goalkeeper was called upon to make several saves. However, on 9 minutes, Horwich Town managed to break free, and the defence were caught out, which resulted in a 1-0 lead to Horwich Town. By 22 minutes, Trojans found themselves 2-0 down, when once again, and against the run of play, Horwich Town broke free after the referee ignored a clear penalty appeal by the Trojans. Trojans however, kept up the pressure on the Horwich Town goal, and were only denied by their keeper. They were rewarded for their efforts on 26 minutes, when George fired a fine shot past the keeper. Minutes later, both players and parents thought Trojans had equalised when a good effort from Mark went just over the bar. Just after this, there was a nasty incident, involving a high and dangerous kick that actually made contact with our player�s head. Despite the manager protesting, the referee chose to ignore the incident, and failed to reprimand the Horwich Town player. Unfortunately, this wasn�t the only incident of poor refereeing and dangerous play. Horwich Town were not averse to shirt pulling, and again the referee turned a blind eye. The second half saw Trojans now playing uphill, and this had them at a disadvantage from the start of the half, as Horwich Town made a number of attacks on goal. Trojans too showed some moments of pace and flair, with Jack picking up a pass from defence on the half way line, and setting off on a terrific run uphill, only to be denied by the keeper. Horwich Town were awarded a free kick on 49 minutes, from which they scored, and 2 minutes later, they made it 4-1. This final goal was clearly at least 6 yards offside - a fact ignored by the Horwich Town linesman, who was biased throughout the entire game and had the added advantage of the referee agreeing with his decisions, whilst refusing to pay attention to our linesman. Four minutes from time, Trojans made the score line a little more respective, when Charles scored from the penalty spot � his fifth goal in three games, and the third from the penalty spot! At times, and certainly compared to the last three games, this appeared to be a below par Trojans performance. The game was frustrating for not only players, but parents too. The refereeing decisions ranged from debatable to downright disgraceful, and the end result was also influenced by one of the worst shows of bad sportsmanship and dirty play we have ever come up against. We try to instill in all our players high standards of fair play and sportsmanship. To witness incidents such as these, along with the almost certain knowledge that the opposition consisted of over-age and unregistered players is disheartening and disappointing to say the least. Nevertheless, there have been some excellent performances by all the team this season, and some highly entertaining games that have been a pleasure to watch. We can look forward to next season, knowing that when we play at our best, we are as good as anyone. Man of the Match � Lee Team: Goal � Curtis Defence � Luke, Lee, Charles, Alex Midfield � Jack, Jordan, Alix, Jake Strikers � Mark, George |
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