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NORD COMBRAILLE v 1st XI 02 NOVEMBER 2008
To give you some idea of where Pionsat find themselves in the hierarchy of French football, the 1st XI was playing against the Nord Combraille reserve team, Nord Combraille being the team of St Eloy - a town more than 10 times bigger than Pionsat. It's hardly any surprise that they struggle to make an impression at this level
So today it was down to the Montjoie stadium to see how they get on.
And much to my surprise, if not astonishment, we had a female referee. I've heard about these things but I've never ever encountered one before.
A couple of months ago, I'd encountered (in the textual sense) a female vicar and I asked then "is nothing sacred?". It seems not.
And there was quite a scare in the first minute as a thunderous shot from one of the Nord Combraille players hit the crossbar with a tremendous crack with the keeper easily in second place. This certainly awoke the fans in the ground, of which there was quite a number. Despite the rain and miserable weather this morning, it had brightened up some for the game.
I don't think much of the keeper's shirt though. It was too similar to that worn by his outfield players. Had I been ref, I'd have sent him in to change.
Pionsat were going forward in this game - they weren't going to let themselves be outplayed.
A mad scramble in the Nord Combraille defence with the keeper out of position, and a desperate diving header from a Pionsat forward but the ball went over the bar. Which was unlucky because Pionsat looked like they could get something out of the game here.
For the match at St Gervais last week, I'd shown the Pionsat keeper in a not-very-flattering light in one or two instances. So I'm quite happy to do the reverse this week and pay him a few compliments. Credit where credit is due.
This is the aftermath of a really good full-length save from a shot on the right wing. And he needed to get it away too, for the Nord Combraille forward rushing in would have made short work of a rebound or a fumble just here.
And if you thought that that was good, the next one was even better.
A shot from the left wing close to goal brought out a superb top-drawer save from the keeper, flinging himself full-length to his left to touch this shot round the far post.
I have to say that this photo came out really well and I'm impressed with the pic as much as I was impressed by the save.
It might have looked all one-way traffic towards the Pionsat goal, which in many ways it was. But Pionsat were not out of the game by any means.
A long-range effort from about 25 yards had the Nord Combraille keeper at full stretch scrambling to keep it out.
Now that's what I call a contrasting shirt. And there's a purpose for a shirt like that. In a one-on-one between an onrushing forward and a goalkeeper, the goalie doesn't have much of a chance. What he needs to do is to make himself as big as possible and as scary as possible to put the opposing forwards off his shot. Oversize shirts in outlandish flourescent colours are just the job. They make the keeper look enormous and fill the field of view of the opposing forwards. Dull grey colours or those that merge into the background aren't half as intimidating and are more easily beaten in these circumstances.
But Pionsat were being pegged back again in their own half and were under some pressure at times. Not helped by the referee, who at times was making some bizarre decisions that I didn't understand.
A good cross into the penalty area from the right wing (I still don't like Pionsat's left back) and the keeper plucks it out of the air under some pressure.
And I still don't think much of that shirt. I'm going to buy him a bright orange one next time I see one on sale, or a Caliburn-yellow one, even.
Despite being pegged back for much of the game, Pionsat were good at going forward on the break and threatened on a couple of occasions.
A couple of times they got themselves into good positions, but on this occasion, the ball went wide of the far post with the keeper covering the shot. The no9, who had started off quietly and disappointed me in the early part of the game, had now woken up. A couple of substitutions forced onto the Pionsat team (Nord Combraille were putting in a few brutal challenges that in any other keague would have brought out a yellow card at least and had caused a serious injury to the Pionsat no7) had changed the shape of the side and the two substitutes (nos 12 and 13) looked much better going forward.
And the Pionsat no13 may well bang on the deck in frustration as his shot goes narrowly wide of the near post. The Pionsat nos8 and 9 are totally unmarked across goal and it only needed a sidefoot into the centre with the defenders and the keeper pulled out of play, and Pionsat could have taken the lead.
There were several occasions where Pionsat had been in a one-on-one (and in one case a two-on-one) with the keeper, and made a mess of it. On one occasion the Pionsat no9, having muscled his way through a couple of robust challenges, took it into the penalty area and then missed a simple tap-in, and on another occasion, the Pionsat no13, with his head still down after this simple miss, won the ball in open play and with only the keeper to beat, waited round for support instead of going on and bursting the net.
You had a feeling that despite the run of play being mostly up at Pionsat's goal, they were going to regret these missed opportunities.
And in a scrambled mess in front of the Pionsat goal, the keeper might well be all-ends-up but he wasn't beaten and managed to hang on to the ball at the feet of the Nord Combraille forward.
And by now the weather had broken and it had started to rain.
And with just seconds to go before the final whistle, an absolute disaster.
Halfway through the second half, Pionsat had brought on a substitute defender who went to play at centre-half (you can see how old I am). He played pretty well too and I reckoned that it was something of an improvement. In fact, Pionsat looked a much better side with their three replacements on the pitch. But right at the death the two centre-backs both jumped for the same ball, collided with each other, the ball dropped between them and a Nord Combraille forward had an easy task to poke it home. There was nothing the keeper could have done about it.
Pionsat can consider themselves really unfortunate to have taken nothing home from this game. They deserved a point at least, if not all three. They seem to be a bit short on belief and confidence right now, and deserve a good slice of luck.
But I was dismayed by the refereeing. Not that it was a lady of the female sex blowing the whistle, but that there was much that went unpunished and there were other things that deserved a yellow, if not red card. Jumping at an opponent so hard that he had to be carried off, blatant trips on an opponent whilst in full flight - it's this kind of thing that can get out of hand and spoil the game as a spectacle if the ref doesn't come down hard in the first five minutes of a match to set his (or her) stall out. A ref needs to stamp his (or her) authority on the game early on, and for that reason (if for no other) I would have made the Pionsat keeper change his shirt.
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