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2nd XI v SAURET BESSERVE 26th APRIL 2009
With the Championship having been duly won and the celebrations having duly taken place yesterday evening, and also the fact that today's opposition was ...er... "beaten convincingly" in the reverse fixture a few weeks ago, Pionsat set out today to have some fun.
Not a single player was playing in his regular position. Even Michael the goalkeeper was playing outfield - and not up front where he has played before but in the centre of defence - and in goal was Christophe, one of the speedy forwards who have so impressed me this season.
Damian was refereeing today which means that his big head won't get in the way of the camera. it also means that we will be in for some firm, decisive decisions. I wonder if he's considered refereeing as a career for the future. He'd be quite good at it.
And is this a sign of things to come?
Pionsat's first goal is most unexpected and comes from a not-very-good corner that is swung in at about shoulder height. For some reason that only the goalkeeper will know, he goes to punch clear but catches the ball with the side of his fists and punches it straight into his own net.
Despite all the changes in the team, Pionsat are still looking quite good going forward.
There's a lovely cross from the right wing about 40 yards out and the defender-playing-centre-forward gets his head to it and nods it further over to the left winger. He lets loose a shot from about 25 yards and it only just goes over the bar.
Sauret were rather lucky just there.
Pionsat continue to go forward down the right wing with a good run followed by a good centre. The player leading Pionsat's line gets in an excellent header that would have been well-worth a goal anywhere else, but the keeper parries it away.
Sauret are lucky that the Pionsat attackers are playing in defence. Had they been up front they would easily have been quick enough to have put the loose ball away.
It's Michael's turn now to have a go at the Sauret defence. I've seen him play up front quite effectively in other matches but today he's playing in central defence. nevertheless he takes on almost the entire Sauret defence single-handedly and dribbles his way through;
His final shot could maybe have been better as he gives the keeper just about enough time to get down and block the shot, which spins harmlessly away.
So with that slender lead that could easily have been increased, we change ends for the second half. And the first action is an attack on the Pionsat goal. I was keen to see how well Christophe would do under pressure because to be honest Michael hasn't had all that much to do throughout the season.
And I wasn't going to be disappointed either. There's some indecision in the Pionsat defence as Sauret put in some good work through the middle. Some indecision that I'm not used to seeing from the Pionsat 2nd XI.
This moment of indecision was just enough for a Sauret attacker who lets fly from about 25 yards. Christophe parries it up into the air in what could be called an artisanal fashion and catches it as it drops. The crowd applauds (and quite rightly so - Christophe let no-one down here) and so for an encore he throws the ball into the air, applauds himself and then catches the ball again. Everyone has the right to have his five minutes of fame.
And while I was dictating that we had a moment of fisticuffs, the first (I think) that I have seen at this level of football. But it's what is usually described as "handbags at 20 paces" and a stern blast on the whistle from Damien sorts them out.
I've no idea what it was about but I wish they would cut it out and get on with the game.
Meanwhile, back with the real action, the right-winger skips past a handful of weak and ineffective Sauret tackles and puts in a superb cross to the guy playing centre-forward.
Totally unmarked and with the entire left-side of goal gaping at his mercy he puts in probably the poorest header on goal that I've ever seen and it goes well-wide of the right-hand post.
Mind you, having said that, the guy up front has probably never played centre-forward in his life before and so for a defender he ought to be given full marks for getting into such an excellent position.
Sébastien, who usually plays a leading role in much of what happens up front for Pionsat, has been having a quiet time at left-back today. But as the match wears on, he's been pushing slowly forwards.
He collects the ball in the inside-left position and noticing that the keeper has come off his line, goes for the lob. The ball clears the keeper, clips the top of the bar, goes up in the air and lands on the cord that is used for the left-side stanchion. From there it bounces onto the cord that is being used as the right-side stanchion and rolls safely onto the roof of the net.
Now last night Terry and I were bemoaning the apparent lack of one-touch football at this level of football so the following action was something that Terry ought to have been here to see.
There was some beautiful one-touch football the whole length of the field down the left wing right in front of me. Finally the ball made its way to the no13 who loosed off a shot towards the far corner.
The keeper did really well to dive to his left and managed to get a hand on it to keep it out of the net.
He didn't really have any option other than that and I bet his heart must have been in his mouth when he saw a free Pionsat attacker bearing down on the loose ball just inside the penalty area.
The attacker gave the ball a hefty whack and it can't have missed the post by any more than a whisker. No wonder the Pionsat forward is holding his head in disbelief. The ball hit the concrete wall just behind the goal and you can see how hard it was struck by the distance that it had rebounded onto the field. And it kept on going for another 10 metres before someone stopped it.
Credit to Sauret though. Their players are still coming forward whenever they get the chance and are managing to create some indecision amongst the Pionsat forwards who are playing in the centre of defence today.
On this occasion the ball ends up at the feet of a Sauret attacker whose shot just goes narrowly wide. But from the angle of where I was standing, I reckoned that Christophe in the Pionsat goal had the net well-covered.
But never mind the indecision by the Pionsat forwards playing in the defence. The Pionsat defenders up front are giving the Sauret defenders a good run for their money.
The young lad who normally plays full-back is playing up front at centre-forward just now, and he's just worked himself into an excellent position and had an attempt on goal. The keeper had to go full-length to push out his close-range shot.
The Pionsat player will probably be the first to admit that he ought to have done better, but he's thoroughly enjoying himself (which from the Pionsat point of view is what this match is all about) and you can't criticise his positioning sense. He's been in the right place at the right time on a couple of occasions now. All he needs is the finishing touch.
And Terry will be disappointed that he missed this. There's even more nice one-touch football down the left wing and the ball ends up at the feet of the no12 who is clear on goal. He doesn't need to be asked twice to blast firmly home.
The keeper will be disappointed as he should have got a piece of this. But never mind. For the last few minutes he's been pretty much on his own as it's pretty clear that his team is now starting to tire.
And starting to tire indeed. Sébastien who has been playing full-back has been pushing forward into acres of space for the last 10 minutes as the tired Sauret attackers are not getting back to cover the Pionsat breakaways.
He's just put a beautiful cross into the centre, where there are no fewer than four unmarked Pionsat players in the centre. One of them gets onto the end of the cross but tamely lobs it into the hands of the surprised but grateful Sauret keeper.
And goals don't come any easier that this - a phrase that seems to have become something of a cliché on these web pages. A ball is played almost all the way downfield through a non-existent Sauret defence. When the Sauret defenders finally get in a challenge the ball is played out to the right, a movement that pulls the entire defence out of position.
The right-winger gets in a shot on goal and the keeper in a despairing dive gets a hand to it. All he succeeds in doing is to push it into the path of the totally-unmarked Sébastien who shows everyone how it should be done by walking the ball into the empty net, finishing with ... er ... something of a flourish.
And there you have it. Even with all of the team playing out of position in a kind-of carnival atmosphere, Pionsat still have plenty in the tank to comfortably polish off a rival team. Even the replacement goalkeeper, who was called upon on a couple of occasions, did enough to keep the opposition out.
And in every match that I've seen Pionsat's 2nd XI play, it's exactly the same old story. All the action takes place in the final 10 minutes, and you can see why. Pionsat, with superior fitness, are still flowing forward at every available opportunity whereas the opposition are thoroughly exhausted. It's Pionsat's fitness that has won this title for them and maybe that's something to which the other two Pionsat teams could aspire.
As an aside, look at the amount of water on the pitch in the last image. There have been three matches on this pitch this weekend in conditions that can only be described as "desperate" and maintained by a simple mowing every fortnight. There's hardly a sign of "cutting up" What price the new Wembley Stadium pitch?
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