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3rd XI v NEUF EGLISE - 12th SEPTEMBER 2009
So here we are again, happy as can be
all good friends and wonderful company
Having been on a starvation diet all through the summer due to lack of footy, it seemed like today would never ever come round. But we finally get to the first match of season 2009-10, which is the 3rd XI at home to Neuf-Eglise. Pionsat was on the wrong end of a humping last season so let's hope for some better luck in this game.
And badger me if after all of this waiting I'm not ready for the first goal. At the kick-off I was still setting up my gear and so I missed the opening 10 seconds of the game. And that was all it took for Neuf-Eglise to take the lead. It was just a casual lob from the edge of the penalty area. Damian wasn't all that far off his line but it just dropped over his head. He managed to get his hand on it but was just unlucky to flap it into the net.
You can do without starts like this one.
Not long after that, when I am for once ready, Neuf-Eglise win a free-kick just outside the penalty area. It didn't look like a free kick to me - I reckon that the defender won the ball cleanly - but then again I'm not the one who is refereeing.
Neuf-Eglise get the ball round the wall and Damian, who has started the season in goal, managed to get down to the shot and scramble it off the goal line. He pushes it onto the post and out for a corner, and Pionsat can breathe again.
We had to wait ages for the next piece of action worth recording and it has been this long for Pionsat to get into a good position up front.
There's a terrible scramble in the Neuf Eglise goalmouth after a loose ball and it seems like half an hour before the ball is played out to safety. But as it happens, much of the confusion appears to be due to Christophe committing a foul so it wouldn't have counted anyway. But it was still quite a scramble.
And badger me if he doesn't damn well do it again when I'm busy doing something else. Damian has to run out of his goal to clear a loose ball from an attacker and whacks it upfield. But he's not quick enough to get back to his goal and the ball is lobbed back towards goal by a Neuf Eglise midfielder. It sails right over Damian's head and although he gets both hands to it he can't keep it out of the net.
In situations like this the best recourse for any goalkeeper on his own, out of his goal with a horde of attackers surging down towards him, is to wallop the ball into the stand or into the street from that kind of position to give himself time to get back into his goal and for the defence to regroup.
Up at the other end Pionsat win a corner on the left flank.
It's a beautiful ball in but no Pionsat player can get his head to it. A Neuf-Eglise player gets to it first and his misplaced clearance soars up into the air, where it seems to hang for an eternity. As it drops, another Neuf Eglise player gets his head to it and clears it away upfield.
There's a break upfield from the Neuf Eglise players that ends up with a one-on-one between a Neuf Eglise forward and Damian. A blast would have been in order here (cries of "BOOM" going up from the rest of the players) but the forward, no doubt encouraged by the two earlier goals, goes for the aerial route and lobs it unceremoniously over Damian and the bar.
And I'm not sure where the photo went for this. I know I had it.
And although Pionsat are having some good moves in attack right now they lose the ball and there's another break out of the Neuf Eglise defence. There's some really good play in Neuf-Eglise's attack and a lovely movement down the middle.
The ball is played out to the right and the winger gets in a good shot from the right hand side of the area. Damian does well to get get down to it and a hand to it and push it round the post.
Pionsat are still going forward whenever they get the opportunity and it's not long before we have some more goalmouth action. They win a free kick just outside the box and it's a good ball played into the area.
One of the Pionsat forwards gets to it first and gets his head on it but it's deflected around the post. And in any case it's given offside. I wasn't too far off being level with the spot from which the ball was played and the decision puzzled me, but there you go. I'm not refereeing this game.
We have yet another Pionsat attack and the Neuf-Eglise defence is in something of a panic. The ref blows for a handball and awards a penalty to Pionsat. It's the clearest penalty that I've seen for a long time, without even a suggestion of "ball to hand" and it's well within the penalty area, yet for some reason one or two of the Neuf Eglise players still see fit to argue about the decision.
Yet it's all totally academic as the Pionsat player puts the kick wide of the post. That's a shame. Pionsat deserve something for their efforts as they have been on top for the last 10 minutes.
The penalty could well have been the turning point in the match. Had Pionsat scored it they would have been right back into the game with a vengeance but the miss has revitalised Neuf-Eglise and they are back on the attack. Pionsat's defence has shown a marked improvement just recently as Damian's keeping has improved and they've signed a new central defender, something of a "veteran" who impressed me playing for the "Pompiers" in the recent tournoi de sixte.
But Pionsat have a brief return to their old habits from the days when Lord Lucan and Shergar played in central defence and they are totally absent as a Neuf-Eglise attack develops down the inside-left position.
Damian is all on his own again and the Neuf Eglise forward, having taken the High Road last time, takes the Low Road this time and leaves Damian with no chance at all. That penalty miss did indeed turn out to be decisive.
And it goes from bad to worse a couple of minutes later as Pionsat concede a penalty. I couldn't see the incident clearly from where I was but only one Pionsat player said anything that might be considered to be a dispute, and it was only half-hearted at that.
And would you believe that Damian goes and saves it! Fair enough - the kick could (and should) have been better but that's no reason for Damian to miss out on his five seconds of fame. Everyone deserves that.
And right on the final whistle the Neuf Eglise linesman flags against his own team for a foul - one that I wouldn't have awarded, I have to say, and in any case it's not very often that linesmen flag for fouls at this level of the game.
Christophe gets a good shot in but the keeper gets right behind it as you can see. What you don't see is the keeper who somehow allows the ball to spoon out of his hands. Half a dozen Pionsat players come beaming down on him but the ball is just about hacked to safety.
And there you have the story of the match. Two sides evenly matched and a draw would have been a fair reflection of the play. But two goals that Damian almost saves, a defensive error and a missed penalty. How unlucky can you get?
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