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BRIFFONS v PIONSAT - CUP MATCH 20th SEPTEMBER 2009
The one thing about Pionsat going on a long and successful run in the Puy-de-Dome league cups is that it takes the club and thus me as a consequence out of our usual orbit of matches and we boldly go to where people such as myself have not gone before.
Briffons is a small town in the foothills of the Mont Dore miles south of anywhere I've ever been. The view across to the mountain would be stunning in good weather but today we're swathed in low cloud. Quite often where I live we are stranded in low cloud that hangs like a heavy fog all over the mountain. Here is a good shot that shows exactly what I mean.
But never mind the tourism and the scenery. We've come here for the football. Briffons play in the 1st Division of their particular pool so this should be a close and exciting match - I hope.
The early stages of the match consist of some good end-to-end play but it's Briffons who have the first scoring opportunity.
The ball is loose at the edge of the Pionsat penalty area with the defenders slow to close down the opposition's attack. The shot comes in from a briffons forward and Matthieu does well to get down to it but fumbles the ball. It's early in the match and his hands must be cold. Luckily Briffons aren't quick enough to take advantage.
And only a short while later Pionsat take the lead. And this is fine example of a typical 2nd XI goal. It's a long ball out of defence upfield and Sébastien who has been lurking around in attack wins it comfortably. He plays the ball nicely into space and one of his colleagues runs onto the pass with the defence absolutely nowhere.
The keeper rushes off his line without a hope of getting the ball (I lose count of how many times this happens - you see it every week and you wonder why keepers don't learn) and the forward goes for height, clearing the keeper easily and finding the empty net.
I wish Pionsat had done this last week against Pontaumur .
And 10 minutes later we nearly had another goal. Once more it's another typical 2nd XI effort.
It's a beautiful ball out of defence right across the field to the left-hand corner of the penalty area. Once more the keeper comes off his line for no good purpose (he's behind the no2) so who can blame the forward for having another go at the lob? But this time the ball goes over the top.
But just what is the keeper doing there where he is? He's totally in no-man's land (or no-person's land for the benefit of Open University students) and he's just inviting a shot on goal. But what would have been the odds on a square pass to the Pionsat no11?
It's not all one-way traffic by any means and Pionsat are finding it to shake of their old habits. The defence is still dithering around on the edge of the penalty area with a ball that should have been cleared upfield half an hour ago.
The ball is chiselled out by a Briffons forward who plays it across goal to his winger. He puts in a shot but it goes right back across the face of the goal. It's not really anywhere like scoring a goal near it and might even have gone for a throw-in but Matthieu puts in a spectacular dive that gives quite a photogenic publicity opportunity.
That moment of panic in the Pionsat defence did nothing to wake them up and they are still fast asleep in defence. Doing a fairly good impression of the Easter Island statues (perhaps I should call this the "Easter Island defence" - we had the "Lego defence" last week ) they stand and watch a Briffons forward get into the area totally unmarked.
It ends up as a 1-on-1 with Matthieu in the goal and he is equal to the challenge (and why not? He's been getting plenty of practice just recently). He stands his ground, smothers the ball and palms it out to relative safety. Good old Matthieu.
In the second half the action recommences with an attack on the Briffons goal, led by Sébastien who is keen to make up for lost time after last week . It's another 2nd XI-type ball over the top of the defence and he finds himself in a 1-on-1 with the keeper. A defender rushing back just manages to stick a toe out and push it away.
This leads to something of a mix-up in the Briffons defence and a Pionsat player gets in a shot on what was for just a second an unguarded net. Just as a goal looked a certainty a defender arrives and kicks it off the line straight at the keeper. Anything cold have happened here at this moment - including a rebound off the keeper into the net - but the keeper just about scrambles it away.
This incident lasted probably about three seconds but it seemed more like three hours at the time.
Pionsat are still going forward and they break again with another long ball upfield. There's another 1-on-1 with the keeper and he actually makes a good block-cum-save. The ball rebounds out and is intercepted by the Pionsat forward who plays it back into the penalty area.
The Pionsat no8 is the first to react to the cross but the ball is behind him so he turns and gets a backheel on the ball - the best he can do given the circumstances. It only just goes wide as well - which is quite a let-off for Briffons.
This level of football in the rural regions of France is such that there are equal opportunities for anyone who has ambitions of any nature on the football field. Montel-Villosanges believe in firmly and fully exploiting the age range of the local inhabitants and last season fielded a player of 75 years of age. Neuf-Eglise last season gave an opportunity to a player who might be described as vertically-challenged.
And when a player from Briffons had to leave the field with a bad attack of cramp, his replacement can best be described as "horizontally-fortituous". He was only on the field for 10 minutes and I don't recall him getting a touch on the ball during that time. At least it goes to show that anyone who can put a pair of boots on is welcome to turn out, whether or not he eats all the pies at half-time.
And seriously, Pionsat's 3rd XI have played with 10 players on several occasions in the past and I recall a match where they could only put 9 out. They would have been extremely grateful for an additional player no matter who he was and what physical condition he was in.
The major feature of this match was the running battle between the Briffons n08 and the Pionsat no7. Each time the Pionsat no7 wanted to set off on a run down the wing the no8 blocked him with no intention of playing the ball and this became a regular feature of the match.
Finally, with just about a couple of minutes to go in the game the referee blew for the obstruction and I've no idea why it had taken him so long to do so. Surely this can't have been the first time he'd noticed it.
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