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2nd XI v CONDAT GIAT VOINGT 14th NOVEMBER 2009
We're having another footfest tonight with a double-header - the first part of which is the 2nd XI against Condat Giat Voingt - an amalgam of teams from three small villages down on the border with the Creuze not too far from Pontaumur.
And while the club is getting its money's worth with double headers and so on, I dunno why they have arranged them for Saturday night. Until I can get my manual Pentax 100mm lens to work I'm rather stuck at the moment with the Sigma 17-70mm. The Pentax stops down to f2.8 but the Sigma only goes to f4.0 in the kind of light that Pionsat's floodlights chuck out and there's only so much manipulation that you can do to an image.
My night-time sports images come out fine when there are decent floodlights so until I figure out this lens I'm hoping that they either rearrange the night matches to Sunday afternoon or upgrade the floodlights to 750 lux.
So peering through the gloom and the mist and the rain the first action is from a free kick just outside the area. The Pionsat forward was just about to break off down the wing and head to the by-line and the defender's response was quite simply to cynically hack him down.
There was an advantage on for Pionsat and some referees might have let the play go, but this one stops the play. Pionsat take the kick and it's curled round behind the wall in front of all the onrushing attackers but no-one can get anything on the ball and it goes round behind the post for a goal kick.
A good free kick, that one.
The next action begins with another free kick - we've been having a few of them and I hope that it isn't going to set a portent for the rest of the game. Especially as this particular foul was accompanied by a little excitement from some of the players.
It's another good free kick that is sent down wide to the little no9 who takes on and beats his defender down near the touchline. He has a go for the near post but the keeper has it covered and blocks it with his legs. It has to be said that there wasn't all that much chance of a goal on from such a narrow angle in that position, but you never know your luck at this level of football so it was well worth a try.
And we have yet another free kick and once again it's for a foul committed on Gregory who plays in the attack. He's being thoroughly worked over by the Condat defence and he's already retaliated once, which isn't going to go down with this referee if he keeps it up.
Sébastien takes the kick and it's another curler round and over the wall but once more it curls round the far post, which is a shame. Ohh for Pierre or Nico from the 1st XI who can win games on their own with their free kicks, as we saw the other night .
It's Condat's turn to be on the attack and we have a right scramble in the Pionsat goalmouth. One of the Condat players bursts down the inside-right position and puts in a shot (or was it a cross?) that goes right across the goal from right to left. Michael somehow manages to let it go right under his arms.
The ball breaks to a Condat player in the inside-left position who shoots in at goal - and it goes right back across goal from left to right! A Pionsat defender calms the panic by putting the ball out for a corner.
And so the action from the previous photo continues into this one. It's a really good, high corner into the Pionsat box and one of the Condat players rises miles higher than anyone else, totally unmarked, and puts in a really powerful header on goal.
There wasn't much that Michael could do at point-blank range but one of the Pionsat players has intelligently positioned himself on the goal line and he just about manages to hack the shot off the line to prevent an almost-certain goal. Phew! It would have been a total injustice if Condat had taken the lead.
We have yet another foul, only this time its one committed by Pionsat on one of the Condat players. It took the referee what seemed like a good half an hour to blow his whistle and that causes some upset with the Pionsat players. I suppose they might have a point - it was ages after the foul had taken place and there is surely a theoretical limit to which an advantage might be allowed to develop.
Finally the kick is taken and it goes over the Pionsat wall straight into Michael's hands.
And just for a change, we have ... errr ... another foul. It's again committed by one of the Pionsat defenders who seem to be intent on catching up witn Condat's total. This one is about 5 yards outside the area and is for holding on the Condat no9. And I don't know why Pionsat made such a fuss as I could see the holding from where I was down at the far end of the ground in all the doom and gloom.
It's another one round and over the wall, and another one right into Michael's arms and Michael hangs on.
And I can't believe that after all of this I manage miss the opening goal. A couple of fouls were committed but the referee allowed play to go on in view of an advantageous position but one of the Condat defenders manages to clear the ball by whacking it upfield in the "Eric Hall textbook" style.
The clearance goes as far as a Pionsat player - the no8 I reckon, who was just inside the half-way line. He simply volleys it straight back over the keeper's head and into goal.
I don't have much luck with these long-range shots as the auto lens on the camera takes too long to respond in the dark. I really need to get my manual lens to work properly
The final action was predictable. It had been brewing all night and the only surprise was that it took so long in coming.
I mentioned earlier that Gregory was being hacked to pieces by the Condat defenders. He had already retaliated once but the defenders hadn't eased off and he eventually reached a point where he was totally fed up. One foul committed late in the game saw him lash out at a Condat defender.
He was lucky that the referee took a lenient view of the incident - he simply stepped in between the players and told them both to get a grip whereas other refs might have started brandishing the cards. This calmed them don - for all of about 10 seconds, and they clashed again. "Cometh the hour, cometh the man" and the first person to react was Bernard, the club chairman. Taking everyone including the referee by surprise, Bernard strode boldly onto the field and physically dragged Gregory off, sending on a substitute in his place.
After the match, Gregory showed me what remained of his legs. Three Condat players had been booked during the match and all of them for fouls on Gregory.
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