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1st XI v JS ST PRIEST 14th NOVEMBER 2009
The second half of our footfest is the 1st XI against St Priest. This is always something of a heated contest as this is the team for which François kept goal and Christophe, his brother, would always try to get onto the field and involve himself in something resembling some sibling rivalry. Now of course François has crossed the Font Nanaud and it's the turn of his ex-teammates to turn the heat up a little on him.
The first piece of real action in this match was a typical 2nd XI movement - a long diagonal ball right over the defence and all the way across field into space. There's a race on between the St Priest keeper and one of the Pionsat attackers.
The attacker slides in to get there first and manages to get his toe to the ball but it just goes wide of the post. That was really unlucky - it could easily have been the first goal.
But look how far the keeper has had to come in an attempt to get to the ball. And to think that I criticise the Pionsat defence at times for being absent.
Pionsat do some good work down the centre of the field and one of the Pionsat attackers gets in a really good shot on goal. The St Priest keeper can only get to it with his legs and block it away. You can see how much force there was in the shot by how high the rebound has gone.
The opening few minutes of this game have seen nothing but one-way traffic as Pionsat seem to be tearing the St Priest defence to shreds right now. It's a pity though that they don't have anything to show for all of the effort they have been putting in so far, and you know that I sometimes get these uneasy feelings ...
Pionsat win a free kick for a foul - I'm expecting quite a few of these given the nature of the personal rivalry between these two teams. The ball is about 35-40 yards out from the St Priest goal and so Yann the central defender steps up to take the kick.
It's an excellent free kick that bends right around the wall and drops down towards the foot of the post. The keeper does really well to get right down there and get his hand to it with several of the Pionsat players in what can be described as "close attendance".
At last Pionsat make all of their pressure pay and score the opening goal. They had won a corner and the ball is played into the area. One of the St Priest players is the first to get a foot to it and he clears it out upfield. "" From the clearance Pionsat win the ball and push it forward. The fullback, who had stayed upfield, collected the ball, broke through a couple of powderpuff tackles and shot in across the keeper into the far corner. And it's no more that Pionsat deserve for all of the pressure that they have created.
But surprisingly Piuonsat's lead doesn't last all that long and as luck would have it I missed the St Priest equaliser. It was a good ball forward and the entire Pionsat defence completely missed the clearance.
The ball is played into the centre of the Pionsat defence and a St Priest player puts a lovely drive in that had François going at full stretch after the shot. But unfortunately full stretch wasn't quite enough and he couldn't keep the shot out.
It's St Priest's turn to have a moment of panic in their defence.
A high ball comes in from the Pionsat attack but there are no Pionsat forwards around. No-one is under any pressure and the keeper shouts to his defenders to leave it to him. He rises up to catch it quite comfortably - and lets it go clean through his hands. Luckily for him, the shot goes wide of the post otherwise it could have been quite embarrassing.
Mind you, he's not alone in this. I did exactly the same in one particular match when I used to play in goal 30 years ago. On that occasion I was saved from embarrassment by an offside flag.
And so we have a break for half-time, and it's not just the players who refresh themselves as we have a drunk on the terraces, would you believe? And a middle-aged man of all people. He's the first one I've seen at a French football match.
The difference here is that he is being quite good-natured and the rest of the crowd (there's quite a good turn-out toight) are laughing at him. I dunno what the girls in the Pie Hut have put in the mulled wine tonight but if I were a drinker I would be taking some of that home myself.
Pionsat win a free kick in a defensive position. They go for a quick one and when they return to the field "huh? - ed" they take it short. Now I reckon that that's something of a panicky thing to do in a defensive position especially when they have players such as Pierre and Nico who can take long free kicks with precision.
Anyway they work the ball downfield from that position and the ball is lobbed over the St Priest defence and into acres of space.
The quick no9 is onto it like a flash and with a nice one-touch move he brings the ball down and works his way into the penalty area. But just as he went to take his shot he slipped on the greasy surface and put the ball over the bar.
This no9 has quite impressed me this season so far with his speed but he needs to work on his ball control and his consistency.
I think that everyone would agree that one of the crucial players of this Pionsat side is Cedric. He's a big old-fashioned type of centre-forward and yet has good ball control, reads the game quite well and has a certain presence on the field that no other Pionsat player seems to have.
He's been out of action so far this season with a bad injury and has been sorely missed by his team. And with just maybe 15 minutes remaining he comes onto the field as a substitute
And he marks his return to the fray (if he had appeared in the 2nd XI match earlier this evening I would have used the word "affray") with a goal, would you believe?
It's a good ball from the left wing played diagonally into the centre. Cedric shouts for it and gets on the end, pushes it wide of the defender and slots it in past the keeper. Yes, it's nice to see Cedric back again. I can see him complementing quite nicely the little speedy forwards in this Pionsat side.
The next two photographs are what you might well call "composite action".
Pionsat break out of defence and set off all the way down the left wing. One of the Pionsat players finds himself in a shooting position and has a go but the shot is blocked by the defender and cleared out wide.
Pionsat put a cross back into the area and one of the forwards brilliantly rises up and gets his head to the ball. it's a really powerful header that would in normal circumstances have been unstoppable but it crashes against the crossbar with the keeper well-beaten. You can see how much force there was in the header by the height that the ball made off the bar. The race is on for the loose ball ...
... which bounces back down to earth and lands almost on the goal line. The St Priest defenders are hypnotised for just that vital second and while they are making up their mind what to do about it two of the Pionsat players slide in onto the loose ball. They both seem to get a foot onto it simultaneously and tap it into the net.
I dunno how they are going to work out who scored that one, but that's something that they can argue about in the dressing room afterwards while they are patching up their wounds. The Pionsat no10 took quite a hefty knock as he went in for that ball but if the goal is credited to him then I don't suppose he will worry too much about his injuries.
St Priest are clearly not the side that they were last season. Pionsat are well in control of this match by now and they have won it with some ease. And despite being firmly in control the Pionsat players are not sitting back on their laurels but are continually pushing forward towards the St Priest goal eager to add to their tally.
They win a whole series of corners - two or three consecutively as St Priest resort to some desperate defending.
For some reason or other Pionsat elect to play this particular one short and it leads to some confusion between the players. One of the St Priest defenders is quick off the mark to try to defend it and Pionsat have quite a struggle to retain possession down by the corner flag.
They manage eventually to win back the ball and the Pionsat winger puts the ball into the penalty area, accompanied by quite some excitement from the Pionsat crowd. It's a St Priest defender who wins the ball in the air but his clearance doesn't go far enough out. The ball falls kindly for a Pionsat player who drives it on goal. Fortunately for St Priest there is a defender on the goal line and he manages to hack it off the line.
His clearance isn't any better either and it just goes as far as a Pionsat forward who is standing just inside the St Priest penalty area. He lets go a thunderbolt at the St Priest goal but somehow the keeper manages instinctively to get his feet to the ball and he blocks the shot.
This time the ball bounces away to safety which is fortunate for St Priest. It could have gone anywhere in this packed penalty area and with all of these Pionsat players lurking around another goal was a distinct possibility.
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