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1st XI v AS MIREMONT 17th APRIL 2010
While I was down at Pontaumur at the start of the season watching their 1st XI spanner Pionsat's 2nd XI 8-1 astonishing things were happening at Miremont where Pionsat's 1st XI totally demolished the home side 12-1. And fancy me missing that!
But I wasn't going to miss the return match, and neither were too many others. Quite a crowd had assembled, presumably to see if history could repeat itself. And as the legendary Murray Walker once said, "if history repeats itself we can expect the same thing again" and I am always full of optimism.
Almost straight from the kick-off Pionsat take the game to the Miremont defence. There's some nice play right down the field and a couple of good passes see the ball worked into some empty space. Jerome gets to the ball before any defender can make an interception and takes it on into the penalty area.
One or two of the Miremont defenders try to put him off but he evades them, finds some empty space and gets in the shot. The keeper takes it really well at the near post.
In the early stages of the game Pionsat are all over this Miremont side, as might be expected given the first match back in September. Cedric and Pierre, who plays down the right wing, combine really well to launch another assault on the Miremont goal.
Cedric puts the ball over the top of the defence and Pierre, running onto the ball, lets fly a really good shot. The keeper has to dive full-length for the ball and makes the save, pushing the ball around the post for a corner.....
.... and from the resultant corner the ball is played high into the penalty area. One of the Pionsat players rises up and gets in a good header that is right on target. The keeper has to really stretch for the ball and makes the save, clinging on grimly, although it has to be said that there are no Pionsat attackers following up the shot in case the keeper fumbles (a regular gripe of mine, as you know).
He did well there, the keeper. If it was he in goal who let 12 in then I don't know what happened to the defence in front of him for that match. Without him, Pionsat would be a couple of goals up in this match already.
A few minutes later we are treated to a game of head tennis in the Miremont penalty area. No surprise to some of us as we were practising headers in training on Wednesday and the players in both the Pionsat teams have been putting it to good use this evening. Chapeau to Franck the trainer).
Finally one of the Pionsat players directs his header towards the goal but he just gets it the wrong side of the post.
And I say "we" about the training sessions because I am now training with the football club on Wednesdays. Nothing sinister about this but, for my sins, I have passed the league's refereeing examinations and next season I shall be taking up the whistle, subject to a medical. In view of my age (I wouldn't see 35 again even if you lent me a telescope) I have to undergo a fitness test - hence the training.
Christophe Larue, who single-handedly demolished Beauregard Vendon the other week when he turned out for the 3rd XI , has been surprisingly playing at left-back for the opening part of this match. However since Nico went gone off injured he's moved up to just behind the front two which is much more like his usual position.
He works well with Cedric on the ball and finally manages to work Cedric out into a little space. Cedric shoots for goal but it goes yet again just the wrong side of the post. This is becoming rather repetitive.
Right at the very end of the first half there's a really nasty moment for Pionsat. Miremont win a corner and it's a nice ball in. One of the Miremont players rises up to the ball totally unmarked and has in effect a free header at the ball. He could have put it anywhere he liked but fortunately for Pionsat it goes just over the bar. It was close.
I don't know how Pionsat beat this team 12-1 earlier this season. They aren't all that good but they aren't all that bad either and we could have had a nasty upset right on the stroke of half-time.
And after a long long time of waiting Pionsat finally take the lead. It's a nice ball over the top of the defence to Cedric who runs it down to the goal line about 5 yards or so wide of the goalpost. He's surrounded by two or three Miremont players and it looks like he's going nowhere but there's just that little space of a moment and that's all that Cedric needs.
There's a neat little backheel to Gregory who is running in behind and Gregory shoots into the net via the despairing keeper's outstreched foot.
Thanks to that goal out of nothing Pionsat have regained their confidence and are running rampant now. Cedric makes a neat interception of a ball played out of the Miremont defence and plays it forward to Jerome who is running in.
It's just a little too far in front of him but he sticks out a foot and just about makes contact with the ball. He pushes it goalwards and it looks like it's going to be no2 but the keeper who is equally stretched just manages to get a hand to the ball and push it away to safety.
A few minutes ago Cedric supplied the ball that enabled Gregory to open the scoring. This time Gregory and Cedric reverse their previous roles.
Gregory brngs the ball forward into the Miremont half and plays a really good cross into the centre of the Miremont penalty area. Cedric has an excellent diving header and slams it into the net past the despairing keeper. Despite all his earlier heroics there is nothing at all he could have done about that one.
But Miremont are not totally out of this game and pull a goal back totally against the run of play.
They win a corner and the ball is played into the penalty area. It goes right across the goal with no-one making an interception and in the spirit of "anything you can do, I can do better" a Miremont player has an excellent diving header right back across the goal and into the far corner of the net. Matthieu is beaten "all ends up".
You would have thought that Pionsat would have learnt from the corner just before half-time but it really was an excellent diving header. Miremont might make a match of this yet if Pionsat don't concentrate.
And right from the kickoff Pionsat defy my speculation. They go right back up to the other end of the field and score another goal.
It's a long ball that travels almost the entire length of the field. Cedric does really well to intercept it and to bring it under control with the Miremont defence not quick enough to catch him. With just the keeper to beat he fires it right past that latter into the corner of the net for Pionsat's third goal.
And while I was busy changing the memory card in the camera after the last shot, badger me if Pionsat don't go and score a fourth goal.
It's another good ball down the wing which finds Cedric who again seems to run into a blind alley. However he lays it off to Pierre and the two of them play a couple of nice one-twos that catch the whole Miremont defence off-balance. Having the ball played back to him ("Who?"...ed . "Dunno. My notes aren't clear and I can't remember now") it's his turn to find the corner of the net.
So 4-1 to Pionsat. and well-deserved too. Dunno what happened to Miremont in that game where they lost 12-1 to Pionsat because Miremont weren't all that bad and Pionsat aren't exactly a killer team - usually grinding out tight results with slogging midfield battles and quick breaks upfield.
But then again I've seen matches, like the Pontaumur match earlier this season where a couple of early goals went into the Pionsat net before the team had properly warmed up. Their heads went down and they simply folded up. Maybe this was what happened at Miremont, but whatever it was, it must have been something absolutely cataclysmic.
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