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1st XI v ST GEORGES LES ANCIZES
2nd OCTOBER 2011
It seems like forever since I've been down here at the football. Being in Brussels for much of May selling my apartment followed by most of June working in the UK, and then four weeks in September working in Canada - is it that long that I've been without my usual footy-fix?
And just for a change Pionsat is playing on a Sunday afternoon this weekend in a cup match against St Georges - Les Ancizes, a team who is several levels higher up the pyramid. Their first team plays in CFA 2, the same level as Clermont Foot reserves and Bastia reserves, and the second XI plays in the Seniors Elite.
The players from there look big and heavy, and I note in something of consternation that it's something of a makeshift side that Pionsat has out there today. I can't see Pierre, or Jérome, or Sébastien, or Yann, or Christophe Larue, and that's just at first glance as well. There are probably a few other people missing as well
And it doesn't take St Georges Ancizes long to score the first goal,and it's a pretty ominous sign for the season to come. And despite all ofmy urging over the past three or so years, it's pretty much a Pionsat trademark give-away goal.
There 's a powerful break down the centre field and these big strong opponents shrug aside a couple of weak, ineffective tackles and shrug aside a weak, ineffective foul tackle as well thanks to the referee who plays a good advantage.
The ball is played out to the inside right position to a player who has worked his way behind the defenders and he just has to run three or four paces on his own with all the time in the world to drive the ball past François.
And I miss the equalising goal as I just knew that I would, having had to go chasing off after a ball that had been kicked out of the ground and was running down the hill towards town.
It was a good break down the wing with Cedric on the ball, pulling most of the defence over towards him. Once he had the defence off balance he squared the ball across the penalty area to Nico who was unmarked in the centre of the field and he really had the simplest of tap-ins.
It seems from first glance that the St Georges Ancizes defence is as absent as Pionsat's is on occasion, and this could be an interesting match.
And not only that - I noticed a little while later that they like to mess around in defence as well. I noticed on one occasion a few minutes later that instead of clearing the ball out of the penalty area as soon as possible, their n°15,who I am told has played at a much higher level than this just recently, tries to dribble the ball around Cedric right on the edge of his own goal area in front of goal.
He was lucky to get away with that as well as Cedric can be quite tenacious and to make matters worse, the defender's panicky ball out of the area clips a Pionsat attacker just outside the box and the rebound could have gone anywhere.
I don't care what level of football you play at, messing around with the ball close to your own goal is quite often a recipe for disaster. How many times have we seen a lucky foot stuck out just as an otherwise-skilful defender trips over a molehill?
It doesn't take St Georges Ancizes long to go back into the lead, and it's another typical Pionsat moment of madness in defence.
This might even have been a St Georges Ancizes goal kick that sailed high into the Pionsat half of the field. One of the Pionsat defenders leaves his marker to stride two or so metres up the pitch to head the ball back upfield ... and totally misses the ball.
Of course, his attacker is now totally unmarked as none of the other defenders have come across to cover and no midfield players have fallen back to make an extra man in defence. The attacker simply gathers the ball, steps a few paces forward, sells a beautiful dummy to François in goal, and slots the ball into the empty net.
This is starting to look oh, so predictable and it seems to me that we are back to where we finished last season despite all my moaning from the last few seasons. It's schoolboy, elementary stuff, this is, about midfield players dropping back to cover long, high balls forward, and about the defence working as a unit. There's no-one with a commanding presence in the Pionsat defence and there is no-one shouting and giving the orders in the back line. There's absolute silence in the Pionsat defence and, worst of all, there's absolute silence on the bench as well.
Pionsat could be playing at a much higher level than this if only they would go out and look for a real leader for their defence in the same way that Cedric leads the attack - someone with plenty of presence and a loud voice to match. Bring back Warwick Rimmer, say I in all seriousness.
A short while later, there's a hint of something else that this match might turn into if we aren't careful.
As Cedric tries to break forward with the ball their n°4 takes a huge whack at his legs with hardly a passing interest in the ball. The sickening noise echoes all around the ground but Cedric just runs forward as if nothing has happened and the defender lies sprawled upon the ground in agony. Serve him right, say I.
The Pionsat players are still going forward though, all credit to them, and they nearly equalise with a good bit of perseverence from Thomas who has just come on the field in place of one of the other attackers who is clearly not having a good day today.
Thomas and Nico combine well down the wing and between them they play the ball into the penalty area. It's missed by almost everyone but the the winger on the far side picks it up and plays it back in. The keeper can only parry the shot but a Pionsat player sticks out a foot to the ball but just can't steer it into the net.
A little moment of panic in the St Georges Ancizes defence and Pionsat were so unlucky not to get anything here with this really impressive build-up. For all their position higher up the pyramid, the Pionsat players aren't half giving them the jitters from time to time.
A short while later Pionsat win a corner down the left wing. Its a long, high and deep corner right over the goal area totally out of reach of everyone but it drops quite nicely past the back post where Vianney is running in behind everyone.
Vianney gets his head to the ball but he can't direct it goalwards, and it goes out for a goal kick. A good move that from Pionsat.
The Pionsat players start the second half as if they mean business and they already had one good chance right from the kick-off that didn't miss the goal by much.
A few minutes later we had a nice ball out of midfield that curled around the back of the defence and Thomas, who seems to be camping in the inside-right position right now, makes the ball first and has a good go at beating the St Georges Ancizes keeper.
He's not having much luck right now though and his shot sails just a couple of inches over the bar, although it would have been within reach of the keeper I suspect if it had been any lower.
But never mind. Here are the Pionsat players piling on the pressure. They need to pull this goal back.
This time it's the turn of St Georges Ancizes to go on the attack. There's a good break down the field and they have a good chance here to extend their lead with an excellent shot from the inside-left position, but the ball goes over the bar.
Having said that, François was in an excellent position between the sticks and he would probably have had it covered if it had dipped down towards the goal. But this is turning out to be a good and exciting end-to-end match now despite the gulf between the teams. All we need now is a Pionsat equaliser.
And we nearly get one as well just here, don't we? They come pretty close to it yet again with a good ball that is won on the right side of centre-midfield and played forward to the attackers.
One of the aforementioned, and it might even have been Thomas once more, reaches the ball first in front their defenders and puts a good boot to the ball. Unluckily though, it just clips the top of the bar and goes out of play.
I thought it might have been a corner but it seems that I'm the only one in the ground who thinks so. The keeper apparently didn't get a finger to it and so it's a goal kick.
Pionsat have had a few good chances this half - surely they must score soon, unless as what usually happens in moments like this and we have a breakaway up the far end of the field. Forever the optimist, aren't I?
and at long last, after all of the effort that Pionsat have been putting in for the last 15 minutes or so, Pionsat finally find the net for the equalising goal. It's a high ball right into the centre of the goal area just to the far post, and there is Cedric, totally unmarked. This pulls all of the defence over towards him, out of position, but nevertheless he has all the time in the world to pick his spot.
Quite unselfishly, instead of going for goal, he nods the ball back across the goalmouth to Thomas, who has been abandoned by all of his markers, and Thomas puts in a diving header that would not have been out of place on the television.
The keeper scrambles back across the goal and manages to get a hand to it but he can't keep it out and that's the equaliser that has been on the cards ever since we started the second half.
Pionsat deserve this goal and I have to say that for the last 15 minutes or so Thomas has been playing an excellent game. Much of this can be put down to his perseverence and efforts since he came on a substitute.
There's just been a horrible horrible foul tackle here where one of their players - the n°10 I think - has in my opinion flung himself completely at a Pionsat defender with absolutely no intention of getting the ball. They both lie scrunched up in the middle of the park and if the n°10 doesn't get shown a red card for this once he recovers from his ... errr ... imjury then there is no justice. In my humble opinion it looked to me like more of an assault than a challenge for the ball.
However the referee, for reasons that only he knows, gives the foul and that's your lot. Not any colour of card at all which is extraordinary. Mind you, it seems that I'm the only person in the ground who thinks so, so it seems, for none of the crowd and none of the players seem to be baying for blood.
Perhaps it's me who ought to be having his eyes tested, not the ref.
The action now is up at the far end, and Pionsat are so so lucky just now with a free kick that goes clean over the defence straight to one of their attackers. He has a free header from close range and the ball goes over the head of François, off the underside of the bar and bounces down towards the goal line.
Luckily the linesman is in a good position and has an unobstructed view of the ball so that he can confirm that the ball didn't cross the line, and he waves "play on" to the referee.
Pionsat are also lucky in that there's a defender on hand to hack the ball clear of danger before an oppsition forward can pounce on it. No - I wouldn't have liked to have measured how far that ball was away from crossing the line
And if that wasn't enough to get the adrenalin flowing, a few minutes later we have the luckiest of luckest escapes - an incident that happened so quickly that everyone here, including the players, was just staring open-mouthed at the events as they unrolled without any time at all to react.
One of the St Georges Les Ancizes players takes the ball right down to the bye line and drives a really hard wicked cross right across the face of the goal, so hard and fast that no-one in the goalmouth can intercept it.
One of their attackers running in at the far post gets to the ball and hits it with probably the hardest shot that I have ever seen, all from about one yerd out, and from that range he whacks it right into the upright with a thud that could probably be heard back in Les Ancizes.
The ball cannons back off the post right into François and then bounces back onto the line where it is cleared desperately by a Pionsat defender who for once is in the correct position.
Certainly François knew nothing about this and I doubt if the defender knew any more about it either. How St Georges Les Ancizes didn't score from this position will be one of those mysteries of all time.
It's noticeable that having put all of that effort in to score an equaliser, Pionsat seem to have gone off the boil now and are letting the opposition get the upper hand and get back into the game. Pionsat have been looking so impressive going forward but they do have a tendency to ease off the throttle when they have the upper hand. They seem to lack the killer instinct and the concentration.
They need to be getting much further forward than this and go on the attack and for two reasons too.
Firstly because the Pionsat defence isn't what it ought to be and is short of a couple of quality players, so anything that can take the pressure off the defence is more-than-welcome.
Secondly the opposition defence isn't what it should be for a team at the level of football at which they play. We saw in this spell of 15 minutes or so just after the break that Pionsat's attack has the capability to take this defence apart, if only they would concentrate.
And as I am dictating all of this following the above exciting events, Pionsatdo manage to break away upfield but of course there's only one Pionsat player forward, and I didn't notice who it was.
All of the St Georges Les Ancizes defenders, including the goalkeeper, come rushing towards him trying to close him down but, picking his moment, he hoists the ball over all of them. It's heading towards the empty net but it hangs in the air for so long that one of their defenders has the time to get back to the ball and clear it away without being under too much pressure.
All I can say is that these last two minutes have been really exciting. How have I managed for the last five months without any of this?
But as I feared, it's St Georges Les Ancizes who score the next goal to go back into the lead. It's from a good bit of busting and hustling down the left wing and the ball finally ends up with one of the attackers about 20 yards out near the left-hand angle of the penalty area. He drives in from here and it's a flyer right across the goal and straight into the far corner of the net.
I don't think that François or his defence could have done too much about that shot. It was one of those that had "goal" written all the way across it and not many keepers would have kept that one out.
And then we have the best goal of the match so far without any doubt at all, and luckily it's Pionsat who score it.
Matthieu Sikorsky, the Pionsat n°8, brilliantly chiseled his way through four or five really tough tackles from the defence, broke into space and gave the ball a mighty kick. And I don't care whatever you say about this, Matthieu, I would bet my house on that being a shot for goal here. And although the ball is curling wide of the keeper, it's also going wide of the goal as well.
But did you notice in the previous photo where Thomas, the Pionsat n°12 was? Ideally placed, running in at the far post and the defence has forgotten all about him there. He races onto the loose ball, just about gets there in time, and slots it into the back of the net.
It was probably the best move of the match so far and totally unexpected too - Matthieu could easily have been thwarted by any one of those big defenders and so he can make a good claim for his fighting instinct there. It can go down as a fortunate goal, but then again you need to take the chances that present themselves, no matter how they arrive, and doubtless Thomas will want me to say something about his true poacher's instinct - a striker being in exactly the right position at exactly the right moment.
And do you know what - that was right on the final whistle. We hardly have the time for the match to get under way before the referee brings the game to a close. It was lucky that Pionsat scored when they did but they deserve the draw for their efforts up front and if they hadn't given away those two silly goals right at the start they would have been comfortably out in front, and deservedly so.
Ahh yes - of course, it's a cup match and so we are going to have extra time. What with the tight timetable and the possibility or a four-month winter, there's no question of replays.
And as we get ready for the kick-off we have a visitor come to see the match. He does a couple of laps around the pitch, either he's TF1 come to film the match or else he's looking for a place to crash, but then clears off, back to where he came from presumably.
Now you might remember a while ago me talking about the n°15 of St Georges Les Ancizes messing around with the ball close to goal when he should have cleared it upfield, and nearly landing his team in the cart whenit all goes pear-shaped. A few of these players have been doing this throughout the match and I've been convinced that it's all going to end in tears.
This time it's the n°16's turn to try to impress the peasants with his cunning stunts on the ball but this time he ends up clipping the ball off no less a person than the referee.
The unexpected loose ball is interecepted by a Pionsat midfielder who plays it through to Cedric who was totally unmarked up front - no-one, except Yours Truly of course, was expecting anything. Cedric has the simplest job of tapping the ball into the net past a stranded keeper.
I've seen this happen so many times from the Pionsat defence that for it to happen to the opposition, all I can say is that it really serves then right. When you have the ball in a dangerous position and you have attackers beaming down on you, you should kick the ball upfield or even out of play. It is not the moment to try to be clever.
And NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!! While I'm busy dictating the aforementioned, we have a catastrophe.
Would you believe that they have gone right from the kick-off and scored an opportunist goal with the Pionsat defence again half-asleep and not concentrating on the match? For once that Pionsat have gone into a well-deserved lead, they can't hang on to it for more that 15 seconds and we have to do it all again.
And they certainly do try, as well. With the pressure that the Pionsat players are applying right now, St Georges Les Ancizes are right up against it and there's a cynical foul right on the edge of the area. Once more, I find myself asking if the referee has left his cards in the dressing room because I would have been fed up by all of this a long time ago.
So be that as it may, the Pionsat free kick hits the defensive wall and bounces back,so the Pionsat player has another go at curling the ball around the wall. This time however he doesn't put enough on and it curls wide of the post.
Mind you, look where Cedric and Nico are lurking - right up front by the goal. Exactly where a couple of decent strikers ought to be for this kind of ball, looking for the rebounds and the dropped balls.
As the match draws to its conclusion, there's something of a bizarre incident down the right-hand side of the field close to where I'm standing.
There's a clear, if not blatant handball from one of the Pionsat defenders and the referee waves "play-on",which surprised almost everyone in the ground, including the Pionsat players. And from this incident the ball is played up to Thomas who is grabbed by the throat and pulled unceremoniously away from the ball. Of course, up goes the linesman's flag and the referee .... waves "play-on".
I don't know what it is that the referee is seeing in the game, but I'm seeing this from a completely different viewpoint entirely
There's still time though for Pionsat to try for the winner and they come ohhh so close in the dying seconds of the game.
It's another long high ball out of defence and Cedric is a clear winner of the ball in the air. he manages to get half an inch in front of the defenders and looses off a really good shot but it goes just wide of the goal and out for a goal kick. What a way this would have been to finish the match if that had gone in.
There's still time for one little piece of action and one thing that it is nice to see, from my point of view, is that the Pionsat players are prepared to mix it with a bigger heavier side and not only give as good as they get in the physical stakes, but in certain circumstances come out ahead. Usually they lack that little bit of steel and are too easily intimidated and muscled off the ball, and are somewhat naive in the way that they respond to the challenge.
This was a collision in a race for a 50-50 ball and the Pionsat player has for a change definitely come out by far the better. The Pionsat players need to develop more of the right kind of aggression and it would benefit one or two of the defenders to go off on some weight-training exercises - that will do them all a power of good as well.
It's nice to see them standing up to the opposition in circumstances such as these and showing the right kind of aggression.
And so it's a penalty shootout, which is always some kind of lottery. Pionsat elect to go first, and Gaëtan draws the short straw.
He strides up to the spot and sends the keeper completely the wrong way with his shot to put Pionsat in front.
The lead doesn't unfortunately last very long as their n°11, who had looked pretty lively throughout the match, strides up to the spot and sends François the wrong way for the equaliser.
Pionsat's second penalty is taken by the other Gaëtan. He anticipates the whistle by taking the kick early and catching the keeper unawares.
Being ordered by the ref to retake the kick he completely confuses the keeper by putting the ball way to the other side of him while the keeper seems to be going for Gaëtan's previous effort
2-1 to Pionsat.
But of course the lead doesn't last all that long. François is caught in three minds and so stands his ground as the St Georges Les Ancizes player slots the ball into the right-hand corner of the goal.
It's the turn of Matthieu to stride up to the spot and show us what he can do in circumstances like this.
The keeper does well in guessing not only the right height but the right distance too and comes within an ace of getting to that one. But Matthieu, who can be something of a dead-ball expert, has hit it so hard that the keeper will never ever reach it.
Mind you, we all had our hearts in out mouths when we heard it hit the woodwork - luckily it was the inside of the post.
It's the turn of the n°15, who has looked a class above most other people on the field during the moments wwhen he was taking the match seriously, to take this shot.
It's a really good shot too and sends François the wrong way. But he performs an acrobatic mid-air twist and actually gets his hand to it, but can't keep it out. He was so close to making what must have been the save of the century there.
Thomas steps up to the spot now to show us what he is capable of, as if he hasn't shown us enough already in this match.
It's quite a comfortable kick as well, low and hard and has the oppostion keeper going totally the wrong way.
François said after the match that he was getting closer and closer to the ball with each kick and that it was odds-on that sooner or later he would get his hands properly around the ball. But to be fair, he didn't have to do too much to get his hands around this one because it was one of the softest penalties that I've ever seen.
Mind you, he could easily have dived either side of it but because it was hit with such a lack of conviction, he had the time to read it correctly and to stand his ground.
And now it's all on Cedric and I notice out of the corner of my eye that his mother has gone to hide in a corner with her eyes shut tight.
She need not have worried, though. Cedric's kick is a thumper and even if the keeper had have guessed he would not have been able to have stopped that one. As good apenalty as you are ever likely to see, that one.
So there we are - a hard-fought match with Pionsat winning on penalties against a bigger, heavier side a few steps higher up the pyramid. This is a nice scalp to take home.
And didn't the match transform itself when Thomas was brought on? This was just like the Thomas of a few years ago and I hope that he keeps this up for the rest of the season. It'll put the wind up the opposition.
Having said this, though, Pionsat should have had this match well-won long before the 90 minutes were up. It really needs someone who can take charge of the defence, get them regrouped and get them to cut out the silly errors that have cost them so much throughout the last couple of seasons.
And there's no animation coming from the touchline either. The players are effectively out there on their own once the kick-off starts.The team needs someone extremely animated with a bellowing voice on the touchline, to galvanise the defence into action and to keep them focused on the game. How easily they could have seen off this team shows that they can go it when they try - all they need is someone who can keep them trying for the whole 90 minutes.
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