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2nd XI v CLERMONT FRANCO-ALGERIENS
26th NOVEMBER 2011
The weather has changed this last couple of days. The Indian Summer that we have been having seems to have departed hence and this evening we have a cold, clammy claggy foggy night for our football match. I don't know about anyone else but I'm not looking forward much to this evening.
Now here's an interesting line-up to start the game. François in goal, Stephane and Vincent at full-back, Malik, Nico and Fabrice in the centre of defence, Sébastien in midfield with Michael and Jerome, and up front are Bertrand and Valentin. Just Fabien on the bench tonight.
Very early in the game there's a free kick for Pionsat and the entire Pionsat attack catches the entire Clermont defence fast asleep in the penalty area. As the kick is taken they all cry out for offside when it was nothing like offside at all - even their own linesman who is running the line down here was of that opinion - and one of the Pionsat forwards blazes over with the goal at his mercy.
He would probably have had far more success trying to tap it in and I'm wondering how crucial a miss like this early in the game is going to be.
And there's still a huge dispute about this offside with the Clermont players, supporters and officials having a right old moan at the linesman. As you can tell from the photo, I was more-or-less level with play and in my opinion the (Clermont, don't forget) linesman had the decision absolutely spot-on.
And down at the other end Clermont go on the attack. They break through the field with a few crunching tackles and in the end one of their forwards bursts through the defence for a one-on-one with François in the Pionsat goal.
And just like the Pionsat attempt a little earlier he also decides to go for glory when a more subtle touch might have been a better option. His shot goes across François and clangs against the far post before going out for a goal kick.
The Pieds-Noir take the lead a short while later which, to be honest, they have been threatening for the last few minutes.
It's a short corner that catches the Pionsat defence unaware and the ball is played low right across the penalty area with no Pionsat defender reacting to the ball. It reaches one of the attackers at the far post and this time he chooses the simple tap-in, which does the business.
Pionsat's defence is going to have to do better than this.
Valentin has a good break down the left wing for Pionsat and wins a corner.
The ball comes in nice and hard and a couple of metres off the ground. Sébastien, totally unmarked, leaps up for it and has a free header. He can manage the power but not the direction and it flashes past the post for another Clermont goal-kick.
But if you have a close look at the photo, you'll see that there isn't anyone apart from Sébastien getting in there where it matters. Pionsat have a few big players and they should all be in the goal area for set-pieces like this, and crowd out the defenders and the keeper. Even the smaller players can stop the defenders moving around.
Down at the other end (because, to be honest, that's where most of the action is taking place) Clermont win a free kick and its taken very quickly. The attacker who receives the ball does quite a nifty peice of skilful footwork and with a little shove of the shoulder on a Pionsat defender - all quite legitimate - finds himself in clear space yet again in front of François and once more it's another one straight over the bar.
How on earth did he manage to miss this?
And so half time. And there are three burning questions spinning around in my head
Firstly how did we get to half-time with only one goal?
Secondly how long can Pionsat's luck hold? The Pieds-Noir have been through this defence like a hot knife through butter on several occasions
Thirdly will we make it to the end of the match? The fog is swirling around quite ominously.
And one of the Pionsat supporters has just pointed out to me that the Clermont goalkeeper has not had a single save to make from a Pionsat attempt on goal. Ohhh for someone like Christophe Larue up front with Valentin playing down the wing and Bertrand playing just behind them. Christophe would enjoy this match because the Pied-Noir defence isn't much to write home about, as we have already noticed.
In fact, if both the attacks had been on form in the first half we could already have had a bagfull of goals. I'm intrigued to see what the second half brings, although I have to be honest and say that I am full of foreboding.
I said that I was full of foreboding, didn't I? Well as the second half commenced I still had half a cup of hot coffee in my hand and by the time I had put it on the seat in the grandstand Pionsat were 2-0 down.
It was another one of these goals that happen on a regular basis - the PIonsat defence standing around shouting for offside when according to the linesman and the referee it was nothing of the sort. The Pied-Noir attacker has a one-on-one with François and it's a case of 73rd time lucky as he taps it home.
I really don't know what to say about this. Nothing that I haven't said for the last four or five years anyway because I've said it all before. Anything else would just be totally gratuitous and, apparently, a total waste of effort on my part.
I don't know what the Clermont trainer put into the Pied-Noir's half-time teapot but I wouldn't mind a cup of it. His team have come out of the dressing room like there is no tomorrow. They win the ball from the Pionsat kick-off and they are off again up the field.
This time the Pionsat defence manage to crowd out the Pied-Noir forwards but they can't clear the ball and one of the attackers has a really good go from about 20 yards. François goes down for it but can only parry the ball, but he's up and quickly onto the loose ball before anyone else can react.
But before I say "anyone", look at the position of the Clermont n°9, and look at the position of the Pionsat defender. At least he's in the shot, but where are his colleagues and the defensive-minded midfield players? Never mind a bus, you could drive a train through the Pionsat defence.
Pionsat really need to organise themselves so much more. They really can't afford to fall further behind to a team like this because the Pieds-Noir aren't anything special.
And now something quite astonishing has happened. A free-kick has been awarded to Pionsat and the Clermont n°8 has said … errr … something (which does not bear repeating in these family pages) to the referee. Now he was booked earlier in the game for having said something of a similar nature to the referee and so the result of this latest outburst is a foregone conclusion.
The first person to react to the remark however was the Clermont trainer who came onto the field, dragged his n°8 off and sent him to the dressing room with a "right - now we'll play with just 10 men".
I suppose they can afford to do that too as Pionsat don't particularly look like scoring, even if you were to take off all of the Pieds-Noir, but normally the trainer would merit a yellow card for "entering the field of play without the referee's permission", the n°8 would merit a yellow card for "leaving the field of play without the referee's permission" as well as whatever sanction he might receive for the remark that he has just made, but the referee is quite happy to let it all go by as long as the player is no longer on the pitch. And I can't say that I have any particular criticism of that.
And I wasn't particularly wrong as well because one of the Pieds-Noir has pulled up with an injury and for a good five or so minutes they were down to 9 men - not that it made much of a difference.
And for once Pionsat are in danger of troubling the Pied-Noir goalkeeper. One of the players makes an excellent interception just inside the centre-circle and a lovely ball ball diagonally forward finds Fabrice who has gone down the left wing. He'll be the first to admit that, being a big old-fashioned defender, he's not the most skilful of players but he does really well to control it and puts in a lovely cross into the centre.
I'm not sure whether it might have been Jerome who slid in onto that and he really did have to stretch for it too. And he just about made contact with the ball but put it over the bar again for a goal-kick.
And so their injured player now comes back onto the field and they are back to playing with … errr … as many players as they have.
And so with the Pieds-Noir playing with 10 men the action moves up to the other end of the field again. It's a ball straight down the centre of the field and the Pionsat defence waits once more for an offside decision that never comes.
We end up with two attackers against François in the Pionsat goal and he has no real option but to come off his line to try to narrow the angle and to, I suppose, scare them to death. I don't know what else he can do.
Much to everyone's surprise the tactic seems to work for the attacker with the ball tries to lob François when it would have been far, far easier to pass the ball inside to the n°7 rushing in, and he unbelievably puts it wide of the post.
This really is totally astonishing and despite the tragedy of it all, I can't help but laugh.
And then, unbelievably, something even more astonishing happens. Pionsat score a goal, and it is a goal that comes out of absolutely nothing.
Pionsat are awarded a throw-in on the right touchline level with the penalty area, something which, they way the game is going this evening, ought to be the signal for a lap of honour from the home side.
Instead, the ball is thrown to the edge of the Clermont penalty area where Bertrand puts his foot on it, swivels round, and drives it straight into the net with the keeper nowhere. The Pied-Noir defence look totally stunned and with good reason too. And they aren't the only ones. The crowd can't believe this either.
Right from the restart the Pieds-Noir storm right up the field looking like they really mean business. And once more, the Pionsat defence tries to catch the attack offside. And once more, the offside trap doesn't work. And once more they are through on François
Malik does his best against three attackers, holding them up long enough for a couple more defenders to struggle back. They manage to clear the ball away from goal but present it to one of their forwards totally unmarked who has a free shot on goal, straight into the hands of François.
And then would you believe, straight from François' clearance from the above action, the ball soars straight upfield, straight into the centre of the Pied-Noir defence straight to a Pionsat forward (and peering through the doom and gloom I can't make out who it was - maybe it was Bertrand again) who volleys it straight into the net for the equaliser.
From nothing, in the space of less than 30 seconds (there's a good timer on the Nikon
Something else that someone has just reminded me is that these two goals are the first two shots on target from open play that the Pionsat players have had.
And it's not surprising that before the end of the match Malik is having to be carried from the field. His interception just a few minutes earlier that totally changed the course of this game has proved to be the final straw for the Pieds-Noir who have been subjecting him to some special treatment ever since then.
This latest crunching tackle with just a couple of minutes to go has proved to be too much for Malik and that's his game over.
You'll also notice in this photograph to the left of centre a guy wearing a yellow bib. He's Michel who is running the line on behalf of Pionsat this evening.
And why I'm drawing your attention to him is that it has always been the convention that the linesman for Pionsat runs along the far touchline by the trainers' benches and the "away" linesman runs the line along the grandstand. And that was how we started this evening. Howver it seems that at half-time the linesmen changed lines.
This is allowed for in the rules but it is something that I have never ever seen happen before. I did ask Michel why it had happened,and he told me that the referee had asked them to change lines. As to why, I was not given a reason - at least, a reason that I would care to put into print.
This is now the key for Clermont to go rampaging through Pionsat's defence at will. They are away down the right flank and put in a high cross right into the goal area and François has to be at his very best to climb above the rest of the players and palm it away from danger.
And the loose ball only just evades the forward standing, totally unmarked, at the far post.
And after all of the hard work that went on just a few minutes earlier when Pionsat quite unexpectedly pulled back two goals, it's almost inevitable that Clermont should go back into the lead with just seconds left to play.
And if you really need me to tell you how it happened, all I can say is that I've already said it - and half a dozen times at least as well. The Pionsat defence trying to catch the Clermont attack offside and stand around like Easter Island statues waiting for the flag that never came.
One Pionsat defender against three Clermont attackers and that's your lot. Not even François could do anything about this.
But I'm mistaken. It isn't your lot because straight from the restart Clermont win the ball and it's in the back of Pionsat's net for a fourth goal. An interception on the halfay line from a misplaced Pionsat pass and then straight down the left wing and straight into the net.
As a home supporter, it's a long time since I've been embarrassed like this and when the final whistle blows just about 20 seconds later we all try to slink out of the ground unobserved.
Clermont's attack was awful as you can tell from all of the missed chances that they had. And yet they were made to look so good in this game. Pionsat's defence was totally outclassed at this level and the attack wasn't any better.
But then again you can't necessarily blame the players (although if I ever see any of them again standing around waiting for the offside flag I shall say something). The limited options that Pionsat had for team selection said everything, and almost everyone was playing out of position today. There's certainly something weird going on at the club just now because I can't believe that the players on the field were the only ones available for this evening's match. It really is extraordinary.
After the game had finished I went for a chat with the Clermont players to pick up what gossip I could, and spent some time talking to a charming young lady who was doing her best to speak to me in English.
Every now and again as you know, I feature on these pages people from out of the crowd and so with the young lady's consent I put her photo up on the web page to add to the artistic merit of my site, and also to help me take my mind off the game. I think I need something like that.
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Il y a sans doute des francophones qui aimeraient lire cette page en français. Donc vous devez m'aider á la traduire!
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