Grubby Miners on strike as The Slags heap on the humiliation
With the seconds glorious run of two wins stopped dead in its tracks by St Mary’s on Wednesday, the signs looked ominous for our heroes. The opposition were the league leaders, Royal School of Mines, who had won nine out of ten thus far; two of our centre-halves were out due to exam stress; and our goalkeeper crisis was still unresolved. Everything pointed to a drubbing, but there are no easy matches against "The Slags."
Our most pressing problem was the lack of goalie (especially as RSM had sportingly sent home a spare keeper to prevent him playing for us) and so volunteers were asked for. With even the mighty Robo balking at this challenge, there was only one man brave enough to don the gloves of destiny for what was surely to be a siege of the IC goal. That man was Andy - about the shortest player there and someone who had never played in goal. Truly this was a day when he would have to dig deep and show the world his mettle.
The first twenty minutes confirmed that this was going to be a tough match. Our midfield was being pulled apart by the slick passing and movement of RSM. Solid defending from German and captain Steve could only stem the flow so much and the grubby miners managed several shots on goal. Each time, though, with the ball whistling through the air on an seemingly unstoppable course for the back of our net, from out of nowhere flew a blur of blue to intercept and disarm the missile. Andy was a revelation in goal - "inspired" doesn’t really do his performance credit. With an uncanny knack of perfect positioning and Bostick gloves, a few extra inches in height and he could be playing for England.
Even with Andy’s heroics, we were hard pushed to play a constructive part in the game. With the wind against us and the playing uphill there was a real sense that holding on until half time would be an achievement. This was not to be, however, as the miners broke and scored to go in leading at half time.
The second half started and suddenly we looked like a different team. RSM were still playing the ball around well, but now so were we. Good use of the full-backs Phil and Loz to bring the ball out from short goal kicks gave our play a cultured air that even the league leaders couldn’t match. The equaliser came from a corner. Throughout the match the antics of the miner’s ‘keeper had us wondering how bad the one that had been sent home was, but from this one he excelled himself - standing watching in the middle of the goal as the ball sailed over his head to be smashed in at the far post by the mighty Robo.
The momentum of our play was taken away as RSM were awarded a very dubious penalty for one of their players lying on the floor and kicking the mighty Robo. The spot-kick was duly scored, but not by the player who placed the ball. Despite this illegality the referee let the goal stand and we were struggling again. More cat-like heroics from Andy couldn’t stop a third goal, and it looked like it was all over.
Luckily it seemed that we had taken good notice of the article in the kit bag mag about coming from behind, and the passes started to be strung together. The miners seemed to be on strike as we piled forward, every member of the IC team wanting the ball to run with at their beleaguered defence. Felix’s mid-season renaissance continued as he skinned the left back time and again and even Dave looked quite good as "The Slags" rallied for one of their gutsiest performances to date.
In the end RSM were more pounded into submission than pulled apart by slick passing, as we were twice quickest in a packed penalty area. First Martin scored his obligatory goal as their donkey of a keeper dropped the ball at his feet, and then Hajo managed to keep his head as all about him defenders were losing theirs’ (German is getting more and more aggressive) to lob the ball from Loz’s square pass.
The game ended with IC the moral victors, despite the points being shared.
IC IIs 3 - 3 RSM Is
