SOUTHWELL AMATEURS 3 WOLLATON III 0

MAA Premier Division.

Saturday March 14th, 2009.

Team: Arron Mapley, Sheldon Miller, Josh Lebilinski, Dave Smith, Rocky Bennet-Bull, Micky Evans, Steve Burton, Chris Page, Ben Cheetham, Liam Hill, Mark Middleton. 

Subs: Dave Grantham, (used).  

The last two weeks were always going to be the toughest for Wollaton Thirds in our 2008/09 campaign, with back-to-back fixtures against Southwell (away) and Woodborough (home) and the fortnight's preparations for both games were as good an indicator as any at how managing the Third team can be quite a challenge. I had been getting so many late night texts from Tosh that the wife is starting to wonder what is
going on. 
 
I lost count how many times our line ups changed for both of these fixtures. Firstly, let's start with Southwell away, a team we took to the wire early on in the season at
our place and  lost by only one goal but a team that really turned the second half screw in our cup semi-final, coming on strong after half time (1-1) to finally run out 5-1 winners in that game, setting themselves up with a cup final clash against Woodborough, a team we were to face a week later. 

We were determined to seek revenge against Southwell but our plans took a real big blow when the first team management lobbied for Nick, Smithy and Ben Cheetham, the latter we'd lined up early doors as the ressies had no game. It was a difficult 24 hours of preparation with much 'horse trading' being done between ourselves and the first team, finally relenting on Nick's call up but managing to retain the services of Ben Cheetham and Smithy holding firm with his loyalties in the face of third team adversity at the foot of the table. To compound matters, Joe Lewis (half marathon running), Fishy (rib injury) and Cressy (away in Brighton......with his missus), three established third team regulars, were unavailable, a big loss considering Cressy had put in a storming shift the week before against Brunts. Fortunately, Pagey stepped in to plug the gap at right mid, Liam filled in at left mid and Burts lined up in the middlee alongside Micky, with Ben and Mark up front. 
 
We couldn't have asked for a better surface to play on when we arrived at Southwell, as the Ams had secured Southwell City's lower pitch, a big expansive pitch with a tidy surface only blighted by a forceful cross wind which normally picks up at their place. Unfortunately we could have asked for a better ref, as the man in the middle later proved to be woeful ad a constant drain on any promise of a flowing game of football.
 
The first 20 minutes was all Wollaton, we started far brighter and Ben and Mark caused some real problems up front, fashioning a handful of very good chances from both some decent passing play and by defending from the top, forcing Southwell into mistakes and using the ball very resourcefully with some good close control. We went very close when Mark volleyed Ben's pass just past the top corner. But after a bright 20 minute start Southwell started to get hold of the ball in the middle of the park and started using the full width of the pitch, stretching us out of shape. They took the lead with a speculative effort from 25 yards which looked to be going over but a freak crosswind cut across the ball and took some pace off the shot and forced the ball the wrong side of the bar for us. It was almost as if time stood still as the ball was maipulated in the air by the wind. 

A few minutes later we experienced a blow when Pagey pulled a back muscle which hampered his normal game after his bright start. Southwell got a second when they worked the ball well down the left and a text book cut back from the byline was driven inside the near post. A few minutes later Smithy apparently got booked but no one saw it. 

In the second half we continued to maintain a foothold on the game but you could feel any opportunity of a comeback was slipping away as a few of our lads picked up knocks and we only had one sub to call upon in Davie G. Halfway through the second half the game had to be stopped when a 50/50 between Josh and Southwell's central midfielder ended up with Southwell's player writhing on the ground with a suspected broken leg. The match was stopped for 25 minutes while we all waited for an ambulance. As we the wait ensued, news of Liverpool's stunning 4-1 win over United at Old Trafford was shared on the sidelines by a spectator and Davie G erupted with shouts of joy, which raised a few eyebrows in the circumstances! 

The ambulance finally turned up and when Southwell's player was despatched, the game got going again but soon was declared officially over by the referee when he gave Smithy a second yellow card when he asked Dave why everyone was calling him Ben Chapman! Dave replied that no one called him Ben Chapman, there wasn't a Ben Chapman on the pitch but there is a Ben Cheetham. The ref, mishearing the reply totally out of context, asked: "Are you accusing me of cheating?!" and sent him off! Minutes later he confirmed to all and sundry what a hopeless referee he is by allowing Southwell to play on after their left winger picked up a through ball 10 yards offside, everyone stopped including the winger wen the lino flagged but the ref played on. The winger was so far down the field out of range of any other player it was like watching kids football. A blind man with a bag on his head could have seen it was offside.

Wollaton Thirds have won three fair play trophies in the last few years, but we let rightly rip at the referee for such a farcical performance. This was the first time in years in which we felt like we were up against two forms of opposition; Southwell and the ref. After the game Micky approached the ref with Smithy to gain some reasoning behind the sending off. The ref finally relented by stating that we wouldn't the send the cards in to the FA. A week later we arrive at the club for our game against Woodborough to find he's gone against word and has now sent the
cards in. Where's the integrity? 
 
Man of the Match: Mark Middleton. Worked tirelessly up front all afternoon.