Major Semi – BUFC D’s vs Woy Woy

Location, Mangrove Mountain,, the Barnstoneworth D division vs Woy Woy, Major Semi Final, delayed kick off, some time after 4PM, Sat 12th Sept 2009

An epic encounter was expected after both teams finished joint top of the league (apart from their extra fixture) but only played each other once all season which was a fine 3-0 win to us but they were missing their star striker and it was their only loss.

Woy Woy’s tactics were to fill the midfield with 5 guys and supply their lone striker with their strong back 5 holding us out but we quickly set about controlling the midfield and worked both flanks with our passing game. Woy Woy caused us a few problems with some fine corners that West Ham Mark handled superbly while the touch and pace of their striker gave us the odd flutter. Just as we were taking control, their striker demonstrated why he had such a fine reputation with a goal from nowhere as he turned and lashed in a goal from 25 yards that flew into the top corner – pure class.

Undaunted we plugged away, with our midfield and strikers camped around their box with Smithy & Aaron surging forward as attacking wing backs as we looked for the equalizer while Tommo snuffed out the odd foray into our half but no luck, half time 1-0 to them.

The 2nd half started much the same with waves of red and white streaming forward while Woy Woy seemed to fade under the pressure, finally breaking as Ed headed in a fine goal.  We were in full flow now with Ed, John, Andy, Gloria, Jess, Dave Bill and Dell queuing up but kept out by a mixture of desperate defending, poor shooting and a fine display from the Woy Woy keeper. Full time 1-1.

Extra time was all Barnstoneworth with the breakthrough coming soon after the break with a Dellboy special, finishing off a great move down the left with a powerful shot into the corner for a very deserved 2-1 victory and a place in the Grand Final in 2 weeks.

Man of the match was difficult as West Ham Mark was superb in goal, Smithy and Aaron were awesome in defence and attack, Gloria and Bill controlled the centre, Andy killed them down the left, Dell & Dave did the same down the right, while Jess backed up literally everywhere – however man of the match for shutting out their main threat and for one of his finest displays in the legendary red and white was Tommo.

Our thanks to Tracy who did a fantastic job as always, Robbie for not biting anyone (and for some fine dog fashion), Tj & Scott for their support, the ladies for glamming the mountains big time and to Ed’s parents who surprised us all by being normal and not at all hippy-ish.

Job half done. 1 report to come, very proud of the result and the manner in which we achieved it as a team – proper football  ! (not bad for a bunch of old timers)