Wyoming vs Barnstoneworth D South Match Report

Whistle-fest is the only way to describe a game between two evenly-matched opponents, that was dragged down to a stop-start affair by a referee who blew more penalties than a Welsh rugby ref with a hangover.

A lively first ten minutes saw the ball stretched to both ends of the paddock, before Tom Lynch took a pass on the wing, headed for the corner and passed to Peter ‘Pez’ Miller who lodge it in the corner of the net.
Wyoming responded with some heavy pressure, repeatedly charging Simon Ashley-Binge in the goalmouth. His defence was resolute though, saving or knocking away three attempts at goal, but it was all in vain when a few minutes later, Will ‘Toe’ Belford gave away a free kick inside the box for “running into the man with the ball”. Bang. 1-all.

With a few minutes to go before half-time, Wyoming took advantage of some loose passing from Barnstoneworth, and crowded the goalmouth to strike again. A somewhat dispirited Barnstoneworth side gathered on the sideline to discuss tactics and bitch about the referee, whose calls seemed to be tilting dangerously in Wyoming’s favour.

The second half bore this out, with penalty after penalty being blown up for offences such as “falling over when tackling a player”, “getting in the way of the opposition”, “having an offensive wife”, and a yellow card for a player who wasn’t even on the field, delivered for “backchat from the sideline from someone still wearing a team jersey”. Yet, when Adam Chandler was blatantly shoulder-charged in a competition for the ball near the Wyoming goal line, the whistle stayed in the pocket.

Lighter moments included the sight of Ryan Bush taking a throw-in and managing to heave it into the U9s game in the adjoining field, and the Wyoming goalie being blown back several feet by the force of one of Pete Miller’s kicks at close range.

With the game descending into a series of one, or at best two-minute, sequences punctuated by whistle blasts, Barnstoneworth fought back hard. Dean Alexander made some heroic defensive tackles, while Tek Tea and Jason Bush struggled for possession in the centre and won it, only to have the pass go to the opposition more often than not.

Despite having 70-80% of the possession in the second half, Wyoming didn’t seem to be able to close it out. A couple of shots went wide or over the bar, but the Barnstoneworth defence closed down plenty of attacks amidst a welter of penalties.

The ref even stole the limelight at the end, blowing a single long blast to get everyone’s attention, then pausing for about 30 seconds before blowing the final two to end the game. All-in-all, a pretty good performance from both teams, marred by a shabby piece of refereeing.

Final result: 2-1 to Wyoming.