Woy Woy vs BUFC F’s

It was a fine day to take on the arch-enemy of Woy Woy in a friendly game of soccer.

Barnstoneworth turned up with two reserves, and on a slow and uneven pitch continued their form of recent games by letting in a goal from a corner kick in the first five minutes.

The strategy of “kick it long” came into effect though, and after some deft action in the centre from Adam Chandler and Chris Peers, the ball found Brett Fenton steaming down the left wing, crossing, then coming in to score from right in front. Meanwhile, Ben Johnson managed to pull every ligament in both legs bar a single hamstring, apparently while standing still, and had to leave the field.

With the scores level, Barnstoneworth resisted some determined attacks, with the defence of Trevor Husk, Ryan Bush and Jason Bush proving difficult to penetrate. From one of these attacks, a long ball went to Chris Peers who passed to Justin O’Malley Jones lurking in the right corner. Justin went for it, stepped two defenders and belted it in from only metres out.

After half-time, Woy Woy came back hard, using their seemingly never-ending reserves to good effect. Several corners led to some nervous moments, but in goal Simon Ashley-Binge was everywhere, punching the ball, heading the ball, charging, yelling and barging, and Woy Woy couldn’t get through. Many of these raids led to kick-throughs from the backs that put Brendan McCarthy, Anthony Broadbere and Jason Scott into good shooting positions, unfortunately at least five shots went over or wide.

Will Belford managed to improve on his previous average by giving away no less than three penalties, two for incorrect throw-ins (never again!) and one for overly enthusiastic tackling. After an impressive ‘slo-mo with sound effects’ fall from a tackle, Brett Fenton left the field hobbling, to cries of ‘wheelchair’ only to re-appear minutes later attacking the goal.

With the sun setting, the second half see-sawed from one end to the other, but neither side managed to score, leaving an exhausted Barnstoneworth team victorious at the final whistle.

Final result: 2-1 to Barnstoneworth