After over a month off the league kindly decided to hand us a fixture this week to Bury Rovers. What looked to be a difficult fixture following such a long break for us we turned up and convincingly won the match 2-0! Gossip filled the air prior to the game with rumour of Rovers missing players, not having subs and the great dilemma of would Shanks shit himself or not.....things were not certain. Team sheets in confirming Rovers had subs and the successful implementation of a cork up Shank's arse meant we were ready for kick off!
We started the game strong, immediately looking to pose the greatest attacking threat and giving Rovers little time to get going and build up momentum. Great counter attacking play down both wings provided real threat and opportunities for us, Marley down the left and Bates and Carter on the right (Cartes or Barter just isn't as good as Marley!). We should have taken an early lead after a long range shot by Captain Shanks was slapped over the line by the Rovers keeper, however luck was not on our side and the goal was not given. This lead to a great theoretical debate between Shanks and 'Ange' in the centre circle as they contemplated not whether it was a goal but rather was it 'definitely' a goal, summarised elequently by Shanks who finaliseed his argument with 'Fuck off'.
Despite not getting th goal we attacked well and came close on several occassions from corners with Phil, Bates and Wager all coming close. For the final 20 minutes of the half we took our foot of the pedal slightly and Rovers fought there way back into the game, benefitting from several soft free kicks which invited pressure onto us. Driver made another great save from a free kick but otherwise Rovers shooting chances were very few or off target. The half finished with neither team keeping the ball well and both struggling to link up midfield with attack. The half time whilst went and despite being the better of the sides and having a clear goal not given the scores remained 0-0. But what was clear during half time was we all knew we were the better team and knew the game was there for the taking if we wanted it.
We started the second half bright as we did the first and Rovers looked tired and disjointed from the off. Therefore it was not a surprise when we took the lead early in the half through as Shanks knocked the ball through the keepers legs following a pin ball moment in the box. From the goal we instantly looked more confident and relaxed, knowing that we were in the lead and taking some of the pressure off. This confidence helped us continue to attack well, but at times we got caught on the ball being slightly to relaxed or not tracking our men properly. We had several great chances to have put the game to bed with a second goal, the best of which falling to Austin and Phil who both looked in disbelief at having missed chances.
Rovers again failed to test Driver with Baz and Wager not looking like being beaten by the Rovers attack. Sean and Garthy who had done a good job of keeping the Rovers midfield quiet made way for Lordy and Flan to get fresh legs on the pitch. The switch nearly paid of immediately when Flan found himself one on one with the keeper, ony for the ball to hit the on rushing keeper and the chance was gone. our approach play was brilliant and we made the most of the space out wide which created plenty of goal scoring chances, however in truth we were wasteful and not clinical enough once in the box and the scores stayed at 1-0. That was until Captain Shanks popped up again the crash home his second of th game following a cut back to the edge of the box. The game had looked in our favour throughout but this goal sealed it for us and pretty much knocked any hope Rovers had of getting a come back. Taff came on for Carter for the last 15 and made an impact with some great crosses and corners, and some incredibly bad shooting which we will say less about! In truth the last spell of the game we saw off easily, but we had several more chances to have made this a really high scoring win.
All in all a great win for us, especially given the huge gap since our last game. With Beck Row next week we should be confident of going for another good win as we have beaten these already this season and they are second from bottom. However we must make sure we take our chances when we get them, not every game will offer the amount of chances we got this weekend and in truth we all know it should have been more than 2-0. Well done Shanks for the brace and not crapping yourself, next week lets see some other naames get in on the act (for scoring not attempting to not crap yourself).
Graham "Knees Of Fury" Plummer
Heavyweight Champion Of The World
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