Barons vs BBFC

Well we made it! Final game of a long season saw us pitted against Barons who were vying for the title of Division 2 Champions. After much speculation of rolling subs or no rolling subs Barons insisted on 3 subs only as they wanted to go for the goal difference.

The game started as I think many expected it to, Barons controlled majority of the possession, comfortably playing the ball all over the park and it took us a little time to find feet. Barons made short work of this, overlaps down the wing and breaks through the middle soon saw them creating chances. Needless to say it wasn’t long before Barons were 1-0 up.

After watching the first 10/15 minutes of Barons bombarding us you could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be high scoring game. However it wasn’t to be, we showed some true grit and dug in deep with Jock taking control of the back four and Driver rushing out effectively and pulling off some fantastic Kodak moments. 

Eventually we started to settle down and play the game to our strengths and started to hit Barons on the counter. Some great passing between Marky and Wager saw us move into the dizzy heights of the Barons box were we managed to win a corner. Mark swung the corner in and ‘BAM’ Phil somehow managed to foul the goalkeeper, nod the ball in and look rather convincing about the goal. 10/10 for effort.

Barons soon rallied again though and we knew it was going to be a long match. 10 minutes before half time Barons managed to break the Black Boy defence and get their noses in front. Half time came and we rallied well, especially good to see heads hadn’t dropped and we were still focused on the match – lots of encouragement and constructive criticism received well by all. Stand in manager Shanks conducted his tam talk via panting, huffing and wheezing and this was an indication for the mighty egg-chasing Taff to enter the fray.

The second half saw pretty much of the same stuff with Barons throwing everything they had at us but unable to create any real clear cut chances. Sean came on 10 minutes in and shored up the midfield and I thought we managed to keep our shape well. As usual Phil could have done with a little more support up top, not having an lot to work with which is something we will look at next year.

All in all though, against a team that was going for the title and that wanted the goal difference against us I think we can be pleased with our efforts and the resilience we showed. It certainly bows well for next season.  

Lastly, Saturday marked Paul Thomas’ last official game for Black Boy youth. After 45 years at the club, numerous penalties and own goals conceded and many a young pup flattened, Taff will be moving into the veterans side next year. Taff has dedicated a lot of time to the running of the club and making sure we haven’t gone bankrupt. We would like to thank Taff for all his hard work and wish him every success with the veterans. I’m sure he will still be able to scare them enough into paying up!!


Senator Michael Monksfield
Presidential Candidate for "The Rainbow Party" in Gainborough Central.

Sporting 87 vs BBFC

This weekend saw a big game for us with a chance of going 3rd with a victory. Unfortunately we did not get the win but after one hell of a game we secured a hard earned draw to pretty much guarantee that we will finish in the top 5 this season! The game really was a game of two halves, a fairly crap one followed by a brilliant one!
 
First half started fairly evenly, both teams struggled to get going and chances were few and far between. On what was a very small and boggy pitch both teams were using balls over the top, giving Phil plenty of work to do to try and create chances. We won several throw ins deep in the Sporting half which created half chances but nothing clear cut. Sporting always looked threatening on the break relying on pace onto the long ball, Driver did a great job on several occasions coming off his line early to deal with any danger. In what was looking a relatively even half Sporting took the lead, some indecision at the back left a defensive header falling straight at the feet of a Sporting player to tuck past Driver. After the goal we seemed to go to sleep and shut off, not picking up our men or closing down quick enough and on several occasions were left playing an unmarked player onside with through balls. Inevitably Sporting got a second as their player headed in unmarked at the back post, a goal which pretty much summarised all that we were doing wrong in the half. 
 
At half time people came off looking frustrated but also knowing that they had not done enough. Luckily for all of you though I decided to actually deliver a team talk different to every other week and made some sense! We all knew that the next 45 minutes could make for a good season or an average one and going back on the pitch everyone seemed motivated to go out and put right the mistakes from the first half. Sporting are a good team but I think we all knew that we were making them look better than they were by not doing our basics right.
 
Second half from the off we looked a hundred times better, winning the ball and working it forward looking to find an early goal to change the match. In short we pretty much dominated the second half having considerably more of the ball and looking like the team carrying the momentum. Getting the first goal still was proving tricky but there was no doubt that we were taking the game to Sporting and they were getting pissy about it (especially Jock's little friend that was going to 'spark him out'!). After changing to a 4-4-2 after 15 minutes the come back came under way courtesy of a Flan special. After moving up front about 3 minutes earlier Flan managed to find the top corner (and a huge hole in the keeper’s hands) to put us back in the game with 25 minutes to go. After this goal it was good to see all players celebrating together and team spirit seemed to be at the highest I have witnessed this season.


From this point on the game looked like we would find the second goal but things seemed not to go our way. We did not get a blatant penalty, Austin was wrongly flagged off side running onto a long ball and the ball just did not seem to drop to us around the box. Sporting still caused problems with their speed and Driver made several good saves to keep the scores close, particularly his final save of the game which he tipped wide after a great shot from outside the box. Carter delivered a great cross from a free kick and it just seemed to miss everyone by a fraction and things seemed like they were not going to go our way. Then in the last minute we won a free kick about 30 yards out, knowing it was our final chance Driver sprinted into their box leaving Jock slightly confused stood on his own on the half way line! Phil stepped up to put the ball in having just been told by the ref you've got to score as this is the last kick off the game, and in poetic justice that’s just what happened! A great shot/cross/hit and hope went straight over about 12 players all trying to head the ball and just flew into the top corner! Fair to say everyone pretty much went nuts at that point, I nearly punched the Sporting manager and Phil tried out his new elaborate 'leg breaker' celebration. And then the whistle went and we had worked our arses off to take a point.
 
Despite a relatively poor first half the second half easily made a mends for it. Personally I think that was the most deserved point we have picked up this season and was the best team performance of the season. Second half every single player battled non stop to get back in the game, no one moaned or got in a strop instead everyone was talking and supporting each other on and it made the difference. After the game several people mentioned how much Sporting moaned in the second half and that was their undoing, so equally lets take that by communicating non stop and encouraging everyone through out the game we can easily play as well as any team in our league. 
 
Next week we have play Barons for our last game of the season, still with a chance of finishing 3rd if we can pick up the win. After the second half performance this week if we carry that into the Barons game there is no reason why we should not be thinking that we will go and win that game and finish the season on a high.
 
Well done all this week, another epic Black Boy performance. Flan Up!!


Prof. G. Plummer
Gainsborough University