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ASB v Millwall
| Date |
Opponent |
Venue |
Competition |
Season |
Result |
Goals For |
Goals Against |
| Fri 22nd Sep 2006 |
Millwall |
Old Deer Park |
LSA Cup |
06/07 |
lost |
0 |
1 |
| Match Report |
A pleasant morning at Old Deer park, and a fair sized squad for this
10.15am kick off. Most arived on time minus the notable exceptions
of Krusty who had just had a run in with Sideshow Bob and Jools, who
took longer than normal after having to borrow some hair
straighteners from his next door neighbour after his own pair
unfortunately packed in.
After much forgaing through each other's bags, we managed to get the
starting 11 kitted out in the red and black hoops and distribute any
leftovers to those players who had not made the starting lineup. I
don't think that this will continue to be a problem as Rob has now
taken over as Kit Manager and stocks may be replenished if required.
ASB lined up as follows:
GK: Rob
LB: Slouch
CBs: Peewee & Tina (c)
RB: Craig making his ASB debut
LM: Eddie
CMs: Stingray & Riz
RM: Nicknick
S: Sharkey & Jamie (Debutant)
Bench: Rocky, Frank, Jools, Krusty, Skids, Pete (debut) & Juzza
(Reffing 1st half)
Also in attendance: 2 Touch, Inga, Age, Chilli, Louis, Max, Ken &
Peewee's Dad
The game kicked off on time and Millwall were quick to attack. ASB
struggled to find their shape and were punished when an excellent
cross down our right side was met at the back post by a Millwall
head and knocked into the centre of the goalmouth, this found
another Millwall head and ASB were beaten to the ball yet again as
the ball was easily nodded into our net.
ASB 0 Millwall 1 (2 mins)
Millwall were bouyant after their early strike and continued to take
the game to us, enjoying a lot of success down our left hand side. A
few throw ons for Millwall found colleagues totally unmarked and the
Management made an early tactical substitution. Eddie moved up front
with Sharkey and Jamie made way for Pete to make his ASB debut and
replace him. Pete slotted in on the left wing in an attempt to shore
up what the management felt was certainly our achilles heel up until
this point.
The game was turning out to be a tight cagey affair with possession
shared about 50-50. Millwall had a few half chances and came close
on a couple of occasions but failed to really trouble Rob.
At the other end Sharkey was beautifully put through and after a
magnificent first and second touch, scuffed his shot and shot tamely
at the keeper.
There were a few interruptions as ASB Godfather and Chairman Juzza
was given some stick mainly by his own side for a couple of
difficult referring decisions in the middle of the park. ASB sensed
a free kick in a promising situation when what appeared to be a
backpass was gathered by the Millwall keeper, but the referee saw
things rather differently and waved play on.
Our defence were performing well considering the two first choice
full backs were out of action due to having more important things to
do (shome mishtake shurely?). Peewee and captain Tina were playing
together particularly well, winning some important headers from
Millwall's aerial balls and making some vital interceptions when
Millwall attempted to pas the ball through our defence. Peewee's
distribution in particular deserves praise and Stingray battled hard
in his role sitting just in front of the defence, again getting
stuck in and making countless important challenges.
Unfortunately for ASB our central midfield as a unit were not
linking up well with our attack and at times, a large gap was
noticeable between these two units, meaning that meaningful chances
were not as plentiful as has been the case of late.
Marc the Shark bravely went up for a header to attempt a flick on to
strike partner Eddie but was forced to sit the rest of the game out
when a clash of heads had him seeing stars and wondering where he
was.
Jools replaced him and soon after, Juzza (to his relief) blew for
half time with ASB trailing to a 2nd minute strike.
The second half kicked off and ASB certainly had the lion's share of
possession throughout. Nicknick, who had performed exceptionally
with his tireless running along the right wing was replaced by
Rocky. Slouch was pushed into his favoured left
midfield position with Pete coming off and Riz was taken off to make
way for Frank at left back, who played a blinder for the remainder
of the game. Later Jools, who was beginning to look tired was
replaced by Immy and Eddie was pushed back into the centre of
midfield. Skids also replaced debutant Craig, who was also running
out of steam after a promising first half performance.
ASB pushed and pushed for an equalizer and it looked like the
breakthrough would be made when Eddie was put clean through with
only the keeper to beat. Unfortunately for him and his team mates,
he fired a yard to the left of the keeper's post and Millwall had
been let off the hook.
ASB continued to battle for an equalizer and again ASB pulses were
racing when Rocky was put clean through, only for the Millwall
linesman to give what can only be described, at best as a dubious
decision of offside against the flowing locked right winger. After
some protest from the ASB sideline contingent, play was restarted
with a new Millwall linesman and the score remained at 0-1.
ASB threw more men forward and with 2 minutes to go Immy, on a mazy
run, eventually got a shot off which was parried back into the box
by the Millwall keeper. A scramble ensued but Millwall were again
let off the hook by some uncomposed finishing.
A final attempt with 10 ASB men in the Millwall half trying to get
on the end of one of Eddie's long throws failed and Millwall's
manager Ian, who gave a pretty good performance blew for full time.
The game was played in a commendable, competitive spirit with the
final score 1-0 to Millwall. On another day we would have converted
our chances but there are lesons to be learnt if we are to beat the
better teams in the IFA this year.
Joint Man of the Match awarded to Tim a la Claude Makelele and
captain Tina 'Who are you?' Morley.
Special mention to Neil 'Titchmarsh Inga ' Ingham, for having the energy
to jump on the touchline in a Martin O'Neill fashion after recording
a new series of Gardener's World.
Ratings to follow
2 Touch |
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