Camden FC 2 - 1 Welling Athletic
25 February 2007 - Report by Paul O'Brien
GAMBLE PAYS OFF AS WELLING TROUBLED BY ITCH ATTACK
Starting Lineup: Goalie Paul, Navy Neil, Ashley, Catty (Capt.), Dan Ahern, Paul, Kaan, Lee Searle, Danny Marchant, Gambling Kev, Little Chris Subs: Lee Burge, Matty Prentice, Mike Harvey
The above headline – a feature rarely utilized in the itch express match report – is a contribution from one Rob Robinson who is making his second headline recommendation after the one for the Riverside home game early in the season.
There were many a team member out of action today, with Kirk, Dave Lee and Ginge all off to the Carling Cup final in Cardiff, Loul missing somewhere, Benneth probably recovering from his girlfriend's birthday celebrations the night before and there's probably a few I missed.
MOTTY CORNER!!!! Last year's fixture the morning after Ben's bird's birthday party was a cup match against the high-flying fellow Premier division team Benchmark Arrows – at the time second in our division with several games in hand before going top and eventually narrowly losing out on winning the league to Dartford Royals – and they fielded striker Jay Wood (all time top scorer for Cray Wanderers in the Ryman League) as a ringer and by some accounts paid him £150 for the appearance, which worked out to be £30 for every stunning goal from distance/tight angle that he scored in that game. We had all turned up hung over and lost 8-0. This time, a league match against a team in also second in our division having won 9 of their 15 games and one of those wins against Parkmere old boys who are winning our division with a +31 goal difference after 12 games. Up front they have a certain Jay Wood.
Camden's last encounter with Welling finished a tight 1-0 win for Welling which implied there is not as much difference between the two teams in quality as the league table would suggest, although further reading sees Welling very high up in the table with a tiny goal difference whereas Camden are near the bottom with a minimal minus goal difference, so their team are possibly getting lucky in the odd game and keeping their heads on it so winning by a goal where we are switching off and losing it by the odd goal as we never seem to be battered by anyone this year apart from Parkmere and their semi professional players.
I think it was Chester F Thelwell who said, “Mud…nature's snow” and this was epitomised when we turned up to Flamingo Park and went from pitch to pitch before settling for our far pitch, the lucky won where we never lost a game all last season and probably this season either. While Danny Marchant tried to get us all to do our stretches, a mudball fight broke out which resulted in Lee Searle having a brown half of his face and neck, Paul with a shirt heavy with mud and Dan Ahern with a massive lump of mud on him after Lee Burge threw it at him from distance and it caused a loud slap as it hit him on the side of the face. Very amusing.
With a page written already I haven't mentioned that we actually played a game on the swamp. With the referee not turning up, their F.A affiliated manager offered to officiate and passed the bog fit to play on despite concerns that the mud was sticky enough for people to turn their ankles on it if they couldn't get their boot out of the ground quick enough on the turn. Welling had helpfully changed their kit since last time we played them to a nice red-and-white-striped number which fully clashed with our kit, so we had to play with our blue one from last year which the ref – very keen to get this fixture played on the day despite awful conditions – allowed us to use even though it had been banned as it clashed with the referee's kit, according to the FA.
With all the people out for such an important fixture, changes were made. Catty was back in at centre back following his toe injury. A bronzed Kaan came back from holidaying with dodgy cab drivers in Egypt to slot in defensive central midfield. Danny Marchant was playing left midfield and Gambling Kev had a rare start up front with Little Chris. The shocked and disappointed me as I did not have anyone to wear the Gaffer in the first half and keep it off the muddy ground and the insides warm, which gambling Kev helpfully does every week. Basically I was penalised because I had not made a plan B for the Gaffer.
In a very slippy-abouty first half I took up Ben's normal ‘fall over a lot' role on the pitch, and I put the effort in as I stacked it big time on no less than 3 occasions in the first half alone and the mud streaked from underneath my shin pads (??) all the way up to my Camden pants. Both sides had many attacks in an end-to-end game where the ball stuck in the mud if passes were along the floor and many a defender was outfoxed by unpredictable bounce and/or roll. Dan ‘the exterminator' Ahern was guilty of wiping out Greeny, who is their version of Dan Ahern in terms of hard tackling, and may have got himself into the book as a result. After an inch-perfect ball in behind the defence to Lee Searle, he misjudged the bounce and the control came directly off his knees and bounced about a mile away. Unlucky, Searley. Little Chris and Lee Searle were menacing attacking threats throughout the first half as we gave Welling as much of a scare at the back as they gave to us, with Searle also unlucky to blaze wide when through on goal.
Going back to the ref's concerns, their centre midfielder turned past Camden centre back Ashley Cameron and as he turned he pulled something and had to come off. First substitution made, Matt Prentice coming on and replacing Danny Marchant on the left wing while Marchant moved back to centre back to replace the injured Ashley. First half over, the score still 0-0
After a team talk where more people than normal got involved with the advice of points of view, we got back onto the pitch. In the second half we started off by far the brightest, and in the first attack we had gambling Kev latched onto a loose ball which the Brummie defender missed before falling over, but when Kev ran with it the ball got caught in the mud and everyone (2 chasing defenders and Kev himself) ran past it before Kev retrieved it and shot from distance, beating the keeper and making it 1-0 Camden.
Welling attacks were a team affair with many pouring forward while ours were more limited to hoofing the ball and letting little Chris outpace their defence before just missing the target or getting a corner. From one of Welling's attacks they put the ball across goal and it hit the face of their attacker who was standing on the line, before it went in. The referee consulted the linesman and gave the offside. Welling felt they were robbed. “How can he be offside if the ball is played back???” they cried. The problem with this notion is that their attacker was on the line at the time, so either the ball wasn't played back and he was in an offside position, or it was indeed played back from a spot behind the goal line and was therefore a goal kick to us. The ref decided the offside was the choice so we took the free kick. In our corners we had 3, all from the right hand side, which all threatened their goal with Mike Harvey rising surprisingly high to powerfully head just over the bar, and Navy Neil (I think, or maybe searley, they both have dark hair) latched onto another one to head downwards to see it blocked on the line by their man on the post. Most unlucky.
The 3 subs were used in staggered stages. Matt Prentice came on for Ash (as mentioned previously) and clashed with Kaan in the second half in an aerial ball that neither player called for and Kaan felt his shoulder go, so Lee Burge came on to replace him. Finally, Mike Harvey came on to bring some new pace to the attack, replacing goal-scorer Kev Barnes.
In one of the Welling attacks the ball played across the 18-yard line and about 4 of us all failed to clear it (I was the final of the many to have failed to clear) and more pinball/football ensued until one of their players skipped over a Danny Marchant lunge and the penalty was given. I personally didn't think contact was made but the ref was very confident in giving the penalty, a decision I thought to be a soft one. Some bloke called Tony scored their penalty and it was now 1-1, possibly time to hang our heads etc as we had blown it.
In fact we had several attacks and tried to win the game, one where I was completely wiped out and had mud all over my face and in my eye, another resulting in mud in my mouth. We were playing to the windy conditions by trying to set up attacks on Mike Harvey and Matt Prentice's left hand side when we attacked, and one such attack saw Mike Harvey chase down a defender trying to shield the ball out of play before falling over on it and obstructing play but the ref waved play on when the ball got loose and Mike Harvey got it and played the ball out, which was played back into the box to Lee Searle who listened to the call and played across to an unmarked Paul with only the keeper to beat, which he did, into the far corner. Too knackered to celebrate as per training session, I just walked off smiling before getting bundled over covered with god knows how many players. Welling tried to chase the game and snatch another equaliser but couldn't, and the final whistle eventually blew to signify a 2-1 victory against one of the better placed sides in the league.
Stuff that didn't get a mention in the longest match report ever?
* Catty taking one for the team in the back of the head when goalie Paul punched the ball out and also punched catty's head onto Greeny's elbow.
* Mark Weyman the manager/physio having trouble keeping on his feet when running on with the medical kit.
* A medical kit that consisted of a bottle of water.
* Chris's dad falling over before the game on the wet muddy slope.
I have been told the Warmlake sports-sponsored Man of the Match goes to myself, presumably scoring to winning goal and otherwise “ due to effort, tracking back and attacking play...and the iceing on the cake was the goal...Well done”. Whilst I am very pleased to accept this award (I will get Ginge to write in it as he did with the last one), I think special mention deserves to go to Little Chris for an immense work rate, and Goalie Paul who has been very impressive with his bravery.