Lost 4-5 v Old Salesians (A), SAL Junior Div 2

After the cup heroics of the previous week it was back to the beauty of the SAL Junior Division 2 
A nice trip to Ewell was in store for the 3's and some of the team opted to take advantage of the trip by using the 3's Party Train. 

When I say some of the team I mean 4 of the team. And when I say 4 I actually mean 3! 
Brye "Unbryliable" Keye managed to miss the party train from Waterloo and ended up travelling alone in the style of the Norsemen German Legend that is Yusef "Useless" Khan.
Are the days of the Messy 3's Away days numbered? 

Or are they saving themselves for the "Mega Lord" to HSBC ….. ONLY TIME WILL TELL! 
Any way, back to the important stuff…..THE KIT! The kit was in lovely shape when it arrived on the Danny bus and as always it was a pleasure to pull on the famous blue strip for the mighty Norsemen.
Once suitably attired the boys took to the lovely pitches of Salesians. The pitches were in marvellous condition and the dowsing of rain seemed to make it even better to play as we zipped the ball about in the warm up.

The boys knew that a win was essential in order to really stake a claim for league contenders but knew that Old Salesians are always a great attacking team and generally there are goals goals goals in this fixture (apart from last seasons battling 1-1)

The ref was ready for kick off and so were the teams so away we went! 
The initial part of the match saw each team really vying for supremacy with Salesians edging it early on as individual errors from Norsemen started to mount up and Salesians were really turning the screw.
The first goal came from Norsemen though after around 20mins. 

A great team move ended up in a square ball into "Little Dan" who slotted home nicely from 12 yards out….. 1-0 to Norsemen.

After this goal the mistakes from Norsemen kept coming and with a couple of quickfire goals from Salesians Norse found themselves 2-1 down heading into half time.

The last 10 mins of the 1st half did improve and the boys really took heart from this into the team talk. Norse were really confident of being able to get the win even though the score was a 2-1 reverse.

1-2 HT

Suitably fired up the boys took to the pitch in the 2nd half and started like a steam train! (CHOO-CHOO!) 
Before long it was 2-2 with "Little Dan" getting his second goal after some good work by "Big Dan" 
Norsemen were well on top now and 3-2 wasn't far off as "Little Dan" rattled in his third goal after finishing a bouncing ball from out wide on a tight angle, great finish and 3-2 to the Norsemen!
Things were looking great as Porky was able to beat the Salesians full back at will as the ball inside the Full Back was being used on a regular.

Then the moment that changed the game happened, Porky beat his man for pace again and the full back took a lunge to win the ball back and in doing so brought Porky down in a heap. Immediately it was clear that Porky could not continue as it was left to Physio Pett to administer the Rest Ice Compression Elevation for our Pale Bale. A wonky chair, a crumbling rotten old bench and pile of cones was utilised to good effect in order to give Porky the comfort he needed.

Meanwhile on the pitch, Little Dan lined up a free kick from out wide and attempted to whip up a storm in the box by putting in a vicious delivery, so vicious in fact it went straight into the top corner! 4-2 to the Norse! 4 Goals to little Dan……GAME OVER….!!??

Well, you would have thought it was Game Over, but there was still more to this game……(remember what I said about goals goals goals earlier)

With Porky off the pitch the out ball was no longer really there and Norse seemed to lose shape and sat back too deep….as Salesians now committed waves of players forward on a regular basis.
The Salesians barrage had started and it didn't stop until the final whistle!! 

Soon Salesians got one back …. 4-3 to Norse ….. 

Then they bagged another 4-4 ……. 

Porky & Physio Pett watched this nightmare unfold in front of them from the sideline. At 4-2 the talk was of League Titles, Jugs Of Beer and Kung Fu Movies, now at 4-4 there was a stoney silence as Porky rested his throbbing ankle and Pett sat on his haunches as the horror played out before their eyes……at 4-4 we knew it was coming and it did….

5-4 to Old Salesians with only seconds remaining……cue the wild celebrations from the Salesians followed by the long trudge back to changing rooms by the Norsemen boys….
A truly dismal end to the match for Norsemen with only themselves to blame. 

FINAL SCORE: 
Salesians 5-4 Norsemen - Green (4) 

NEXT GAME: 
SAT 16 NOV 2013 13:30 
HOME : AFA CUP - Norsemen 3rd v Nottsborough 3rd

Pitch Rating: 8 * *NEW* * 
A new feature for the Away match reports will be the Pitch Rating. The pitch we played on was great. A Good sized pitch with plenty of width for the wide man and a great surface cut to just the right length for zipping the ball about. Suited both teams.

Showers: 7 
Nice warm showers, that did help ease the pain of a 5-4 last minute reverse. (still no heated towel rail or Hot Tub) 

Food: 5 (Pett 7) 
Sausages in rolls, chips, sausage rolls and mini pasties. The team was divided on this rating (when I say divided I mean that Pett liked the rolls with sausages but the rest of team hated them)
Comments made were "There's no meat in those sausages" "They're rock hard" "We Only want the chips" However, Pett applied Tomato Sauce liberally and was able to make a nice hearty post match meal out of the rolls.

Beer Jug: 7 
The beer jug was a Fosters 6 pinter. Porky, Bevers and Pett sampled the delights of the beer and there were no complaints. Although big enough it was no West Wickham monster jug (5000ml)!
At the £16 mark it was decent value and eased the pain of defeat considerably as we supped and watched some unknown mug on BBC Final Score deliver the news of a last minute Chelski Penalty