Ramblers 0 – Bryan Munich 0

BAWA, 11th October 2009

 

Team: Tilling, Collins (sub Allan,75), P Sheehan, Stiddard, Babbington, King, Colledge, Blundell, Shearman, House, Ashton.

 

With Rob Colledge and Ian Blundell in the centre of midfield and John Ashton as centre forward the Ramblers team had a much more solid look than normal. The defence was also strong, bolstered by the very welcome return after a long absence of Nick Stiddard alongside Jim in the middle, Phil, as usual, at left back and Simon taking over the right back position with Nobby absent and Andy as referee for the day and, sure enough, we played with a resilience that earned us a rare clean sheet.

 

The first half was pretty even. Unusually for us, the aforementioned big lads we were winning quite a few balls in the air and gaining us possession, which led to some neat moves with Nick Shearman making some useful contributions on the left wing and Dave and John combining well up front. Munich were dangerous on the break though, with Phil doing particularly well to contain a very big strong bloke who was rampaging down their right wing. Despite having the edge in possession we were finding it hard to create any real chances so Dave employed a trick he must have learned in Italy, sprawling on the ground after an imperceptible contact to win us a free kick in a dangerous position. Dave dummied a shot and passed to Ian whose shot went wide.

 

In the second half we came under more sustained pressure but the defence did well to mop it up without ever looking particularly troubled. Although Tills was not called upon to make many saves he was kept busy and dealt commandingly with anything that came his way. He also had a succession of clearances to make as the defence, confident that he would handle it, relieved the pressure by passing back frequently. We were still well in the game ourselves and good combinations between Dave and John set Nick Shearman up for a couple of really good chances which he was not able to make pay.

 

With full time approaching, we had a let off when Munich had a goal disallowed for offside. They broke into the penalty area on the right and, with Tills pulled out of position, shot low towards goal, where one of their players tapped it in on the line. But the shot/cross was forward and the linesman (one of the Munich players, who had taken over from Tony when he replaced Simon for the last 15 minutes) correctly and sportingly ruled it offside.

 

So the final result remained a draw, which was fair as both teams had played well and neither deserved to lose. All agreed it had been a good game.

 

Man of the Match: Nick Stiddard