Gloucester A 0-3 Bexley by Chainlink
You win games or you lose games. Unless you draw them of course. It doesn’t matter what you think you deserved or didn’t deserve, it just is what it is.
If you hit the bar ten times, you’ve probably got a problem judging height. If you hit the far post ten times you’ve probably got a problem judging width. And if you hit the near post ten times, you’re probably shooting at the wrong side of the goal. It’s not unlucky, it’s just what happens. Frustrating? Probably. Unlucky? Probably not. But sometimes you just have to say the opposition was better than you and on this occasion, they were. And even though there’s no such thing as ‘deserved to win’, there’s little doubt they did.
Not that Gloucester weren’t competitive. Led by Pain au Chocolat, starved of his traditional fruit medley and on a mission to discover if any of the visitors’ outfielders was hiding a secret stash about their person, the midfielder left no inch of turf uncovered as he ensured that Bexley would be made to work hard for whatever they took back down the M4.
Desmond, Shut-Eye and Whiteboot each added to the homesters’ competitive midfield edge, while front man Blacker was in no mood to make additional friends or win influence. ‘And don’t even think of asking,’ he instructed the startled referee, who was in no need of style advice, having already visited King’s (opposite Longlevens Co-op), earlier in the afternoon.
At the team’s rear end, Mclean was as grisly as ever at centre back, while LML and Traditional gave little away and were as competitive as ever. Bad Hand Wilkes and Boris entered the fray at the midpoint and maintained the effort, but it was an evening that wasn’t to be.
Bexley’s opener was very sweetly struck by Jinks – 25 yards and counting – with Cornwell, having swapped sides (and going on to perform well throughout), given little chance by a goal we’d have loved to call our own. Their final two hits from Franklin came in the last seven minutes, but in between Gloucester, for all their commitment and effort, never really looked as if they’d score. The visitors were good value for their win, adding a bit of quality to their cut and thrust approach and always looked likely to extend what was, for much of the game, a slender lead.
‘There were mitigating circumstances,’ said The Chairman afterwards, ‘Coach Stalley appeared.’ The clutch of directors present nodded their heads in approval at the Great Man’s (GM) astute judgement, almost certainly reflecting that the appearance of a missing person doesn’t always mean a defeat is imminent, as illustrated by Lord Basford Lucan’s restoration to the ranks just two days previously.
‘He’s a Good Coach (GC),’ said the first director. ‘He’s the Head Coach (HC),’ declared the second director. ‘He’s the Wise Coach,’ proffered the third director, a man yet to enter the world of the acronym.
But as usual it was left to Blacker to complete the summation. ‘If you’re interested,’ said the skipper, ‘it’s Blushes. But I don’t think you need to go there.’ And nor does anyone else – there isn’t time. Jersey here we come.
Gloucester: Cornwell; Blackburn, Mclean, Lawson; Lynam, Jones, Chamberlain, Clifford; Blacker. Subs: Smith, Wilkes. Physio: Liggett.
If you hit the bar ten times, you’ve probably got a problem judging height. If you hit the far post ten times you’ve probably got a problem judging width. And if you hit the near post ten times, you’re probably shooting at the wrong side of the goal. It’s not unlucky, it’s just what happens. Frustrating? Probably. Unlucky? Probably not. But sometimes you just have to say the opposition was better than you and on this occasion, they were. And even though there’s no such thing as ‘deserved to win’, there’s little doubt they did.
Not that Gloucester weren’t competitive. Led by Pain au Chocolat, starved of his traditional fruit medley and on a mission to discover if any of the visitors’ outfielders was hiding a secret stash about their person, the midfielder left no inch of turf uncovered as he ensured that Bexley would be made to work hard for whatever they took back down the M4.
Desmond, Shut-Eye and Whiteboot each added to the homesters’ competitive midfield edge, while front man Blacker was in no mood to make additional friends or win influence. ‘And don’t even think of asking,’ he instructed the startled referee, who was in no need of style advice, having already visited King’s (opposite Longlevens Co-op), earlier in the afternoon.
At the team’s rear end, Mclean was as grisly as ever at centre back, while LML and Traditional gave little away and were as competitive as ever. Bad Hand Wilkes and Boris entered the fray at the midpoint and maintained the effort, but it was an evening that wasn’t to be.
Bexley’s opener was very sweetly struck by Jinks – 25 yards and counting – with Cornwell, having swapped sides (and going on to perform well throughout), given little chance by a goal we’d have loved to call our own. Their final two hits from Franklin came in the last seven minutes, but in between Gloucester, for all their commitment and effort, never really looked as if they’d score. The visitors were good value for their win, adding a bit of quality to their cut and thrust approach and always looked likely to extend what was, for much of the game, a slender lead.
‘There were mitigating circumstances,’ said The Chairman afterwards, ‘Coach Stalley appeared.’ The clutch of directors present nodded their heads in approval at the Great Man’s (GM) astute judgement, almost certainly reflecting that the appearance of a missing person doesn’t always mean a defeat is imminent, as illustrated by Lord Basford Lucan’s restoration to the ranks just two days previously.
‘He’s a Good Coach (GC),’ said the first director. ‘He’s the Head Coach (HC),’ declared the second director. ‘He’s the Wise Coach,’ proffered the third director, a man yet to enter the world of the acronym.
But as usual it was left to Blacker to complete the summation. ‘If you’re interested,’ said the skipper, ‘it’s Blushes. But I don’t think you need to go there.’ And nor does anyone else – there isn’t time. Jersey here we come.
Gloucester: Cornwell; Blackburn, Mclean, Lawson; Lynam, Jones, Chamberlain, Clifford; Blacker. Subs: Smith, Wilkes. Physio: Liggett.
