The story of the season in one match – by Coach Harris
The Gloucester B Squad travelled early to Woking to play the Geoff Richards Memorial Trophy Final against Orpington B - a team against which some [feisty] well-contested games earlier in the season had been played. And this one did not fail to disappoint either.
After sitting on the mini bus for rather longer than expected, thanks to the silly M4 ‘workers’ doing work on our final weekend – how dare they - the boys could be forgiven for a slow start. However, apart from one Orpington cross that hit the crossbar, the first ten minutes were near-perfect. For the majority, The Reds struggled to get out of their own half thanks to superb team pressure – the Gloucester pressure led by Fieldhouse, Flatt, Cooper and Easterbrook.
Pressure paid off when the ball was won on the left side. A quick pass down the line to Fieldhouse and a burst past his marker led to a fine cross to Easterbrook. His controlled touch and simple pass back to Flatt on the edge of the area saw a well hit low shot to the keeper’s right give the Yellows an early lead.
Sadly, within four minutes everything had changed. Orpington saw their possession stat rise, along with Gloucester’s anxiety. A Cornwell save to his right wasn’t enough to wake the Shire outfit and Orpington quickly equalised with their next attack. The O’s won the ball in their own half and saw very little effort to challenge - with shape going out of the window, a cross-field pass found two Orpington players through on goal. Hughes, however, obliged in tapping it passed the keeper.
Orpington continued to take advantage of the turnaround until half-time and peppered the Gloucester box with numerous corners and shots. Finally for them before the break, a cross into the box saw Symons, surrounded by three Gloucester players, tap a bouncing ball into the goal and give the team on top the lead.
Within a minute of the restart, Gloucester found themselves in dire trouble and but for an athletic save to Cornwell’s right and a brilliant and brave leaping header off the line from Arrowsmith, the score wouldn’t have stayed at 2-1.
Corners seemed to take precedence again for the next few minutes, with Orpington having a few that were well defended and a low shot saved by Cornwell. This was followed up by a free kick on the edge of the box, again saved by Cornwell. Then it was Gloucester’s turn to do some peppering of their own. A couple of Arrowsmith corners were attacked by Campbell and Lock, only to see their efforts defended well to thwart a potential equaliser.
In steps Captain Dirty. An Orpington break away saw Hughes knock the ball passed Arrowsmith, only for the Captain to blatantly step into the attacker’s path for what was described by the watching Phil Thompson on Soccer Saturday as a ‘professional foul’. The Yellow Card was branded and Arrowsmith became only the second person in Wixey and Harris’s tenure to see yellow – or as Arrowsmith proudly said after the game, “The first in a cup final”.
Sadly, after this things got worse for Gloucester and Orpington got the final goal of the game after another corner was floated in. The first ball dealt with, the second ball was not even challenged for and Symons thrashed home to put space between the teams.
This then woke the Gloucester lot up and but for a few inches either side of the post for all efforts, could have seen the game finish even more tensely than it already was.
Easterbook, with some great pressure towards the left back found his rewards when strength and persistence saw him latch onto a loose ball and float a shot over the out-coming keeper, only to see the shot pass just the wrong side of the post.
A Gloucester corner was again attacked well. Some last ditch defending saw the ball land at Campbell’s feet and his low shot to the left again edged past the post and see Orpington catch their breath.
Continuing to take advantage of the pressure, Gloucester attacked again, Taylor and Flatt combining before giving the ball to Lock just outside the box. A low drive on the half volley looked destined to be a spectacular goal, but for those few inches again that sadly saw the ball hit the side netting.
Orpington then took control back and bombarded Gloucester’s goal until the final whistle. Irvine, Campbell and Harding did extremely well to thwart any quick attack, but they could only do that for so long. The South-East boys soon took advantage and gave Cornwell a brilliant last ten minutes to his season. According to the Chairman’s notes Cornwell made five crucial saves to save Gloucester any more blushes and keep the score where it was as Orpington completed the victory.
As said in the title, this game was very reminiscent of the season as a whole. I like creating images to help make sense of things, so stay with me here, but when I think about our season I see us as an experimental teenage child who has incredibly strict parents (played by the opposition). We go into moments thinking ‘we can do this, this is great, look how well we’re doing’, when all of a sudden the strict parents stand over us and make us squirm back into our little box, unconsciously reminding ourselves that we’re not quite good enough. Throughout our teenage years (throughout the season in real life), we then have moments of challenging that again, only to see ourselves repeatedly squashed by the ever-present feeling of not quite being good enough and sadly I feel that the holistic feeling of unconscious inferiority made us (as one parent said it on cup final day) “come up just short in many games”.
Now in my story, the teenager grows to be his own person and enjoys the freedom to express himself as he is and embraces what he brings to his own game/life. He no longer lets the strict parents (the opposition) get inside his head and hinder what he is capable of. It’s only then he can see himself flourish in whatever he chooses to do.
I suppose that’s my hope for this brilliant set of boys. GPSFA is more than just about football and throughout this season, I have seen a large number of the boys struggle in all sorts of areas that affect us mentally. My final bit of advice [for what it’s worth] is to surround yourself with people who care about who you really are, don’t let the opposition (whatever form they take) make you feel inferior, embrace who you are and what you bring to your life, but most importantly always give yourself the chance to flourish. There will be times when it goes to pot, but it’s only when we can learn from those times, yet continue to believe, that we can truly see what we’re capable of.
Thank you again for all the support over the course of the year; this has been another season that we will continue to remember for lots of fantastic reasons.
After sitting on the mini bus for rather longer than expected, thanks to the silly M4 ‘workers’ doing work on our final weekend – how dare they - the boys could be forgiven for a slow start. However, apart from one Orpington cross that hit the crossbar, the first ten minutes were near-perfect. For the majority, The Reds struggled to get out of their own half thanks to superb team pressure – the Gloucester pressure led by Fieldhouse, Flatt, Cooper and Easterbrook.
Pressure paid off when the ball was won on the left side. A quick pass down the line to Fieldhouse and a burst past his marker led to a fine cross to Easterbrook. His controlled touch and simple pass back to Flatt on the edge of the area saw a well hit low shot to the keeper’s right give the Yellows an early lead.
Sadly, within four minutes everything had changed. Orpington saw their possession stat rise, along with Gloucester’s anxiety. A Cornwell save to his right wasn’t enough to wake the Shire outfit and Orpington quickly equalised with their next attack. The O’s won the ball in their own half and saw very little effort to challenge - with shape going out of the window, a cross-field pass found two Orpington players through on goal. Hughes, however, obliged in tapping it passed the keeper.
Orpington continued to take advantage of the turnaround until half-time and peppered the Gloucester box with numerous corners and shots. Finally for them before the break, a cross into the box saw Symons, surrounded by three Gloucester players, tap a bouncing ball into the goal and give the team on top the lead.
Within a minute of the restart, Gloucester found themselves in dire trouble and but for an athletic save to Cornwell’s right and a brilliant and brave leaping header off the line from Arrowsmith, the score wouldn’t have stayed at 2-1.
Corners seemed to take precedence again for the next few minutes, with Orpington having a few that were well defended and a low shot saved by Cornwell. This was followed up by a free kick on the edge of the box, again saved by Cornwell. Then it was Gloucester’s turn to do some peppering of their own. A couple of Arrowsmith corners were attacked by Campbell and Lock, only to see their efforts defended well to thwart a potential equaliser.
In steps Captain Dirty. An Orpington break away saw Hughes knock the ball passed Arrowsmith, only for the Captain to blatantly step into the attacker’s path for what was described by the watching Phil Thompson on Soccer Saturday as a ‘professional foul’. The Yellow Card was branded and Arrowsmith became only the second person in Wixey and Harris’s tenure to see yellow – or as Arrowsmith proudly said after the game, “The first in a cup final”.
Sadly, after this things got worse for Gloucester and Orpington got the final goal of the game after another corner was floated in. The first ball dealt with, the second ball was not even challenged for and Symons thrashed home to put space between the teams.
This then woke the Gloucester lot up and but for a few inches either side of the post for all efforts, could have seen the game finish even more tensely than it already was.
Easterbook, with some great pressure towards the left back found his rewards when strength and persistence saw him latch onto a loose ball and float a shot over the out-coming keeper, only to see the shot pass just the wrong side of the post.
A Gloucester corner was again attacked well. Some last ditch defending saw the ball land at Campbell’s feet and his low shot to the left again edged past the post and see Orpington catch their breath.
Continuing to take advantage of the pressure, Gloucester attacked again, Taylor and Flatt combining before giving the ball to Lock just outside the box. A low drive on the half volley looked destined to be a spectacular goal, but for those few inches again that sadly saw the ball hit the side netting.
Orpington then took control back and bombarded Gloucester’s goal until the final whistle. Irvine, Campbell and Harding did extremely well to thwart any quick attack, but they could only do that for so long. The South-East boys soon took advantage and gave Cornwell a brilliant last ten minutes to his season. According to the Chairman’s notes Cornwell made five crucial saves to save Gloucester any more blushes and keep the score where it was as Orpington completed the victory.
As said in the title, this game was very reminiscent of the season as a whole. I like creating images to help make sense of things, so stay with me here, but when I think about our season I see us as an experimental teenage child who has incredibly strict parents (played by the opposition). We go into moments thinking ‘we can do this, this is great, look how well we’re doing’, when all of a sudden the strict parents stand over us and make us squirm back into our little box, unconsciously reminding ourselves that we’re not quite good enough. Throughout our teenage years (throughout the season in real life), we then have moments of challenging that again, only to see ourselves repeatedly squashed by the ever-present feeling of not quite being good enough and sadly I feel that the holistic feeling of unconscious inferiority made us (as one parent said it on cup final day) “come up just short in many games”.
Now in my story, the teenager grows to be his own person and enjoys the freedom to express himself as he is and embraces what he brings to his own game/life. He no longer lets the strict parents (the opposition) get inside his head and hinder what he is capable of. It’s only then he can see himself flourish in whatever he chooses to do.
I suppose that’s my hope for this brilliant set of boys. GPSFA is more than just about football and throughout this season, I have seen a large number of the boys struggle in all sorts of areas that affect us mentally. My final bit of advice [for what it’s worth] is to surround yourself with people who care about who you really are, don’t let the opposition (whatever form they take) make you feel inferior, embrace who you are and what you bring to your life, but most importantly always give yourself the chance to flourish. There will be times when it goes to pot, but it’s only when we can learn from those times, yet continue to believe, that we can truly see what we’re capable of.
Thank you again for all the support over the course of the year; this has been another season that we will continue to remember for lots of fantastic reasons.
