The Good (Matches 2, 3 & 4), The Bad (Matches 1 & 5) and The Ugly (The Coaches)
The Bs were setting off for another tournament-style day of football and despite Moroney not being bothered to turn up, everyone seemed in good spirits - even the Balkwill’s were only 3 minutes late this time. Big Harris, still in his ‘carer’ role had been to the shop to get old man Wixey his lunch. We didn’t want him going back to the home hungry now, did we?
The journey went on much like the other journeys beforehand. There was plenty of singing - especially about Burr’s lovely locks, Butcher lets out a scream every 4.3 minutes, 90% of the boys ask how long was left of the journey, Wixey scares us all as his meds haven’t kicked in yet and he nearly nods off (he’ll tell you it was my conversations that brought on the odd-spouts of narcolepsy, but he’s wrong), Ball thinks he’s a hard man and sits behind me with Foggy to keep poking me (don’t worry….they learns their lesson), the Balkwills complain of being cold thanks to Burr having the window open, Little Harris continues to try and put me down and then every time I turn round he and Young are giggling to themselves in nervousness and Evans is being beaten up by Butcher and Badham. Just a normal day at the office Big Harris thinks and a normal day (from what we can make out so far) it turned out to be.
Both teams arrived at Bath and shared a changing room. The Bs subsequently got changed into the glorious yellow and ever-so-slightly damp football kit (as Big Harris had totally forgotten about the kit until 10pm the previous evening when he opened his car boot to find the kit still sat there!!). With the refreshing kit on, the boys went out onto the open space that is Bath fields.
With the timetables given out, the Bs were going to be playing 5 games in a row against some tough opposition.
Results were as follows; Vs Newport 0-0, Vs Newbury 1-0, Vs Swansea A 0-0, Vs Gloucester A 1-1, Vs Swansea B 0-1.
Football-wise, the boys started and ended the day quite poorly in all honesty. Against Newport, we were lucky to grab a 0-0 and thankfully GBalkwill in goal had some brilliant reflexes to keep out some very near shots. Evans also thwarting a number of advances from the Welsh contingent. The boys in this game seemed slightly scared and unable to get their foot on the ball to pass to a teammate. Something must be said for the continued effort, but we knew they could play better football than that shown.
Against Newbury, we were looking for that person who was going to get the ball down and try and dictate the play. Both coaches couldn’t pick out one person that didn’t try this. It was a complete contrast to the first game. The boys continued to pepper the Newbury half. Balkwill and Badham constantly running at their fullbacks, Fogg and Young in the middle pushing the ball around the pitch nicely, Burr, Evans, Harris and then Butcher when he came on, pouncing on everything and pushing the ball into the spaces when needed and Ball upfront holding the ball up brilliantly and chasing the balls over the top. A ball over the top from Butcher was chased down by Ball, only for the GK to come out and boot the football into Ball and bounce goalwards. Bar some slightly soft finishing that would’ve led to more goals, it was by far the best performance that day.
The following two games followed in that fashion. The boys worked incredibly hard against a big Swansea A team and once they had found their feet were creating more chances than the opposition. Swansea continued to look dangerous with set-pieces, but chances fell to Ball, Badham, Fogg and DBalkwill and the Swansea keeper did well to keep us at bay.
A games that always has a bit of spice is that against our friends Gloucester A. Neither team want to lose (obviously) to their friends and a shared result was probably fair overall and kept the peace between coaches :-)
Much like the game before, the Bs started slow and the A team found themselves in our area a few times. Croose always looks dangerous with the ball at his feet and brought GBalkwill into the games a number of times. The A team goal came from a routine corner that should have been dealt with. Instead a quick panic led the ball being put back into the prime area of the box only for Croose to tap in.
This seemed to wake the Bs up and from here on in, I’d say we had the better of the chances. Ball was having his best part-game of the season so far and was really driving the ball forwards at the A team defence. Ansermoz had to make a number of good saves from Badham, Ball and Fogg before another drive into the box from Ball saw him brought down and a (soft?) penalty was given. Burr stepped up and comfortably slotted the ball home to make it 1-1.
Again, as a team, their performance (after the first 5 minutes) was superb. The boys at the back chased everything and had composure when releasing the ball. The boys in the middle of the park defended first and then went forwards to help - spreading the play beautifully at times, the wingers constantly went at the defence and Ball (as said) had a brilliant game.
If only, we had taken that into the last game. Both coaches think that it was more of a sloppy mentality that meant the boys went into the game thinking they’d be fine. They weren’t. Swansea B…another B team who are very good, deserved their win and hopefully the boys learnt a valuable lesson that at this level there are hardly any teams where you can think you’ve won before you’ve even started.
So all in all, my original thinking of ‘another normal day at the office’ turned out to be true. Some football we know the boys are capable of and some sloppy mentality football we also know they’re capable of. Hopefully, as we go on the latter will reduce.
Overall, the boys did well and they thoroughly deserved their place in going through to the next round of the cup. Well done gentlemen!
The trip home went by without much difference to the trip out, except for a stop at the services where Young and Butcher left their wallets out for anyone, little Harris bought some Lindt balls for dinner and shared some with Big Harris, of course and all mingled really nicely with the A team to eat lots of nutritious food.
All-in-all, a nice normal day at the office. We even got Wixey back to the home before they served the jelly and custard for tea - along with a side of another bunch of meds. Good times!
Gloucester B: G.Balkwill, J.Harris, C.Evans, R.Burr, J.Young, D.Balkwill, G.Ball, J.Fogg, L.Badham, H.Butcher
The journey went on much like the other journeys beforehand. There was plenty of singing - especially about Burr’s lovely locks, Butcher lets out a scream every 4.3 minutes, 90% of the boys ask how long was left of the journey, Wixey scares us all as his meds haven’t kicked in yet and he nearly nods off (he’ll tell you it was my conversations that brought on the odd-spouts of narcolepsy, but he’s wrong), Ball thinks he’s a hard man and sits behind me with Foggy to keep poking me (don’t worry….they learns their lesson), the Balkwills complain of being cold thanks to Burr having the window open, Little Harris continues to try and put me down and then every time I turn round he and Young are giggling to themselves in nervousness and Evans is being beaten up by Butcher and Badham. Just a normal day at the office Big Harris thinks and a normal day (from what we can make out so far) it turned out to be.
Both teams arrived at Bath and shared a changing room. The Bs subsequently got changed into the glorious yellow and ever-so-slightly damp football kit (as Big Harris had totally forgotten about the kit until 10pm the previous evening when he opened his car boot to find the kit still sat there!!). With the refreshing kit on, the boys went out onto the open space that is Bath fields.
With the timetables given out, the Bs were going to be playing 5 games in a row against some tough opposition.
Results were as follows; Vs Newport 0-0, Vs Newbury 1-0, Vs Swansea A 0-0, Vs Gloucester A 1-1, Vs Swansea B 0-1.
Football-wise, the boys started and ended the day quite poorly in all honesty. Against Newport, we were lucky to grab a 0-0 and thankfully GBalkwill in goal had some brilliant reflexes to keep out some very near shots. Evans also thwarting a number of advances from the Welsh contingent. The boys in this game seemed slightly scared and unable to get their foot on the ball to pass to a teammate. Something must be said for the continued effort, but we knew they could play better football than that shown.
Against Newbury, we were looking for that person who was going to get the ball down and try and dictate the play. Both coaches couldn’t pick out one person that didn’t try this. It was a complete contrast to the first game. The boys continued to pepper the Newbury half. Balkwill and Badham constantly running at their fullbacks, Fogg and Young in the middle pushing the ball around the pitch nicely, Burr, Evans, Harris and then Butcher when he came on, pouncing on everything and pushing the ball into the spaces when needed and Ball upfront holding the ball up brilliantly and chasing the balls over the top. A ball over the top from Butcher was chased down by Ball, only for the GK to come out and boot the football into Ball and bounce goalwards. Bar some slightly soft finishing that would’ve led to more goals, it was by far the best performance that day.
The following two games followed in that fashion. The boys worked incredibly hard against a big Swansea A team and once they had found their feet were creating more chances than the opposition. Swansea continued to look dangerous with set-pieces, but chances fell to Ball, Badham, Fogg and DBalkwill and the Swansea keeper did well to keep us at bay.
A games that always has a bit of spice is that against our friends Gloucester A. Neither team want to lose (obviously) to their friends and a shared result was probably fair overall and kept the peace between coaches :-)
Much like the game before, the Bs started slow and the A team found themselves in our area a few times. Croose always looks dangerous with the ball at his feet and brought GBalkwill into the games a number of times. The A team goal came from a routine corner that should have been dealt with. Instead a quick panic led the ball being put back into the prime area of the box only for Croose to tap in.
This seemed to wake the Bs up and from here on in, I’d say we had the better of the chances. Ball was having his best part-game of the season so far and was really driving the ball forwards at the A team defence. Ansermoz had to make a number of good saves from Badham, Ball and Fogg before another drive into the box from Ball saw him brought down and a (soft?) penalty was given. Burr stepped up and comfortably slotted the ball home to make it 1-1.
Again, as a team, their performance (after the first 5 minutes) was superb. The boys at the back chased everything and had composure when releasing the ball. The boys in the middle of the park defended first and then went forwards to help - spreading the play beautifully at times, the wingers constantly went at the defence and Ball (as said) had a brilliant game.
If only, we had taken that into the last game. Both coaches think that it was more of a sloppy mentality that meant the boys went into the game thinking they’d be fine. They weren’t. Swansea B…another B team who are very good, deserved their win and hopefully the boys learnt a valuable lesson that at this level there are hardly any teams where you can think you’ve won before you’ve even started.
So all in all, my original thinking of ‘another normal day at the office’ turned out to be true. Some football we know the boys are capable of and some sloppy mentality football we also know they’re capable of. Hopefully, as we go on the latter will reduce.
Overall, the boys did well and they thoroughly deserved their place in going through to the next round of the cup. Well done gentlemen!
The trip home went by without much difference to the trip out, except for a stop at the services where Young and Butcher left their wallets out for anyone, little Harris bought some Lindt balls for dinner and shared some with Big Harris, of course and all mingled really nicely with the A team to eat lots of nutritious food.
All-in-all, a nice normal day at the office. We even got Wixey back to the home before they served the jelly and custard for tea - along with a side of another bunch of meds. Good times!
Gloucester B: G.Balkwill, J.Harris, C.Evans, R.Burr, J.Young, D.Balkwill, G.Ball, J.Fogg, L.Badham, H.Butcher
