Match report
Match report
Brighton Bandits 9 - Bexley Invicta 4 (I think)
This was one of the most unusual matches I have ever played in, but also one of the most enjoyable.
We travelled down to the seaside expecting to play in a 5-aside mini tournament as practice for the GFSN Get-together in a fortnight's time. However, due to there being a total of 14 players, we agreed to play a 7-aside match, with the Bandits lending us one of their players.
Probably the most unusual aspect of this game was that, whoever kicked the ball over the fence had to retrieve it, but the game was not paused. This gave the other side a temporary numbers advantage and, at one, stage Brighton were down to five.
The second most unusual thing was the time periods we played. 2 x 35 mins, followed by 2 x 15 mins. This was by mutual consent, as the easy-going game progressed. "Shall we take a short break, followed by two halves of 15 mins?" "Yeah, ok." I'm sure the ref said it was "last goal wins" towards the end, but I don' think we'd have insisted on that had Bexley scored the last goal.
The game was played in a side wind that was so strong that it kept on blowing the footballs to the far corner of the very large enclosure for the pitches. Both sides played the ball very much on the ground and a flowing game ensued. It is fair to say that Brighton were the more skilful team and scored early on and continued to dominate the first half, taking advantage of weaknesses in the Bexley defence.
Being the game it was, the Bandits' manager gave us a half time pep talk and certainly the game was more even from that point onwards. Brighton remained in control of the match, but Bexley strung together a number of nice moves and scored most of their four goals in the second, third and fourth "halves." Chris Death scored his first goal for Bexley and borrowed player, Smark (?) bagged the rest, including a stunning goal from the tightest angle possible. Chris took over in goal for Bexley and showed great skill to prove that he can stop goals as well as score them.
After the match, we headed for the Camelford Arms, who are Brighton's sponsors. A substantial hot and cold buffet was provided. Brighton were just the most friendly of hosts and I can't wait to play them again in some way.
Bexley Invicta FC squad: Charlie Barry, Simon Baverstock, Chris Death, Sam Thorpe, Lawrence Hung and Brian Silk.
My Bexley player of the match: Chris
Brian Silk
Stand-in team manager
Sunday, 22 May 2011