A Heavy Price Toupee
GPR 2 Atlantis 8
Greg commented the other week that he prefers the blogs when we lose so, here you go mate, this one was for you. A performance that took us back to last season ended with Atlantis going 7-1 on the season, solidifying their credentials as league contenders alongside unbeaten Sandgate FC. The referee’s fantastic haircut provided some small crumbs of comfort on an otherwise gloomy morning that we will quickly want to forget about. Overall, it was to be another game of highs and a lot of lows, the standard set by the biting cold temperatures of the morning as we near our final two games of the calendar year.
Some games are fun to reminisce on no matter the scoreline. It’s an opportunity to see the boys in action and enjoy 90 minutes without VAR or an unreasonable crowd hurling insults whenever an offside call is given against them. This wasn’t one of them. Unfortunately for me, the weekend would have gone better had we been provided with VAR, if only to temper the wailing of the unreasonable away crowd hurling insults whenever an offside call was given. Atlantis set out with a clear intention to win the game, and were fired up from the get-go. Within ten minutes, a powerful effort found its way past Greg’s gloves, and the away side’s tails were up. They were both physical and vocal, protesting every decision against them, and before long it was 3-0.
Matty and Rory did combine for a piece of magic, however, the former dribbling through several players before cutting in to the latter, who shifted the ball to the side and struck it with force into the corner of the net. We did have some lovely moves across the game - especially in the second half, where we improved massively - but the pitch wouldn’t co-operate and it was too few and far between. It was muddy to the point of boggy in places, cut-up and hardened from the cold of the night before in others. Atlantis played to their strengths, and killed the game early in the second half to end the contest. I won’t go into it, but we can accept that we had a bad day at the office and were squarely beaten. A penalty kick was despatched by Rory midway through the second half, but we never looked likely to mount a serious comeback, and Atlantis kept coming our way to add to their tally.
Special praise should be reserved for Greg, who despite the scoreline saved plenty of chances and showed leadership when it was needed most. Rory is so consistent at scoring even when we look far from our best, and his two goals certainly boosted his golden boot record. Adam had another great game, even whilst playing the full 90 out of position, and deservedly earned the manager’s approval at full time. More amazing than all this, however, was that for probably the first time ever, we managed a full game without any injuries. A truly incredible achievement in itself. Silver linings, eh?
MOTM 🤌 = Adam. It’s always great to see players develop and he’s come on a long way since joining us.
DOTD 💀 = Arthur for going on a bender despite his promises that he wouldn’t.
