Macbeth at the Death
GPR 3 Court Park United 4
“He’s got blood on his hands!” was the chant when the final whistle blew today, as a staunch opponent - undefeated this season - held on to clinch passage to round 2 of one of the many cups this year against a resurgent second half performance from the lads. The beauty of Sunday League was the real winner today, for this game had it all, packed with amazing support, a racy finale and plenty of goals to go around. We even had a sinbin, something I’ve been a silent campaigner for for years…
Of all the records broken by GPR, none are quite as spectacular as today’s first goal, which arrived after only 9 seconds when multiple errors were swiftly punished by the travelling side. And I thought my heart couldn’t sink any lower. Gratefully, however, after a few profanities and shaken heads, we resumed and shook off the early setback, the physicality of Rory and Phizz providing ample opportunity for an equaliser throughout the first half. When you hear a team has won their first 5 games and sit at the top of their division it’s all-too-easy to be intimidated, but there was none of that in the matchup this weekend. Slav and co. made some crunching challenges in the defence to keep the game alive, whilst at the other end, we pushed the wings back and fought for several chances as the half drew to a close.
Court Park, however, re-energised and gave a timely reminder of their class, scoring two quick goals just before the break. 3-0 was a frustrating and - in my opinion - unfair reflection of the flow of the game, in which we had had more than our fair share of the half to deserve something. That’s football though, and as we agreed to put the first half behind us, you could sense a stirring amongst the boys to go again with nothing to lose. The second half was underway and we were looking the more likely to score through Sina’s pace and the long balls from midfield proving difficult to defend against. 15 minutes in, a low corner fluked its way to the back post, and lucky for us Julian was sufficiently endowed to nick one back, making it two in two for the skipper. Our pressing continued, forcing Court Park to sit deeper in their half. With 20 minutes to go, however, the opposition striker won a free kick from deep, and his whipped effort wasn’t dealt with, putting the away side squarely back in control.
This is the exact scenario that would have ended in tears last year (and possibly last week) but full credit to the boys, who just got on with the game and threw themselves into the remainder of the match. We continued to push the ball into uncomfortable areas, but with the contest seemingly over, it looked like we would sink to consecutive 4-1 defeats. That was until an innocuous free kick from our half rolled through the Court Park defence and David, who put in a monster performance in midfield, pounced on the opportunity to give us a glimmer of hope. Minutes later, Matty’s lobbed effort found Rory, whose sheer determination allowed him to break past several players and, playing to the whistle, round the keeper to leave the final 10 minutes excruciatingly tense. A long ball from Court Park found their striker, who looked certain to make good on his promise to bag another, only to be prevented from doing so by a strong parry from Slav, and Alan put his body on the line to deny the follow up.
Our men pushed up, Adam and Sina combining brilliantly down the wing, the former unable to stretch far enough on one occasion to draw the game level, and we were getting angsty on the touchline. With just minutes to go, Rory pushed past the defender who, to put it lightly, did not get the ball, but his protests were waved away to the shock of everybody on the team. One crowd dispersion later, the whistle blew to give a fitting end to a hard fought game to both sides, albeit we felt we should have taken it to extra time at least. We wish CPU well for the rest of the season and cup, and take solace from a gutsy performance that another day would have brought us victory. There was some fantastic courage today to shake off the numerous setbacks, some of which were self-inflicted, and the Salads can now enjoy a break as a bye for next week’s cup game means we may finally have a weekend with our enduring significant others. Lucky things…
MOTM 🤌 = David’s goal capped a brilliant runout that encompassed the spirit of this week’s performance. He’s better every week and deserves the nod for all his hard work.
DOTD 💀 = Conceding 9 seconds in is pretty hard to ignore.
