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Hit the Bar Vs woodsmoor Wanderers
Having managed to stop the slide last week with a valiant 9-9 draw, it was important that Hit The Bar built upon this result against minnows, Woodsmoor Wanderers. Relatively new to the league, WW had youth and vigour on their side but little in the way of Powerleague experience. HTB's line-up saw Dancing replace Turkish, and somewhat surprisingly Ricky Organ was available despite having completed his move down south. Rumours that the southern team sent him back after watching him in his first training session, with the words "don't come back until you can shoot straight, yer lanky git" are entirely unsubstantiated. With the game underway, it soon became apparent that WW were lacking in the playing-as-a-team department. TB quickly carved several openings but could not finish. Eventually though, one hit the mark and several more goals quickly followed, with HTB finishing the half at a canter, 9-1 to the good. With the hour approaching bedtime as the second half kicked off, it seemed that HTB had already mentally retired for the evening. A period of play which could rank alongside some of their worst efforts ever, saw HTB conceding again and again, until somehow the lead was cut to 12-9, with WW's keeper now on the pitch and dominating play. Slowly awaking from their collective slumber, HTB managed to prod a couple of goals home and establish a comfortable lead once more, before finally finishing as relatively comfortable victors at 18-11.
Player ratings
Squirrel - Part Brad Friedel, part David James, this was a game of mixed fortunes, with some much-needed saves being combined with some disappointing efforts. There was a kamikaze nature to some of his distribution tonight but sometimes the route 1 approach paid dividends - 6
Wes - When your first shot of the evening hits the side boarding, you can only improve. And this he did, with some of the traditional thunderbolts helping him reach 5 goals for the night. A significant improvement in his vision and team play this week saw some good team goals, but got caught in possession too often late on - 6
G-Man - It takes quite some doing for your team to score 18 goals and one player not get any of them, but G-Man managed this tonight. Apart from the dubious honour of receiving the MISFIRING MONKEY award, he can be otherwise quite pleased with his game. Maybe tonight will discourage him from trying the lob all the time? I doubt it - 6
Dancing - Back from a break, it took him a while to play himself into the game. Some fine passing was the best part of his game tonight, but some of the tackling would best be forgotten. Without a goal in the first half, he managed to bag a second half hat trick and overall had a fairly solid game - 6
Nez - Having been a bit off-colour in front of goal recently, he was due a decent haul. Got off to a blistering start and had to be subbed off in an effort to maintain competition in the golden boot stakes. Threw himself about with some gusto, and some strong-tackling and nifty dribbling, combined with 8 (eight) goals, including the last one, which seemed to feature what looked like some kind of cerebral event as he went on to beat the keeper, were plenty to take SURERANDOMALITY STARMAN - 8
Ricky Organ - Perhaps his last game for a while for HTB, but perhaps not his last ever (?), he signed off with an Organ-esque performance. Scored a brace with some nice finishing but maybe should have had more. Was always looking for the intelligent pass and helped give the team some shape. There's no doubt that this influential player will be missed by HTB and it remains to be seen whether they will be able to replace him - 6