02/18/07

2006 / 2007 Season 16/12/2006

The day started well until about 8am when Pat West called in with sickness and diarrhoea. That was not to be the last problem the Buxted Manager was to face selection-wise. The other two to go missing before kick-off were Gareth Houkes (to the twilight zone) and Craig Benson (to the side of the road with a broken scooter). All were sorely missed and with Bob Spencer the only one willing to step up to the mark as sub. the game was always going to be difficult.

This proved to be the case after ten minutes when Cowden got a breakthrough with a fairly simple through-ball finding an un-tethered striker who had little difficulty getting away and rounding Andy Harper to slot the ball home. This highlighted Buxted’s problem at the back where we seemed incapable of any sort of marking in the middle resulting in Dean constantly getting dragged across to sweep up after the rest of the self-appointed sweepers. With the back four allowing itself to get dragged around, Buxted were finding it difficult to be organised going forward; although the side worked hard as a whole and created some decent moves, but failed to seriously trouble the Cowden ‘keeper. Jörn and Noodles struggled to break down a well-organised defence that dealt pretty comfortably, with the sun in their eyes, with some decent crosses from both wings. Jörn had one decent header saved fairly well but otherwise Buxted lacked sparkle.

At the other end Andy made one terrific save; and Buxted had earlier benefited from something of a let-off when the opposition took further advantage of some poor marking to net again; only to see the effort ruled out for offside. It looked a close decision - to keep Buxted in the game at 0-1 at half-time.  The half-time team talk concentrated mainly on the need for some more grown-up marking from everyone, coupled with a little less ball-watching. The game was still around for Buxted to get something out of, but they would have to be a little less naïve.

Unfortunately the half was only a few minutes old when Wayne crumpled to the ground, with a niggle in an old knee injury that kept him off the park for around ten minutes. He was insistent he could run the injury off and in the event he returned to the field to ease down a little from his midfield role and play up-front (effectively swapping jobs with Jörn). In reality Buxted now looked even less likely to get three points from the match; and when Noodles missed a golden opportunity to level the score, the writing was on the wall. As Lee pointed out afterwards, superior fitness may have been Cowden’s main advantage overall, and this was arguably true as 4—0 flattered them a little in pure footballing terms. Buxted were always looking to get a foothold but lacked the finishing touch. The watershed came mid-way through the half when the unfortunate Andy Harper’s weak goal-kick was mullered back past him by a grateful Maverick. The Buxted heads dropped a bit now and it was game over when the third was nodded in at the near post from a corner. The forth goal was frustrating to see and underlined the need for a defence to be aware of players making runs off the ball. The damage was done when a Cowden player took up the ball on the left and made a powerful run straight at goal He did well to get through a few tackles but his shot was well parried by Harper. Unfortunately the only player to be awake to this possibility was a Cowden runner who tapped the ball into a gaping goal from six yards.

Wayne was finally retired and Bob made a nuisance of himself for 10 minutes in an effort to keep the pressure off the defence and maybe get things going; but in testing ground both sides had all but shot their respective bolts by now.

Some pretty good performances were put in here without the team really gelling. Special mention would go to Lee and Dean but Chris Scott pipped them both to the Man-of-the-Match award for a particularly energetic performance that included some great tracking back and the usual selection of tempting-looking crosses. Thanks also to the injured Matty Scott for running the line, to Wayne for nearly dying for the cause, and especially to Bob for always being around with his boots and shin pads – real team players.                                                                                                    

Lance Ingram

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