Date: Saturday 10th September 2011
Starting line-up: Gaz Stewart, Ed Jackson, Oli Watkins, Hung, Clarkey, Ben McG, Rob Sadler, Pogo, MTM, Noble, Sutton
Subs: Northy, Paul Every, Ryan Shedwick
Let’s get this out of the way straight off the bat. The girl Noble was strolling down to the pitch with was fucking amazing….slim, great rack, pretty face….shame she’s engaged to a rugby boy.
Cubo’s opponents had made a poor start to the season losing three of their first four fixtures, including a 6-0 hammering at the hands of Tooting Bec, so the boys in baby blue were confident of picking up 3 points, a confidence helped by the sight of a number of Bletchingley players puffing away on fags before the game. The late arrival of star centre half Oli Watkins and the ref did not prevent Cubo making a positive start to the game with Ben McG latching onto a poor goal kick before releasing Sutton down the right and his low cross only narrowly evaded MTM at the back post. Despite hailing from the ‘charming village of Bletchingley’ (www.bletchingley.org.uk) there wasn’t anything particularly charming about their football side….
Cubo took the lead when Clarkey latched on to a loose ball in the box before crossing for MTM to head home. 1-0 Cubo. With the wind behind them Cubo continued to create the better chances with first Oli putting a simple header (particularly for a man who bases 90% of his ‘footballing talent’ on his aerial ability) wide from a Mark Sutton corner before Sutts himself miscontrolled when clean through on goal. Cubo were managing to create chances without producing the kind of fluid football that they have shown themselves capable of this season and whilst Bletchingley did not look threatening it was beginning to look like their niggly antics were affecting Cubo’s game. Unable to move the ball as well as they have been, an element of frustration crept into the Cubo game, with the lack of a second goal contributing to an increasingly nervy display from the home side. Bletchingley seemed to sense this and began to play with a growing confidence, their tricky left winger beginning to see more of the ball in the Cubo half.
A series of Bletchingley corners were well defended by Cubo with Gaz claiming some good crosses but this good defensive work was undone by a complete freak of a goal. A punt upfield by the Bletch keeper was taken by a gust of wind and with the bounce surprising Gaz, looped into the net. 1-1. The lack of a second goal had come back to haunt Cubo and they now faced 30 mins of football against a pumped up opposition with the wind behind them. Every and Northy were introduced to add a bit of urgency to proceedings and whilst Cubo were still unable to find their rhythm they continued to create good chances with Clarkey and MTM forcing the Bletch keeper into two fine stops. The increased urgency from the home side was not unfortunately coupled with an increase in quality in the final third, Ben McG’s poor touch when running clean through from a fine Noble crossfield pass was symptomatic of Cubo’s day at the office.
An extremely disappointed Cubo side left the pitch feeling dejected, despite the point, knowing that given the chances they created this should really have been 3 points in the bag. Bletchingley have struggled this season and it is not difficult to see why given the opportunities they presented to Cubo, however they did a great job of unsettling Cubo from their natural rhythm and could well have nicked it in the second half had it not been for some excellent defensive work by Hung Nguyen to thwart a two on one situation in his own half. Attention now moves on to next week’s fixture against bottom of the table Farnborough North End where all involved will be hoping for a far more clinical display.
Final Score: AFC Cubo 1 Bletchingley 1
Man of the Match: Hung Nguyen / Andrew Noble
Goal: MTM
Match Report: Benny Mac
AFC Cubo 