Author: thomhoops

South East London 2nd XI 3 – 0 Cubo 3rd XI: Centenary Cup Section B Round 1

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Date: Saturday 22nd October – 2pm KO

Starting Line-up: Matt Turner (C), Chris Revill (deceased), Mark Dallamore, Nathan Adabadze, James Ingle, Henry Neville, Chris Lendrum, Luke Haddon, Seb Brain, Paul May, Jordan Griffith

Sub: John Glenn

With the club undergoing a goalkeeping crisis of epic proportions, it was left to skipper Turner to place himself between the sticks. On a barren, concrete-hard pitch, a bright start under an adventurous and new-fangled 3-5-2 saw Cubo pen SEL back in their own half, with Paul and Jordan looking especially dangerous playing off the shoulders of the SEL defence. Only some dubious linesman-ship kept the scores level.

However, the main incident in the game came barely 10 minutes in to the first half. Excluding Dallamore, the diminutive back line of Revill and Adabadze naturally struggled under high balls and against the monstrous SEL strike-duo. With one clearance bouncing over Revill, a last-ditch goal saving tackle from the aforementioned ended audibly with a loud snap. Unfortunately it wasn’t a firework let off by some local wildlife; but Chris’ tibula. An anxious 40 minute wait for the ambulance ensued, with full credit awarded to physio-on-the-spot Lenny for keeping Chris from enduring too much discomfort. A team effort was then needed to move Chris to the safety of the bag pile at the side of the pitch. With the half injured Glenn replacing Revill, the remainder of the half was played out in naturally cagey circumstances with neither side really threatening.

When the ambulance finally did arrive, the driver sensibly eschewed parking ANYWHERE ELSE and elected the pitch to settle upon, delaying the game by a further 30 minutes at half time.

With the second half finally underway, Cubo could not seem to build any momentum, and on the hard pitch it was proving difficult to get the ball to Luke and Seb’s feet on the wings. With both midfields bypassed by the aerial battle, a lucky bounce and unlucky deflection against Dallamore ended with the ball ricocheting past the despairing gloves of Turner. As Cubo chased the game, openings, err, opened up and the SEL right winger cut inside and unleashed a fierce drive through the defence, past the unsighted Turner to make it 2-0 to the baddies. Utilising the fact the SEL 1st XI had no fixture, some astute substitutions were made by the SEL coach and the game was put beyond Cubo’s reach with 10 minutes to go by another firm strike from outside the box.

Some positives can be taken however with an excellent debut from Nathan Adebadze and some strong, direct running from second debutant Paul May who looked to dovetail well with Jordan on several occasions. Thanks must also go to the SEL coach, Jose, who lent us some footballs, called the ambulance, provided Chris with company and blankets and general all-round good lad behaviour.

Thanks to Turns for donning the gloves and best wishes and a speedy recovery to Chris.

Man of the Match: TBC

Match Report: John Glenn

AFC Cubo 1-3 Crescent Rovers

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Date: Sat 15th October 2011

Starting Line-up: Gaz Stewart, Rob Sadler, Hung Nguyen, Oli Watkins (c), Richard Gough, Ben McGeown, Michael North, Jonny Patterson, Ryan Shedwich, Mark Sutton, Andrew Noble

Subs: Ian Clarke, Eddy Jackson, James McGeown

A spate of injuries to the clubs strike-force forced Cubo into adopting a revised 4-5-1 formation with club beefcake Andrew Noble, himself carrying an injury, deployed as a lone front man. Despite the absence of striking options Cubo were welcomed back Hung and Pogo to a strong starting line up. Initial signs were positive for the Baby Blue Army when Sutts skinned his full back before pulling the ball back to Noble whose effort was only kept out by some desperate defending by the visitors.

Cubo have been conceding cheap goals at a rate recently and that trend continued against Crescent Rovers. A cross into the box was not attacked by any member of the home side and the ball dropped kindly to the Rovers midfielder who hooked the ball in. 1-0 Crescent Rovers.

Despite some nice passages of play Cubo were looking second best in the challenge and the visitors were playing with increasing confidence, with their big striker making sure that Goughy and Oli were unable to win any clean clearing headers. Despite this Cubo found themselves back on level terms 25 minutes into the half when a long throw into the box fell to Goughy who, not for the first time this season, showed great composure to side foot home from 10 yards out. 1-1.

Whilst the goal did invigorate Cubo, time and again they showed a lack of composure in the final third, giving the ball away cheaply to ease the pressure on the Rovers backline. At the other end, they were displaying a real inability to clear their lines and were only saved from going behind again thanks to a linesmans flag. Their luck did not hold however and when another goal kick was not cleared it was left to the Rovers frontman to hammer an unstoppable finish into the top corner from 20 yards out. 2-1 Rovers. A very poor half for the home side who really did not look at the races.

With Noble limping off after 50 mins, replaced by Clarkey, Cubo were forced into pushing Ryan up front and hoping for an improvement in their build up play. Unfortunately the quality of their play didn’t improve and the away side increased their lead when the ref awarded a penalty after a couple of mistimed challenges on the Rovers striker in the box. Gaz again got his hand to the ball but was unable to keep out the well struck spot kick. 3-1 Rovers.

Cubo continued to plug away but without enough quality to really trouble the Rovers backline though they were granted an avenue back into the game when Sutts was brought down just inside the area and the ref awarded a penalty. Without an established penalty taker on the pitch, gaffer Ben McGeown stepped up but his weak effort to the keepers left was easily saved and with it so did Cubo’s hopes of getting something from the game. A couple of goal mouth scrambles aside Cubo were unable to force the Rovers keeper into any saves of note and the game was played out without any further goals.

Final Score: AFC Cubo 1-3 Crescent Rovers

Scorer: Goughy

Man of the Match:

A hugely disappointing display from Cubo, who paid the price for a lack of composure in their opponents half and a lack of defensive aggression in their own half. Crescent Rovers put in an organised and disciplined performance which proved too much for the home side to deal with. The absence of their established strike-force is clearly causing Cubo problems exerting any pressure on opposition back lines at the moment, a failing compounded by a tendency to give away very cheap goals. A big improvement will be needed next week if they are to get a result against Tooting Bec in the Cup.

Match Report: Benny Mac

AFC Cubo 2nd XI 3-2 Goldfingers

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Date: Saturday 15th October, 2011

Starting Line-Up: Clark, Haddon, A. Clarke, Pally, Utting, Denno, Bradley, Salty, Burt, Brain, Hill

Subs: Hooper and Jim M

It was a case of déjà vu at Barn Elms on Saturday as Cubo faced a Goldfingers team on another balmy summer’s day two weeks after knocking them out of the cup. Cubo have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season and came into this game full of confidence having won their last 3 games 1-0. Having watched Wales lose to the French that morning, Pally turned up sporting his London Welsh top and looking to take out his frustration out on Goldfingers. Given the weather conditions it would be interesting to see how many of the translucent members of the squad would deal with the hot conditions. Utting was seen applying a thick layer of sun cream before the game as the tree in the corner of the pitch would only offer him shade for one half of the game. With all strikers at the club seemingly unavailable it was left to the imposing duo of Seb Brain and Pete Hill to lead the line. Otherwise it was the regular back four in front of Neil ‘clean sheet’ Clark and a midfield of Bradley and Salty in the middle and Denno and Andy Burt offering some quality out wide.

The first half was not a vintage performance from Cubo. The team seemed very lethargic and Goldfingers were first to most balls and looked dangerous on the break. xHowever, Cubo did manage to go ahead through a sloppy defensive effort from the away team. From a Cubo throw on the left Andy Burt managed to slide in on the edge of the area to divert the ball towards goal. Seb and the Goldfingers’ keeper went for it but both managed to miss the ball which ran through to Alan Clarke to another goal to continue his good start to the season.

Despite going ahead Cubo continued to live dangerously by giving the ball away too easily and then allowing Goldfingers too much space on the break. A free kick was given away on the edge of the Cubo area in a threatening position. The dead ball was poorly stuck though straight at keeper Clark. Unfortunately the prospect of getting married next week just before his 39th birthday was playing on his mind and he forgot key coaching point of all goalkeepers of getting your body behind the ball and let it go through his legs. So the team’s record of not conceding a goal since moving to a flat back four back in their opening game of the season had now been ended. The only other thing to note from the first half was the referees increasing habit of offering commentary on the game but not being to receptive to any constructive criticism offered by either team.

The half time whistle was welcomed by Cubo and gave them a chance to regroup and hopefully address their lacklustre first half. The second half started with Cubo in the ascendency and trying to pass the ball around positively. Seb and Pete were causing the Goldfingers back four problems with their pace and the quality of the final ball was the only thing missing. Cubo retook the lead midway through the half. A corner from the right was delivered with pace to the far post from Burt and Denno managed to head the ball into the goal through a melee of defenders and goalkeeper. Cubo had deserved the lead through their positive start to the second half. Goldfingers still looked like a threat and it took a few last ditch interceptions from the Cubo defence to prevent their strikers being clear through on goal.

In the 75th minute the referee blew up for a foul committed by the home team on the edge of the area. Unfortunately the referee was not having his best game and this was a shocking decision as it was clear to everyone except the man in black that a Cubo foot had got to the ball first. The wall lined up and the Goldfingers player managed to hit it over the wall and also over the stranded Clark to get them back level. The crowd were now looking for a reaction from the Cubo players as their winning run was now under threat. Cubo remained positive and looked to release Seb at any opportunity. Hooper had also replaced Pete Hill up top to offer his considerable frame to the frontline. The third and decisive goal came from an unlikely source. Mark Bradley made his first successful pass of the game to release Seb whose pace kept him away from the defenders and he calmly slotted it home to give Cubo another 3 points. The home team managed to hold on with Clark pulling off a great save towards the end. With another win under their belt the team headed off to the Red Lion for a debrief and then onto Chez Saltdog for a few home brews.

Final Score: AFC Cubo 3-2 Goldfingers

Scorers: A. Clarke, Dennison, Brain

Man of the Match: Seb Brain for a coolly taken winner and offering a constant threat in behind the Goldfingers defence.

Positives: 

  • Great team spirit to react to conceding the second goal and get the winner
  • Scored three goals
  • Late fines are building up nicely for the end of season drinking session

Negatives:

  • First half performance was very sloppy. We are not good enough just to turn up and collect 3 points.
  • Still need to work on our finishing
  • Bradders and Luke suffering heatstroke after not applying enough sun cream before the game

Match Report: Rick Utting

AFC Cubo 2nd XI 1-0 Goldfingers

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Date: Saturday 1st October

Starting Line-Up: Clark, Denno, A. Clarke, Pally, Utting, Brain, Bradders, Salty (C), Moody, Hill, Stevie T

Subs: Ramsay

Cubo welcomed Goldfingers to Barn Elms for the first cup game of the season. Bradders knew their European sleeve styled keeper and many players were also au fait with Cemlyn Jones at right back for the Yellow and Black clad visitors.

Trevor Moody scored the key goal, which had been coming, when he stole in at the near post to delicately flick in a Brain corner – one of many the diminutive dribbler had delivered.

On the half hour mark a penalty was conceded by the 27 (honestly) year old in the home goal, but he composed himself well, flinging himself to his right to push the spot kick to safety.

Goldfingers loved being offside but responded to the disappointment in the second half by creating a number of chances themselves. Clark was called into action a number of times producing a plethora top saves.

However despite his heroics, when a weak shot slipped under his body it seemed for all the world that extra time would be required. However Dennison, operating out of position at right back, showed admirable defensive instincts to clear from off the line and complete a hard fought but slightly fortuitous victory.

Final Score: AFC Cubo 2nd XI 1-0 Goldfingers

Scorer: Moody

Man of the Match: Neil Clark for some great one handed shot stopping and a penno save (which he’d given away).

Match Report: A group effort (in the car) between Denno, Clark, Hoops and PeteHill

Balham FC 0-1 AFC Cubo 2nd XI

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Date: Saturday 8th October

Starting Line-Up: Clark, Haddon, A. Clarke, Pally, Utting, Denno, Bradders, Salty (C), Hill, Moody, Burt

Subs: Ramsay, Joe D

In well-worn Ian Holloway parlance, this Cubo win was akin to being vomited on by a prostitute. Outplayed for large periods of the game by a younger and fitter, Balham side, AFC Cubo summoned on the years of experience present and exhibited fine smash and grab technique.

Pre-match, the writing had been on the wall for the boys in baby blue. As the youthful Balham FC diligently carried out a pre match warm up involving dynamic stretching, close knit ball work and a small sided game, Cubo responded with Netball, X-factor discussion and a racially insensitive team talk.

OR (Cubo responded with Netball and X-factor discussion, liberally punctuated with loud welsh swearing and demands to ‘stick one on them early doors’ from the player manager) Just in case anyone from the league/the other side ever reads this.

When the game finally kicked off, despite the insistence of Mark Bradley that the best, and indeed only, way to deal with a youthful opposition was through ‘inappropriate touching’, Cubo dominated the opening exchanges through more conventional means. In the first minute, a good interchange between Salty, Hill and Moody down the left allowed the latter to release a fierce shot at goal which was well blocked by the Balham Centre half. The Cubo boys felt that notice had been served that both sides on the pitch could play and moments later they had their reward.

A well-worked move resulted in a ninth minute corner which was floated high into the box for Clarke to convert as Pally busied himself assaulting the young goalkeeper. It wasn’t the first time a set play would cause the Balham defence trouble and nor was it the first time Cubo’s methods, particularly those of the player-manager, would be called into question.

From this point forward, the game settled into a regular pattern. Cubo showed fight, determination and grit all over the pitch and sought to disrupt Balham’s passing game at every opportunity. When they did receive possession, the Cubo boys attempts to get the ball down and play in the time honoured baby blue way were all too often thwarted by a Balham side who were quick to close down and moved the ball at speed.

Once again, Cubo’s work-rate was outstanding. Despite Balham having the majority of the possession, the Cubo boys fought hard and unexpectedly almost doubled their lead on 32mins when Denno went close with a long range chip over the Balham keeper. Stirred into action by this chance, Balham responded with a flurry of attacks culminating in an excellent chance for their centre forward to pull the scores level on the brink of half time. Once again however, the sun shone on the boys in baby blue and they went into the break still holding the lead.

As the second half began, it was clear the pattern of the game would be continued with Balham launching wave after wave of attacks against the cubo defence and the embattled midfield with the Balham No.10 the centre of all their good play. In response, Bradley was given the role of man-marking the No.10 – a move which did much to reduce the crafty playmaker’s effectiveness (that’s the No.10 by the way, not Bradders).

On the 65min, fresh legs were introduced to equation in the form of Ramsey for the unlucky Denno. With Stevie T busy filling the Gary Doherty role (if you don’t know Wikipedia it) for the 1s, Burt and Moody fought hard to hold the ball up front but welcomed the introduction of Ramsey to assist in their task with Burt dropping into midfield and Salty to the right.

Despite the change, the pattern of the game remained much the same and as the last 15 minutes approached, many in the ground would have had doubts about whether Cubo would hold on. A good Cubo chance on 80mins nearly sealed the game for the boys in baby blue with Ramsay unlucky to see his glancing header clip the outside of the upright on a rare
foray into the opposition half. What followed next will be gracing rolling sports channels across the globe for many weeks to come.

A long through ball found the Balham No.10 who, despite being man-marked effectively for much of the 2nd half, found himself all on his own on the Cubo left. Seeing the danger, player manager Pally took matters into his own hands. As the playmaker advanced and then overran the ball, Pally put in a fair challenge. Frustrated by his wasteful use of possession,
the No.10 then threw himself onto the floor in front of the advancing centre back. Pally, too fully into his powerful stride to stop, continued on his path and trampled over the top of the young boy. In the resulting melee, unluckily for the no.10, one of Pally’s size 12’s connected with his ankle bone, sending the No.10 into a torrent of high pitched abuse aimed at Pally and the referee. Cue disgraceful scenes across Wimbledon Common. The Balham team claimed the boot to the ankle was deliberate, Pally insisted not. The Balham players protested vociferously, the cubo boys lept to their manager’s defence. A woman ran onto the pitch screaming. A linesman tripped over a water bottle. All the time, the crocked no.10 lay on the floor shrieking. When the game restarted, regrettably, the No.10 was never quite the same player again.

With Balham’s main threat now ‘neutralised’, their challenge to Cubo’s lead slowly ebbed away. Save for a last minute goalmouth scramble in which Cubo’s woodwork was rattled and keeper Clark dived three times at imaginary balls – Balham ceased to seriously threaten Cubo’s goal again and the boys in baby blue held on for a famous victory. Pretty it wasn’t, but once again Cubo’s grit, determination and team spirit shone through as they deservedly went into the hat for the next round.

Final Score: Balham FC 0-1 AFC Cubo 2nd XI

Scorer: Alan Clarke

Man of the Match: Pally

Match Report: AC

Ripley Village 3-3 AFC Cubo

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Date: Sat 8th October 2011

Starting Line-up: Tommy Stewart, Rob Sadler, Mark Sutton, Sweepie T, Oli Watkins, Richard Gough, Michael North, Ben McGeown, Ryan Shedwick, Andrew Noble, Chris Gray

Subs: Tom Hooper, Ian ‘Ooooh, I’ve hurt my ribs…’ Clarke

A lack of availability throughout the club meant that Cubo were only able to name a 2 man bench that included the still injured Clarkey who has yet to recover from the non-existent challenge that he suffered against Bletchingley.  Luckily the slightly overcast conditions were more player friendly than last week’s dalliance with the tropics.  Cubo were once again able to sample the benefits of promotion with a lovely clubhouse on the village green (Surrey Village of the Year 2007, sure) and a pitch in good nick (if a little hard for a man giving a debut run out to a new pair of Puma Kings).

Despite numbers being short Cubo were able to name a strong line up with Chris Gray (RIP for the next 6 weeks) returning up front and club chairman Stevie T replacing Cubo’s resident mayonnaise connoisseur Edward Jackson.   Ripley Village had enjoyed a good start to the season, though consecutive defeats in recent weeks had undermined this somewhat and they started the day a point ahead of the Baby Blue Army.

Unlike recent weeks Cubo started the game relatively brightly, knocking the ball around well albeit without troubling the Ripley backline.  Ripley were clearly keen to hit their skilful frontman early and the wide pitch meant there was plenty of space in the channels for them to do exactly this.  The first goal of the game came from a combination of shocking defending from Cubo and adroit footwork from the Ripley forward.  Managing to evade 3 weak challenges on the edge of the area he composed himself to slot past Tommy in the Cubo goal.  1-0 Ripley.  A disappointing goal to concede for a Cubo side that has prided itself on its defensive strength.

They could be thankful to Gaz Stewart for not going further behind when he made a fine save to tip over a strike destined for the top corner.  Despite this Cubo could be encouraged by the start they had made, gradually building pressure on Ripley and it was no surprise when they scores were levelled.  A quick free kick found Ryan on the edge of the box and his flick released Noble in the box.   His initial effort was palmed away by the keeper but Ryan was quickest to react, squaring to Northy who side-footed home off the post.  1-1.

With the goal they felt they deserved Cubo pushed on and Northy almost added a second before half time, only to see his long range effort fizz wide of the post.  With the tide of the game clearly in favour of the Baby Blue Army they somehow found themselves a goal down again.  The Ripley striker was allowed to get to the by-line far too easily and his cross to the back post was headed back across goal and onto Sadler’s out-stretched hand.  The referee had little option but to give the penalty, though the yellow card he dished out was a bit harsh given that Sadler had no idea where the ball was or any option of getting out of the way of it.  Unfortunately Tommy Stewart was unable to repeat his heroics against Reigate, and, despite guessing the right way, was beaten for the second time of the afternoon.  2-1 Ripley Village.

Following a spirited half time talk Cubo started the second half with far greater urgency and soon found themselves level again.  With the ball breaking to Noble 30 yards from goal he released Ryan in the inside right channel and the chirpy Northerner cut inside his man before firing in at the keepers near post.  2-2.  More pressure from Cubo then saw Northy meet a long throw from Noble and push a volley past the keeper from the six yard line.  3-2 Cubo.  Cubo’s lead was no more than their energetic start deserved but taking the lead appeared to have a negative effect as they began to sit deeper and the earlier urgency was replaced by anxiety.

The balance of the game shifted back in favour of the home side who began to dominate possession.  With the home side pressing for an equiliser there were always going to be chances on the break for Cubo and Ben McG should have put the game to bed when Sutton pulled the ball back to him 8 yards out but he blazed wide.   Northy too, suffering a bout of hat-trick fever, found himself on the end of a cross in the Ripley box but was unable to keep his effort down.  Cubo continued to invite pressure allowing the home side a lot of possession on the edge of the Cubo box which led to a succession of dangerous corners which were defended with a mixture of committed headers, luck and glaring misses from Ripley.

Unfortunately for Cubo they were unable to ride their luck and Ripley eventually made them pay when an outswinging corner that was powerfully headed home to make it 3-3 with minutes to go.   Some over the top celebrations from the Ripley centre mid sparked some ugly scenes that marred what was an otherwise sportingly contested fixture.  The game looked like it might have one more twist when Noble latched on on to a loose ball inside the Ripley half, cleverly beat his man and bore down on goal.  Unfortunately his finish was pushed away to safety by the Ripley keeper to leave scores tied at full time.

A see-sawing game that Cubo will felt that they could and should have won had it not been for some poor defending and an inability to kill the game off at 3-2.  In spite of this it was important to stop the rot following two defeats on the spin and the greater attacking threat displayed will be encouraging following some toothless displays recently.

Final Score: Ripley Village 3-3 AFC Cubo

Scorers: Northy 2, Ryan

Man of the Match: Northy

Match Report: Benny Mac

AFC Cubo 3rd XI 2-3 Inter Old Boys

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Date: Saturday 1st October, 2pm KO

Starting Line-up: Ricardo, Revill, Ingle, Noodles, Rosoman, Neville, Turner (C), Hooper, Smith, Field, Griffith.

Subs: Glenn, Lye, Cucos.

On the hottest October day since Henners unveiled the 10th month of his 2008 calendar, a table topping Cubo side, shorn of a number of key players, hosted the visiting Inter Old Boys. The Away side were inexplicably sporting a light blue and white vertically striped kit, causing Cubo to revert to the White-Puma-Sleaze-Strip-with-Tyre-Track-detail, white shorts and I-I-Italia stockings.

John Glenn and Geremi Lye were caught in some unexpected traffic and arrived at the fairly late time of 1.58pm for a 2pm KO and had to settle for a place on the bench with the returning Cucos.

The match started at pace that was perhaps a little frantic given the 30°C temperature but despite the hard ground and noticeable height advantage enjoyed by Old Boys, it was The Baby Blue Army that began to get on top, despite Ros departing within 5 minutes after suffering a bout of ankle knack. He was replaced by Glenn who slotted in at LB.

Henry Neville was at the heart of most of Cubo’s highlights, enjoying plenty of space behind his left midfield opponent, and linking up nicely with Revs and the hard working duo of Field and Griffith up front.

After scoring an own goal the previous week, which was a small blight on an otherwise strong performance, Jimmy ‘Jingle all the way’ Ingle was doing very well at the heart of the defence with Noodles slotting in alongside as if he’d never been away.

However, midway through the first half, slightly against the run of play, Old Boys took the lead. A whipped in corner was attacked, and converted, by one of several 6 foot plus imposters sporting the Argentina stripes.

Cubo were able to hit back almost instantly. A sweeping move from back to front saw Turner, on the gallop down the right channel, upended. Henry stepped up and delivered a magnificent cross that begged to be abused and his roomate 4lyf (if we did away trips) Jimmy duly did so, rising unopposed to crash a downward header into the net.

2 set-piece goals then became 3, as another NVLL outswinger, this time from a corner, was not attacked by a static Inter backline or ‘keeper and Griffith duly notched his 3rd goal in as many appearances with a determined nod, akin to greeting an acquaintance you tolerate but do not consider a friend.

Despite reaching the break a goal up, and appearing to be the more fluid side, there was a definite feeling of frustration that Cubo were not reaching the heights of previous weeks and Skipper Turns, back into the fray after some expanding ankles of his own and a tennis holiday, delivered a bit of a salvo, clearly looking for a response.

Edd Smith made way for Lye and the boys from Barn Elms started the 2nd half brightly, somewhat appropriately given the UV rays that were descending with increasing force from the cloudless Cubo coloured sky.

Despite the efforts of Turner, and a couple of sweeping passes from his midfield comrade Hooper, to fashion a really clear cut chance, the home side were unable to do so.

Hoops failed to catch one of two half chances cleanly and with Cubo narrowly failing to make a final ball tell after good approach work, Inter sensed that 1 point, and maybe even all 3, was suddenly a feasible haul.

A point blank header forced a great save from the home Goalkeeper before, in retaliation, Turner’s chicken dipper of a 30 yard volley was athletically fisted over by the Inter keeper, belying the extremely basic jogging bottoms he had opted for.

With approximately 10 minutes to go, the away side drew level in strange circumstances. An incisive move down the right saw a ball pulled back from the by-line into the path of a player arriving from midfield. With the goal very much ‘”Up for grabs noooooow” he wretchedly sliced his effort across the face of the 6 yard box where the left winger followed in at the back post. With the target at his mercy, he elected to also try out the newly in-vogue ‘slice shot’ and the ball trickled, like an overflowing Calippo most of the players were desperately craving, into the far corner.

With the match now all square, Jordan picked up a knock and after a bit of (self administered) treatment, was also unable to continue prompting a bit of a reshuffle. Cucos came on at right back but with Revs one of a few players struggling in the heat, he switched to upfront with Field moving to left midfield and Geremi switching to the right flank.

In my experience what gets a group of Old Boys buoyant is when your younger sister’s mates come round to get ready for a night on the tiles. However the aforementioned equaliser had similar effects and Inter were on the prowl for a winner.

Cubo pressed forwards themselves but a clear sight at goal continued to elude them. Hooper’s back-post header from another Neville set-piece went over the top and Noodles and Ingle intervened well to snuff out an opposition opening.

With seconds to go, Inter produced a sucker punch. A well assembled raid saw the ball pushed into the path of the left winger by the opposition striker. With Cucos trying to get across from a narrow starting position to shut him down, the Inter player was able to open his body and sweep a right footed shot into the far corner. The celebrations of the vistitors were considerable, no doubt fuelled by the 100% record Cubo had entered the match with.

With seconds to go the referee blew up, a dejected 3s reflecting on their first dropped points of the season.

Final Score: AFC Cubo 3rd XI 2-3 Inter Old Boys

Scorers: Ingle, Griffith.

Man of the Match: Jimmy Ingle takes it after performing excellently at the heart of the defence. Runner-up was Henry Neville who had 2 assists but was a constant threat in open play as well.

Match Report: Tom Hooper

South East London 2nd XI 1-2 AFC Cubo 3rd XI

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Date: Saturday 24th September, 2pm KO

Starting Line-Up: Dan Storey, Chris Revill, Jimmy Ingle, Greg Tett, Andrew Rosoman, Seb Brain, Andy Burt, Tom Hooper, Henry Neville, Chris Harding (C), Chris Lendrum.

Subs: John Glenn, Jeremy Lye, Pete Hill.

It was a big test for The Baby Blue Army this week following their perfect start to the season, as fans and doubters alike asked the question,  “Yes it’s all good so far, but can they do it on a sunny afternoon in Dulwich?”

This weeks test was posed by a South East London side who caused Cubo some problems last season and despite the overpowering smell of weed emanating from their supporters, they looked up for it again today.

The game started brightly, with both sides looking to attack but struggling to get the ball under control, the bounce of the ball often causing players problems. Despite some controlled touches in Midfield from Hooper and Burt it was South East London who had the first major opportunity of the game. A lofted through ball caused confusion between the new centre back partnership of Tett and Ingle allowing, i’m pretty sure, George Elokobi, to race through on goal. Fortunately his over muscular physique meant that he chipped the ball well over the crossbar from 18 yards – a let off for Cubo.

That scare seemed to re-focus the Cubo boys, and they began to string some lovely moves together. Neville in a new position on the left side was finding space and linking up well with the central midfield pairing of Hooper and Burt. Combined with the liquid movement up front of Harding and Lenny this began to cause SEL a great deal of problems.

SEL were getting sucked across to the left hand side of the pitch to deal with non stop baby blue triangles, which was in turn was creating space for Seb Brain on the right flank who beat his man on numerous occasions and delivered dangerous crosses into the box.

Half chances fell to Lenny and Neville consecutively. Lenny worked the keeper with a left foot strike after finding space on the turn inside the box, and Neville volleyed over from 25 yards after controlling an insufficient SEL clearance.

The inevitable finally happened mid-way through the half when a lofted free kick into the box from Tett was cushioned by Hooper into the path of Harding, the result was a crisply struck left foot volley which gave the keeper no chance. A few more chances came and went, Neville getting his head to a well delivered Brain cross, but diverting it past the far post and whipped in left foot corners from Burt providing SEL with a regular saturday afternoon headache.

The second half saw a switch in formation for SEL as they tried to counteract Cubo’s dominant ball retention by packing the midfield. It seemed to work as George Elokobi was getting more service and certainly keeping Ingle and Tett busy running down the channels, although no clear cut chances were created. Infact Cubo’s back four of Revil, Tett, Ingle, and Rosoman remained solid and dealt with any threat thrown at them, Biscuit in goal was not a busy man.

The game was effectively put to bed when a sweeping ball out of defence from Ingle found the lively Harding on the right flank, he turned inside and in turn chipped a left footed cross through to Andy Burt who came inside the defender with a wonderful first touch and hit a right foot shot, via a “slight” deflection, into the SEL net.

Substitutions were made, Neville, Brain and Rosoman being replaced by Lye, Glenn and Pete Hill and Cubo battled hard to play out the win. SEL never threatened until a seemingly innocuous ball over the top left Ingle with a problem. With George Elokobi baring down on him, and Biscuit in goal not certain whether to stick or twist, Ingle took matters into his own hands, cooly heading the ball into the bottom corner of his own net. A splendid finish.

SEL threw everything at the Cubo goal and could have drawn level moments from the end when, after a goal mouth scramble, the ball spun perfectly into the path of the hilariously named Gay-tan five yards from goal. But with the goal at his mercy he just sort of crumbled to the floor like a new born deer, and Cubo were off the hook.

All in all a well deserved win and some of the best football The Baby Blue army has produced, they go marching on to the top of the table, three wins from three.

The manager of SEL was also kind enough to give his reports on the match:

 

Final Score: South East London 2nd XI 1-2 AFC Cubo 3rd XI

Scorers: Harding, Burt.

Man of the Match: Defensive colossus Greg Tett deservedly takes it for the second match in succession, with Burt and Hooper joint runners-up.

Match Report: Henry Neville