Date: Saturday 30th April 2016

Starting line-up: Gaz Stewart, Joe Coffey, Ryan Frost, Ralph Wensley, Conor Kennedy, Chris Pyke, Elliot Connolly, James Robinson, Oli Perkins (c), Harry Tulip, Tom Simmons

Sub: Ben McGeown

Goal: Elliot Connolly

A season that started way back in the middle of August is finally coming to an end with Cubo playing their final Saturday game of the season away at Spelthorne Sports.

Gaffer Ben McGeown made four changes to his starting line up granting a debut to James Robinson in the centre of the park and starting Conor Kennedy beside Ralph in the centre of the defence. Other changes saw Frosty shift to left-back and resident protein-shake and Tinder enthusiast Simmo return up top.

Playing against the slope it was Cubo who started the brighter of the two sides when only some sharp keeping at his near post by the Spelthorne keeper prevented Tulip’s snapshot from hitting the back of the net.

Cubo then thought they had taken the lead when a Spelthorne clearance struck one of their own players before dropping to Simmo who shanked home. The referee must have been unsighted as he blew up for offside, ably assisted by the home linesman who had raised his flag.

With Cubo still protesting Spelthorne broke down the other end and almost created a goal-scoring chance that really would have rubbed salt in the wound.

The hard pitch was making it difficult for both sides to get the ball down and play, however it was the Cubo midfield who were doing the better job of it when the chance arose. New boy James Robinson was getting forward well from midfield and he saw a dipping, goalbound, volley pushed round the post by the home keeper.

Cubo were finding themselves in good positions but on more than one occasion poor decision making was letting them down, with players taking shots from distance when the pass was the better option.

At the other end Spelthorne were starting to get into the game and with their strikers dropping deep to take the ball in space, they were able to create dangerous overlaps on Cubo’s left hand side where Frosty was putting in am impressive performance at left back.

Despite the increasing time they were enjoying on the ball Spelthorne were unable to trouble Gaz, with their strikers appearing to have left their shooting boots at home for the day as a series of long-range strikes sailed high and wide of the Cubo goal.

The second half saw the wind pick up, which, coupled with the hard pitch, made it difficult to play any football and Cubo in particular were struggling to hold on to the ball. Spelthorne on the other hand were beginning to look more dangerous. With the game opening up it took some superb sweeping from Conor and Ralph to prevent the pacey Spelthorne striker from getting in on goal.

At the other end Cubo continued to make questionable decisions when in good attacking positions and when they did take the lead it was from a man who usually does everything he can not to shoot. A corner from the right was helped on by Simmo to the back post where Elliot connected with a half volley that had too much spice on it for the Spelthorne keeper (particularly after getting a heavy deflection) as it sailed into the roof of the net from 10 yards out.

A relief for Cubo following last week’s fixture at Yateley where they had dominated without taking their chances before losing to a last minute goal. The goal had the effect of exacerbating the niggle that had been present throughout the game (most notably in the first half when the Spelthorne was lucky that the ref didn’t see the punches he threw at Conor off of the ball) and the game degenerated into a stop start affair as the home side’s committed foul after foul. The worst of the bunch was the off-the-ball incident which saw Frosty punched in the face, leaving him with a nasty gash on his eyebrow.

Despite this added aggression the home side had still failed to test Gaz in the Cubo goal, with his overall contribution limited to a couple of crosses collected and goal-kicks. With the final whistle approaching Cubo had chances to add a second, the most notable falling to Simmo when, having done all of the hard work to beat the defender, he rushed his shot, putting it high and wide, when he had plenty of time to compose himself.

With the final whistle going Cubo could celebrate finally breaking the run of bad form which has blighted the end of the season. The Club will also be buoyed by good performances from new boys Conor Kennedy, who was a confident presence at centre half, and James Robinson, who did enough with a hangover to suggest that he has a lot more to offer in the centre of the park.

The Club will be hoping to finish the season with another strong performance as they take on treble-chasing Horsley in the final game of the season – Tuesday night out in Whyteleafe anyone??

Date: Saturday 23rd April 2016

Venue: Sean Devereux Park, Yateley

Starting line-up: Luke Arnold, Jonny Patterson, Joe Coffey, Ralph Wensley, Tim de la Haye, Chris Pyke, Elliot Connolly, Ryan Frost, Harry Tulip, Martin Ansell, Oli Perkins

Subs: Ben McGeown, Oli Watkins

Even the resurrection of the Ansell-Tulip-Perkins attacking triumvirate was not enough to cure Cubo’s end of season malaise as a late header secured all three points for Yateley.

Despite Cubo being the ‘home’ side for the fixture, due to the pitch at Barnes being replaced by an archery range for the summer, the game was played at Yateley, gifting Cubo another chance to visit this leafy outpost of Hampshire.

Cubo had the better of the first half and should have opened the scoring with Tulip and Perkins both having good chances (though in fairness uneven bounces contributed to them fluffing their lines). Cubo were enjoying a majority of the possession, however time and again the quality in the final third, particularly crosses, was not good enough and the Yateley keeper did not have to make a save of note.

Cubo’s failure to make the pressure count came back to haunt them when Yateley broke forward and a fine delivery from the right hand side found the dangerous number 10 unmarked at the back post and he calmly slotted his volley past Arnold. A sucker punch for the Cubans.

Cubo were struggling for fluency in the Yateley half with the front men often isolated and lacking support from the midfield when the ball did get to them. Despite this lack of fluency the boys in baby blue managed to force their way back into the game with a rare bit of quality in the Yateley third. The ball was worked from left to right in front of the Yateley defence, finding it’s way to Moisty, who clipped a lovely pass beyond the Yateley centre half into the path of Chris Pyke and he had time to chest the ball down before smashing past the keeper to make it 1-1.

This was probably the first time the Cubo midfield had got beyond their front men all game and highlighted one of the reasons Cubo had struggled to stretch the Yateley backline for most of the game up to that point. Unfortunately for the Cubans the goal failed to galvanise their play which continued to look disjointed as frustrations mounted for the home side.

With three minutes remaining Ben McG gave away a cheap free kick out on the touchline 30 yards from goal. Another decent delivery to the back post was met by the veteran Yateley centre half who looped a header back across goal, over Arnie’s head and into the net. Another quality delivery into the box, another goal conceded, Cubo’s inability to match the quality of delivery into the box had come back to bite them.

A tough result to take for the Cubans who played well in large parts of this game. Other than the goals conceded the backline looked secure for most of the game with Tim de la Haye making an impressive return to the side following his horror injury back in August.

Credit to Yateley, who put out a patched up side by all accounts but Cubo will feel that they should have won this game. A lack of fluency higher up the pitch cost them as they failed to take advantage of the amount of possession they enjoyed in the game.

Date: Saturday 26 March 2016

Venue: Southfields Academy 3G

Starting Line-up: Luke Arnold, Salty, Tom Golding, Oli Watkins, Ben McGeown, Elliot Connelly, Ryan Carolan, Ian Clarke, Dave Stevens, Oli Perkins, Tom Simmons

Subs: Gaz Stewart, Joe Coffey, Harry Forte

Cubo’s Easter bank holiday celebrations were put on hold as they crashed to another defeat to high-flying Project Clapham who strengthened their title challenge with a 3-0 victory.

Selection issues saw another new look back line with Chairman Watkins partnering Ben McG at centre half, Pogo and Salty completing a back four with the combined age of 132.

In midfield Elliot returned to the centre of the park following his high altitude training break, alongside Ryan Carolan and Dave Stevens who made another appearance having just recovered from the post-traumatic stress of the Xmas defeat at Horsley.

Clapham started well, despite fielding a relatively new look side, looking after the ball well and showing the confidence of a side that has recently won 12 games on the bounce. What you don’t want to do against a side in that kind of form is gift them easy goals.

Unfortunately for Cubo, they failed to take this approach and Clapham could hardly believe their luck when a simple headed pass back slipped through the keepers hands and dropped over the line. 1-0 Clapham. The strangeness of the goal was compounded by the injury to our keeper which held the game up for 5 minutes and saw Gaz Stewart put on the gloves. Gaz was soon called into action when a cross from the left made it’s way to the back post and the big Welshman put in a superb block from the Clapham winger.

The game was then held up again when the Southfields pitch claimed it’s second victim of the day, this time the Clapham centre mid went down clutching his knee and was he was carried from the pitch it did not look good for him.

Cubo were gradually beginning to establish themselves in the game but an over eagerness to play the final pass meant that they were giving the ball away far too cheaply, whilst Clapham continued to look the more assured side in possession of the ball.

Clapham’s left winger was giving Salty a tough time out wide where he was being isolated in one on one situations time and again, however the greying veteran stuck to the task and with the help of Watkins was able to minimise the threat.

The absence of any pace in the Cubo centre half pairing was not stopping them from playing a high line and this policy came unstuck when the Clapham number 9 made a well-timed run and was given all the time in the world to pick his spot past Stewart to make it 2-0 half way through the 1st half. Slightly harsh on Cubo who had been looking increasingly dangerous up to this point.

Cubo continued to press forward and thought they had reduced the deficit when a cross shot from Carolan was nodded home by Simmo, however the linesman raised his flag and following some discussion the referee upheld his decision. This felt like a key moment in the game as at this point it still felt like it could go either way if Cubo could haver got their noses back in it.

Coming out for the second half Clapham were clearly happy to sit back and play on the break, gifting the initiative to the Cubans. Despite showing greater patience in their approach play the Cubans were still struggling to get behind the home sides defence and for all the neat approach play the Clapham keeper was not forced into making a save.

With the defence playing a high line and the midfield pushing on there was always a chance of getting caught on the break and when it happened the game was effectively over.

A break down the right saw the Clapham winger escape a couple of tackles before Gaz parried his effort back out to the onrushing Clapham number 7 who hooked home to make it 3-0.

A frustrating goal to concede from Cubo’s perspective and one that took the edge out of the game. Cubo continued to push forward and started to create chances with Oli Perkins going close and Elliot picking out a great run by Salty which initially left him through on goal before his touch escaped him.

At the other end Gaz pulled off another brilliant one on one save to preserve the away sides dignity before the referee gave the Cubans a chance to restore some respectability to the scoreline from the penalty spot. Unfortunately skipper Oli Perkins put the ball high and wide in a mirror image of Pogo’s miss earlier in the season to spare the keeper having to dirty his gloves.

Another defeat for the Cubans who will be disappointed that the scoreline did not reflect how closely contested the game actually was. There were some key moments in the game which may have swung it in a different direction but credit goes to Clapham who edged it and showed greater cutting edge when going forward than the away side.

Clapham now go into a title run-in which see’s them play 11 games in 7 weeks, whilst Cubo will be looking to end this bad run they find themselves in and restore pride in their final 5 games of the season.

Date: Saturday 19th March 2016

Venue: The Green, Ripley

Starting line-up: Luke Arnold, Tom Golding, Salty, Pete Woodhead, Marcus Torr, Ben McGeown, Ryan Frost, Ian Clarke, Martin Shardlow, Martin Ansell, Harry Tulip

Subs: Harry Forte, Joe Mull

Cubo’s poor form continued with a disappointing defeat at Ripley Village. A combination of injuries, trips to Australia and the recurring nightmare that is ski-season meant another new line-up for the Baby Blue Army. New boy Ryan Frost starting in the centre of the park, Shards slotting in up top and veteran Salty playing in an unfamiliar right back role.

The Cubans started well with Harry Tulip finding space behind the Ripley full back twice in the first ten minutes, with only a fantastic goal-line clearance preventing Martin Ansell’s strike on the second of these breaks. As the half progressed it was the home side who looked the more dominant with the pitch making it difficult to play football, suiting the home side’s more direct approach.

The home side were looking to play off of the aerial prowess of their two front men and it took a superb recovering tackle from Tom Golding to block a goal bound effort from one of these flick-ons.

With Cubo struggling to clear their lines Ripley were able to pile the pressure on the Cubo goal, with a series of crosses raining in on the Cubo box but unlikely Club Lothario Luke Arnold was up to the challenge, coming from his line on numerous occasions to deal with the threat.

With the game opening up Cubo regained the initiative in the latter stages of the half and had two good chances to take the lead. First up another break down the left by Tulip saw the ball flashed across the box into the path of Clarkey who guided his volley goal-wards but also directly at the Ripley keeper who did well to block the effort away to safety.

Shortly afterwards Ansell was released down the right and he pulled the ball back to Ben McGeown who flipped a curling effort past the keeper but also past the far post.

The second half continued in much the same way as the second with Cubo struggling to put together any consistent passages of play and Ripley edging the physical contest. Ripley were grateful to their keeper for pulling off a fantastic save from Ansell who looked like he had opened the scoring having done well to work a shooting opportunity on the edge of the box but the keeper got a strong hand to the shot to push it onto the post.

Ripley’s determination to defend their goal was evidenced by the follow-up which Joe Mull looked a nailed on favourite for but the Ripley centre half somehow got a boot to the ball to block what would have been a tap-in.

In a tight game taking your chances is paramount and Cubo would come to regret it when Ripley finally took advantage of one of their numerous corners. There appeared to be little to no danger on when the corner was tamely aimed towards the front post but Cubo failed to attack the ball, instead allowing it to run across the goal-line where the Ripley midfielder just had to nudge it over the line. A sucker punch for Cubo who would have felt that the game was going their way.

The goal took the wind out of Cubo’s sails somewhat and with the home side displaying gamesmanship that Big Sam Allardyce would have been proud of, the away side could not find enough fluency to trouble the home side. Credit to the Ripley centre-halves who marshalled the back-line throughout, giving the Cubans nothing easy all game long though Cubo will be disappointed not to have stretched them more and failing to exert any real pressure on the Ripley defence.

When the final whistle came there was a sense of frustration among the Cubans who will feel that they should have got something from a game with Ripley but have once again come away with nothing.

There were some positive signs with Ryan Frost putting in a strong performance in the centre of the park and centre halves Torr and Woodhead dealing with the physical battle well on a difficult pitch. Credit goes to Ripley who played to their strengths and dominated the battle for a majority of the game.

MOTM – Ryan Frost

Name: Frederik Peter Günter Richard Görlitz

Nickname: Fred

Position: Centre back

Home Town: Karlsruhe

Profession / Area of Work: PhD student

University: Previously Heidelberg (Oldest in contemporary Germany). Now Imperial College.

Year of conscription to the Baby Blue Army: 2015

How did you come to be involved with Cubo: Online research. Got attracted by the pub images.

Current Boots: Puma Kings (One of many fine Cuban’s to adopt the King)

What team do you support: Karlsruher SC

Favourite Player: Andreas Köpke. You might remember him from the Euro 96, at least Garreth Southgate does….

(Banter Fred, although that’ll cost you a heavy fine at the AGM.)

Best moment in a Baby Blue shirt: Every successful tackle.

Worst moment in a Baby Blue shirt: Realising you have to pay for getting booked.

Biggest Clown in the Club: Arnie and his cramps due to his Friday night shagging chronicles.

Sleaziest Man of all-time to have donned the Baby Blue: I’ve only just met the gentlemen in Cubo. I’ll let you know.

Nomination for the ‘’He’s got a red card in him….Award’’(dished out to players who show a particular ability to attract the warranted / unwarranted attention of referees): I feel honoured to name myself here. (I would usually call someone out for bragging but to provide some frame of reference Fred’s debut for the Club was delayed due to a broken elbow sustained whilst he practised Judo. It’s unconfirmed if it was his elbow or someone else’s that was broken.)

Best Champ Man / Football Manager attribute: Aggression (tackle) (Also tattoo’s. Finally a man in Cubo with a decent tattoo.) 

Worst Champ Man / Football Manager attribute: Aggression (fouls)

Date: Saturday 13 February 2016

Venue: Nursery Road Playing Fields, Wimbledon

Starting line-up: Arnold, Bentley, Watkins, Fred, Jones, Fox, Salty, Golding, Crisp, Shardlow (c), Pinnington

Subs: Simmons, Lye, Hooper

On a wet and windy afternoon, the Baby Blue Army headed deep into bandit country (leafy Wimbledon) looking to bounce back from a disappointing cup exit the week before.

The lads knew they were in for a difficult afternoon, with Diaspora flying high in the league and looking to avenge Cubo’s 3-2 win on the opening day of the season. Confidence was high, with a stellar squad at Louis “Arn” Gaal’s disposal and a new found belief that anything is possible after it emerged that Bentley had managed to secure a Valentine’s Day date.

As soon as the kick off was taken, the lads were straight into the battle with some early pressure from Diaspora forcing Cubo to dig in. Commitment in the tackle from Salty, Golding, Shards and even Crispy (surprising I know…) kept the game tight; the boys chased and hounded the Diaspora players from minute one.

As the half progressed, Cubo began to ease into the game, creating a few half chances that on another day could of seen the lads snatch a goal. Diaspora, despite their efforts, were unable to break the Cubo resolve and didn’t fashion a chance of note before the half time whistle – a reflection on how well the lads rallied and battled throughout the half.

With the game evenly poised and the second half underway, the Cubans had the confidence that it would be the boys in Baby Blue to break the deadlock. However, with just 5 minutes on the clock, Cubo conceded a cheap free kick some 25 yards out. Little did both sides know that they would witness one of the greatest free kicks of all time, leaving Arnie completely helpless…. (or in reality a tame effort that was somehow chucked into his own net, see below)

1-0 down, Cubo looked to their extensive bench for some fresh impetuous, with Simmons, Lye and Hooper all taking to the field.

It was a change that would influence the game, with Simmons looking lively from minute one. A flowing move down the right hand side led to the ball breaking to the unmarked Simmons on the edge of the area, who cooly took a touch and dispatched the ball into the top bin. Great tekkers and a well deserved goal for the Cubo to brings things level. (N.B. We’ve been asked to add that Salty – Salt-Dog to his fans – provided the assist….)

With the game evenly poised, both sides threw caution to the wind and fashioned some decent chances. Cubo stood firm, Diaspora attacks breaking on the rocks that were Watkins and Fred, who both had superb afternoon’s anchoring the back four, and indeed Jez made two fantastic last-ditch tackles to deny one-on-one opportunities.

With less than 5minutes to go, the boys in baby blue thought they had snatched all 3 points when a cute through ball found Hooper through on goal…. a delicate chip lifted the ball over the rushing keeper and towards the goal…. Diaspora hearts dropped, Cubo pulses raced…. it was not to be as the ball slid just wide of the post. A great effort from Hooper none the less.

With that the game came to an end. All in all, a draw was a fair result and the performance will please the Cubo supporters as the lads had fight and heart in abundance especially to come back from a goal down.

MOTM: Oli Watkins. Rolling back the years with a solid and commanding performance that was nearly as good as his admin!

‘DJ’ Pyke dominating his opposite number.

Chris Pyke – Social Secretary

Name: Chris Pyke (DJ)

Twitter: @chris191089

Position: Centre Midfield

Home Town: Cambridge

Year of conscription to the Baby Blue Army: 2013/14

Current Boots: Puma Kings

Club: Arsenal

Football Hero: Patrick Vieira

Best moment in a Baby Blue shirt: That goal (your only goal for the Club right?!)

Worst moment in a Baby Blue shirt: Injuries

Biggest Clown in the Club: Pogo

Nomination for the ‘’He’s got a red card in him….Award’’(dished out to players who show a particular ability to attract the warranted / unwarranted attention of referees): Ian Clarke

Best Champ Man / Football Manager attribute: Flair

Worst Champ Man / Football Manager attribute: Pace (Pint downing surely…)

The ‘Player of the Month’ award for each team recognises Cubans performing at the peak of their powers. Awards are decided by the manager of each team.

2nd XI POTM for January – Martin Shardlow

Arnie says of his skipper…

“The midfield maestro was in fine form in January, putting in some outstanding performances for the Baby Blue. A hat-trick against Box Sash FC included a wonder strike that will surely trouble the judges when it comes to goal of the season. Another vintage performance against Putney cemented this months award and the fans hope that his goals propel a late league and cup charge!”

(As an aside, we tried to source a snap of the boy Shardlow on his own but it just wasn’t possible. The lad’s twitter, FB and insta feed is literally just images of him with his bird. Mug.)

1st XI POTM for January – Chris Pyke

Meanwhile, 1’s Gaffa Ben Mac could not speak highly enough of the industrious central midfielder who continues to be a linchpin for the success of the team…

“Yeah. Give it to Pykey.”

Forget respective league and cup glory. Arnie and Bennie Mac are really only going about their Saturday managerial business to compete for the highest honour available, that of ‘AFC Cubo Manager of the Year’.

January. A difficult month. You think of January and you’re haunted by the six week wait till pay day, broken New Year’s resolutions and the general post-Christmas malaise caused by a cocktail of over indulgence on turkey, presents and family squabbles.

It turns out The Manager of the Month award for January is just as difficult to navigate as the month itself.

On paper, it wasn’t a bad month for the 1’s. Two games played. Two wins. However Bennie Mac, due to some particularly enthusiastic socialising, can claim no credit for the 1’s victory away at Balham, arguably the sides best result of the season.

January brought little to propel Arnie towards victory either. Two games played. One defeat despite scoring four goals, and one hard-fought draw leaves the managerial cupboard bare.

Our attention should instead be directed towards the administration behind The Baby Blue Army. The midweeker’s have eased themselves into second in their league and remain undefeated with the title firmly in their sights.

The dynamic duo of Alan Clarke and Fred Gorlitz deserve the props for getting the fledgling side up and running with a bang, and as such are awarded the Co-Manager of the Month Award*.

Bennie Mac – 2 (Oct, Nov)

Arnie – 2 (Sept, Dec)

Al & Fred – 1 (Jan)

*We are of course ignoring the fact that two of the three games played by The Baby Blue Army happened to have been taken place in February. Whatevs.

Date: Saturday 30 January 2016

Venue: Barn Elms

Starting line-up: Luke Arnold, John Egan, Chris Bentley, Oli Watkins, Rob Jones, Salty, Ben McG, Adam Fox, Tom Golding, Martin Shardlow (c), Oli P

Subs: Jim McG, John Glenn, Rob Andrews

The Baby Blue Army were ready and raring to get back into action following on from last week’s match being postponed. The Putney Ferrets were the visitors to Barnes Elms and it was evident from the first minute that the following 90 were going to be hard fought battle.

Cheered on by arguably the biggest home crowd of the season (there was about 6 eager spectators) the BBA got into their rhythm quickly but were unable to fashion any clear cut chances.

The ferrets got into their stride and the, not so gentlemanly, Mr Darcey started controlling the game for the visitors. The Cuban centre backs Oli Watkins and Rob Jones had their hands full with the big fella up top but they managed to keep him quiet by any means possible and the occasional clothes line that wouldn’t have been out of place in a UFC battle.

The first controversial moment of a tense match came mid-way through the first half when the Cuban defence was stretched and the ferrets sprung the offside trap and slid the ball past the on-rushing Arnie, who was back between the sticks following a nasty looking hip injury the week before. As the ball edged towards the back of the net the obligatory goal mouth scramble unfolded and the visitors were convinced the ball had crossed the line, but the Russian linesman kept his flag down, and quite right too!! It was nothing like this at all…..

That sparked the home team into life and Leading by example captain Shardlow did his best to get the BBA on the scoresheet by doing his best Delli Ali impression only for the ball to go crashing off the bar when he’d done the hard work and flicked it over the centre back and attempted an audacious chip.

The scores were level at half time and it was time to use the strong bench that manager Arnold had at his disposal. Jim came on at left back and long-time Cuban John Glenn made his much awaited return to action from a calf injury.

The challenges were flying in and the visitors were lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch after a naughty 2 footed lunge on striker Oli Perkins. The intensity level rose and Benny Mac was doing his best ensure the ferrets knew they weren’t going to get away with challenges like that!

The ref, who let some things go, gave a fairly cheap free kick within striking range of the Cubans goal and the ball somehow managed to find its way into the back of the net.
With one last throw of the dice the gaffer introduced Cubo new man Rob Clarke on the right and he immediately had his right back on toast and whipped in a dangerous ball to the ferrets box but the Cubans were unable to capitalise.

Shardlow jinked his way past the defence and got off a shot that the all too mouthy ferrets keeper couldn’t handle and Clarke pounced to level the scores and get his first goal for the BAby Blue Army.

For the rest of the game, the challenges flew in from both sides and the ref blew for full time before tensions boiled over. A point for both teams was probably a fair result but the ferrets may be taking Gaz Stewart’s comments on board and telling their keeper that it was his fault for them drawing the game. On reflection Gaz was right, it was definitely the keepers fault.

Goal: Rob Andrews