Lee Du Maurier posted on April 28, 2008 10:30
When we confirmed who the visitors were, we knew we were in for a right royal rumble.....and so it proved.
During our previous games, Papatoetoe demonstrated a mixture of muscle, football ability and PPF....(P*** poor finishing).....all three were again on display today and not just from the visitors.
Playing into the wind, we looked good for the first 10 minutes with Andy Davey chasing everything as usual and George getting some space up front. Things started to go somewhat astray, when Wayne pulled up lame, closely followed by Fin....3 subs down to one....out goes the clarion call to Russell Speight, Jonny Waller and Colesy to kit up and help out the cause.
In fairness, Papatoetoe bossed the last 30 minutes without really threatening Dolly.....they knocked it around well, contested physically and generally made us look second best....a testement to our back four was that they didn't get any real chances inside the box.
The half time team talk was a strange affair, as for the first time in donkeys,we really had to ask ourselves some searching questions......eg how the hell are we going to break these buggers down?
The second half proved that we could break them down, but could just not apply the finishing touch......chances fell to myself...off the shin when off the laces would have been interesting...and a rushed effort which tamely dribbled through to the keeper.......shooting practise required du Maurier. Dolly then got bullrushed by their playmaker and did well to retain a kidney.
The last 20 we really did create enough chances to win it.....Andy Hargreaves had a chance nicked off his napper....Andy Davey put a header wide.....Dave Benard did an airshot with the sort of chance he puts away with his eyes shut.
Then with 10 to go, we realised it was going to be one of those days. Andy Davey powered a fantastic header off the bar....(the technique was a joy to behold).....Fabs's follow up header came a bit quickly at him and he put it over. Ah well......
2 minutes later, excellent work by Jonny Keen forced an error out of the defender and the ball made it's way to Andy Davey in the box....he cut to the byline beautifully and delivered a peach of a cross to the back post where Pele delivered a powerful downward header only to see a miraculous save by Gordon Banks tipping it over the bar...quite amazing!....Shit, I've just woke up....actually it fell to Fabs, who did deliver a powerful downward header toward the gaping goal only to see the ball fly up off the rock hard ground and over the bar.
With the full time whistle looming, Papatoetoe staged one last counter attack.....tearing our defence apart, the ball was played clean though to their striker who was certain to score and..........................................Clive Thomas blew the whistle for full time! The Brazillians went banana's, whilst the cool headed Swedes left the field with a huge sigh of relief......1978 revisited........
In fairness, a draw was a fair result as they did make things difficult for us and gave us our most challenging game since......well, the last time we played them. At times it did threaten to boil over, but Clive (sorry Glen) did a great job in holding it together. Dave Benard was a worthy MOM with and action packed display which included a sublime trip on their "eccentric" number 3.
A real good workout before next weeks examination at Ellerslie.....nice to see a fair few of their guys in the clubrooms afterwards having a laugh.....really appreciated.
Best I could find of Clive Thomas. He never actually says anything but I'm sure I could hear Glen's dulcit tones. Andy.