We Are Social 6 – 3-Monkeys 7
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We Are Social strolled up to Borough in high spirits on Thursday evening. Enthusiasm was evident with 7 out of the 8 man squad making kick-off (even with Rob Hyde’s traditional Sports Direct visit); the only absentee being Joe Cronin who was probably busy organising the We Are Social film club (there’s your plug Joe…). In hindsight it’s become apparent that last week’s win may have gone to the heads of We Are Social. This attitude was epitomised by Andreas Plastiras suggesting that simply showing our faces would be enough to win and Tom Kelk tweeting a rally-cry mentioning the opposition… Our opposition – 3 Monkeys had lost 2 on the spin in the build-up to the game but were quick to let 3 Monkey’s old boy – Joe Weston and the rest of team know that they were not here to play along with the We Are Social script.
The game proceeded at a high intensity with neither side being able to hold the ball for long. The desire to win was frightfully apparent: After an innocuous foul in the corner, Ed Kitchingman became embroiled in a confrontation that wouldn’t have been out of place in a primary school playground. After exclaiming “I can stand where I want – it’s a free country” Ed was booked but still proceeded to chase every opposition player like a madman before, quite sensibly, removing himself from the arena of battle.
It was at this moment, with little more than 10 minutes to go, that super-sub Joe Cronin appeared. Inside 30 seconds he was on his backside and within a couple of minutes he was the unfortunate contributor to a CRON-goal (credit to Joe Weston, or maybe Joe Faul… I can’t remember). We Are Social were down, but not out. WAS came to life and began to pepper the 3 Monkeys goal with shots. Unfortunately, the shots were finding the surrounding park more than the goal. The opposition had clearly become disinterested in playing football and resorted to long-ball tactics (on a pitch that was barely big enough for short-ball) to protect their lead. Unfortunately, without a recognized keeper, goals continued to slip. Tom Hargreaves admirably stepped into goal for the end of the game and showed some clean reactions to keep the scores tight. A lapse in concentration however resulted in a straightforward shot trickling under his foot into the net – not dissimilar to this:
Still in the game – a chance presented itself. Joe Faul found himself 1 on 1 with the ‘keeper. He poked the ball goalwards but watched his effort drop agonisingly wide. Letting out a cry of angst, Joe forgot that we were playing 5 a side and the 4-strong crowd stared in disbelief as the ball rebounded to Joe’s feet with an open-goal at his mercy. Unfortunately, Joe’s head was in his hands, distraught at his miss. Despite screams of warning from his teammates, he could not react and this allowed the opposition to clear. It was painful to watch.
The final moments trickled away and despite the game effectively being played in the opposition half, We Are Social couldn’t manage a deserved equalizer.
It was plain to see for all 4 spectators that We Are Social were a far better side than 3 Monkeys. If half the shots had been on target as usual it would have been a cricket score – BUT – the game also showed that there is no easy opposition in this league and the team will have to work hard to win the title they are so capable of winning.
“We Are Social” – 6 vs 7 – “3 Monkeys”