15 March 2008 - League Intermediate Sheild Round 3
Darkside 2 v Kingston Albion 4
Team: ?
Goals: Adrian, Mike / Assists: ? / MOTM: Szil / MM: -

“A Game of 2 Hungarians” or perhaps “The game where the ref cost us the match” - can’t quite decide on which is the most appropriate title. True enough the imports were both fantastic in this one (Szil earning MOTM) but it was a crucial refereeing decision which proved to be the turning point in a match in which Darkside once again defied there lowly league position to give the Division 2 high flyers a real fright.

Gales second game in charge was another cup encounter…might have been the Teck Intermediate but there are so many it gets very confusing for this author. Opposition were Kingston Albion, 2nd only to the mighty Molesey in Div 2. Indeed, the winners of this meeting were to play the old foes - Surely motivation enough for the boys following their humiliating 0-6 defeat at the hands of Molesey earlier in the season. Revenge is a dish best served cold and the boys were hungry for it.

Gale had forgotten his word processed notes so had to resort to scribbling down what he could remember in his car before the team arrived. His memory can’t be that bad as he came up with what can only be described as Mel Gibson-esque in terms of a rallying war cry. Phrases such as “we are not here to make up the numbers” and “all those starting are privileged to be doing so” were delivered with nerve tingling aplomb. Kidwell had turned up to watch the fun and even the battle hardened army man was moved to tears.

Pre-match preparations were only slightly disrupted by the no show from our Mexico ‘86 veteran. Still it’s not really an issue to have to change the entire team around 5mins before the game and Gale did it with the minimum of fuss.

Boyd lost the toss but pretended he had won it and decided to accept the opposition decision to go up hill first. Wright delighted in the fact that this small battle had been won…its all about the motivation.

In a nut shell Darkside dominated the first half creating a string of half chances…for large periods Albion couldn’t get out of their own half. This was suiting Albion’s aging linesman but not Mayes who was contemplating reseeding an area of the penalty area just to keep his mind occupied.

Thus it came against the run of play…but not against Darkside’s recent form that a goal was conceded from a throw in set piece. The bloke practically threw it into the net but for a good leaping header from the Albion forward. Once again we had been stung from a set piece…once again we had let ourselves down.

Within 5 minutes though DFC had a set piece of their own at the other end. The ball fell loose; Berti yelled shoot and Boyd duly obliged sending the ball across the keeper into the far corner. Usual celebrations ensued…no more than the home side deserved and at half time the scores were level.

Gale was licking his lips at the prospect of a big cup upset to report back to Tanna. We knew we were doing the business and that all they had was a medicine ball/steroid induced long throw. If we could deal with that then we had a chance. Thus no changes and we went back to business up the hill.

Albion got themselves going a bit at the start of the second half and the boys had to do a bit of defending which they did coolly and got the ball going forward again. One such attack resulted in a Masuku wonder goal, a left wing lob into the top corner from 30 yards! It did not touch the defending player on the way through at all. Clean as a whistle. The umpire only heard one noise. Not a deflection in sight. Zimbabwe’s finest had produced a moment of magic and a great running down the line celebration too.

Albion were shell shocked and Darkside were loving it…everyone was making noise. The opposition’s heads were down…there was only going to be one winner…………

“Erm yes, hello the referee here… I would just like to point out that if the ball strikes a player in the chest I will be awarding a penalty. Especially if it is from 3 yards and the player doesn’t even see it coming” – that must have been what was said in the pre-game chat as that is exactly what he did. Boyd was the unfortunate on the line taking one in the mid-rift for the team, only to see the ref pointing at the spot. He couldn’t even have seen the incident, as there were 5 or 6 players in between. He did it purely by guessing and on appeal from Albion.

Shocking. Mayes guessed correctly but it was a good pen and the injustice was complete. Still 2-2 was still game on but certainly the wind had been knocked out of our sails and the Albion sensed they had played their get out of jail free card.

Their luck was definitely in as a little while later a shot found its way through Mayes’ brick wall. Clearly he hadn’t been to Wickes as there were a few bricks missing at the bottom and the ball squeezed under. Another unfortunate blow to the better side. The suspicion that it wasn’t going to be our afternoon was confirmed when DFC conspired to concede their second OG in 3 games. 2-4 was the final score but it could so so easily have been 2-1. Ah well a great performance from the boys ruined by the official and pure bad luck.

Match report by: Adrian