Ash Trees 1 Blues 3

[Swifty]

This is getting monotonous.

 

Let's get the 'knives out' part done first. Three consecutive home defeats, to an ordinary and dirty midtable side, a team who've only won a quarter of their league fixtures, and a team with one win in the last 13. Not good enough.

 

Now the knives out for the organisers of the Aldershot Senior Cup. Should we really bother entering this again? The teams who'd been the bedrock of the competition (i.e. the Hampshire Premier League and Aldershot and District League teams) have been unceremoniously dumped out of this cup and into the lesser intermediate version, which I feel is unfair on them, and this cup's now become a competition solely for senior clubs. Sadly, the officials seem to be stuck at intermediate level. Tonight's ref was infuriatingly inconsistent - booking Big Phil for an ordinary looking foul when a Fleet Town player had launched himself at one of our lads a few minutes before and not been booked, plus a Fleet player deliberately stood over a free kick which was then hit at him and no card was shown. Worst offence was Fleet's number 8 (Scott) launching into a swearword tirade at one of our supporters within ten yards of the ref. Guess what was done about it. To balance things up a bit, Fleet were denied the most blatant penalty we've seen this season. If the ref was inconsistent, the elderly 'lino' in the 80's style buttock-eating shorts on the covered terrace side should give up. He simply couldn't keep up with play and was easily lead by the Fleet bleaters. Twice in the game he flagged for offside when there were THREE defenders nearer their goal than our furthest forward. Had Fleet been as polite and sportsmanlike as their fans (and thank you to the friendly couple who helped me with announcing Fleet's scorers and subs) I'd be a bit more gracious.

 

That said, Fleet deserved the win. We started brightly and got a 12th minute lead when Samad was tripped by Fleet keeper Westbrook while trying to circumnavigate him (surprise, surprise, should have been a yellow but no card) and Mitch thumped home the penalty. In fairness, the first half sped by compared to the turgid last two first halves but, by the break, we were behind, French hitting a fine equaliser in the 28th and Fleet then taking the lead from the free kick for which Phil got booked, as we switched off and did an 'after you' for Carr to slot it home in the 38th. After the break we relied too much on the midfield-evading long ball to front runners on a difficult surface, which was frustrating as, yet again, we played some lovely passing football in stretches of the game. Unfortunately, we let left back Blaxall run through several half-hearted challenges and shoot into the far corner in the 75th.

 

I see from the programme Ben's started to run out of patience a bit with the lads. One lad who deserves to stay in my opinion is Ryan Dearden, our best player tonight. It was emotional seeing Ryan on all fours sobbing into the turf after our final day defeat last season - I admit seeing the lad so upset made me cry. Ryan showed some lovely touches tonight and an assurance which some of our lads seem to have lost recently. Mind you, self-confidence is part of the key to our problem. Coming up short against workmanlike journeymen teams who can suss us out and outmuscle us is another.

 

[VPCTFC]

People who moan about voluntary competitions make me laugh.

Are you Sholing in disguise?

[Swifty]

No, Russell. I actually enjoy this competition, and I miss the inclusion of the Southern Amateur League teams in the Surrey Senior Cup - and FA Vase, for that matter. The fact is, the officials haven't been up to the mark in recent fixtures in this cup. Not making excuses for the fact we didn't deserve to win against Fleet Town, either. You had to see some of the decisions in the game to understand my ire. Now, go and wind someone up who deserves it - and if I see you at our ground again next season, I'll happily but you another pint.