Jokers 0 – 2 Dynamo Camford
Sunday 18 February 2008
Market Road
Team: Linter; Vere, Gromb, Howgego, Skinner; Milner, Hyde, Gamson, Perez-Tejedor; Estivalet, Wilby
Sub: M Prete
Almost perfect conditions for a game of football. Not too warm, not too cold, no wind. Almost perfect then, as the sun still sets behind one goal on winter afternoons. With Lynes taking a knock for his Saturday side (and taking some knocks from his Sunday side for not putting a brave face on it), team selection responsibilities passed to Gamson. So preoccupied was he with these that the captaincy for the crucial toss was passed to Wilby. Not only did he lose the toss, condemning Jokers to playing into the setting sun, but he also generously agreed to delay the kickoff while Dynamo waited for two players, thereby minimising the time that the opposition would have to play with the low sun in their faces. Suffice it to say that it will be a long time before the metaphorical armband finds its way onto the very real bicep of Wilby again.
Quite what Gamson was thinking about must remain a mystery, for the selection, when it came was disappointingly orthodox. 4-4-2, with Skinner at right-back, Gromb in central defence, the left-footed Vere deputising for Lynes at left-back and Howgego taking the other central position. In midfield, it was a similar story: Milner and the returning Perez-Tejedor taking their customary wide roles, with Hyde and Gamson in the centre of the park. Upfront, Gamson elected to play the two strikers, Wilby and Estivalet, with Mauro Prete on the bench. Hardly thinking outside the box. In truth, it was an effective line-up and one which more than held its own for the majority of the match. Camford are a team who the Jokers have beaten twice this season (make that the team), although they had been fortunate to do so on both occasions. This time, the pendulum swung back their way.
Jokers opened brightly and played some good football throughout the match, without possessing a killer punch. Gamson produced his now customary cameo before falling to the ground on the quarter hour mark clutching his hamstring and executing his now trademark ‘sub me’ roll of the hands. Actually, it isn’t Gamson’s trademark and we’d probably all do it in similar circumstances, but Gamson always gets there first. He withdrew, replaced by Prete, with Perez-Tejedor switching inside. There was some nice build up play and a couple of shots from distance, but no real chances until Camford sprung the Jokers offside trap (allegedly) and forced Linter into a good save. Jokers responded with Wilby being denied by the Camford keeper, who left his line smartly to close him down.
Half-time, and the Jokers were justifiably pleased with a performance that was comfortably better than those of late. The match had been relatively even and the main talking point had been some very erratic refereeing from the man in black (with red beanie hat). The match would be settled by two goals and the introduction of the opposition’s classy no. 2. Before Camford opened the scoring, they were denied a goal when a defence-splitting ball found the no. 2 onside, but his no. 5 colleague offside. The no. 2 took the ball on with a couple of touches and forced Linter into a good save, whereupon the ball rebounded to the no. 5, now not offside but deemed to have become active following his offside earlier in the same phase of play and so his strike on target was disallowed. Confused? Some of the Camford players clearly were.
I was going to write that the goal, when it came, followed a pass down the inside-right channel, but, such was the distance between Gromb and Vere at this point that something like the ‘right gulf’ would be more appropriate. Anyway, the 5 took it on and hit a peculiar floating shot/ cross shot which drifted past Linter’s outstretched arm and in at the far post. Camford’s second was far more convincing, as a flick inside from the no. 11 found the number 5 and he finished assuredly to establish what would prove to be an unassailable lead.
The Jokers began to push and produced some of their best football of the match, without really troubling the Dynamo keeper. Estivalet went close with an overhead as the ball bounced around the Camford area, Milner with a header from a Vere cross, but Jokers were also left exposed at the back as they went in search of a goal to get them back in the game, with Linter again making a good save. All in all, a good performance, but a disappointing result, which extends a long pointless streak, probably to all-time record levels (although I don’t intend to put this new record on the website) and leaves the team staring into a relegation abyss.