Jokers 2 – 3 Golden Boots
Sunday 2 December 2007
Team: Linter; Lynes, Vere, Gromb, Skinner; Milner, Seaton-Smith, Hyde, Morrell; Wilby, M Prete.
Sub: Estivalet (on for Prete, 50)
Scorers: Hyde, Gromb
Jokers crashed to a second defeat of the season at a windswept Market Road on Sunday. Despite some notable absentees, it was still a strong team that was fielded and, having thrown away a lead and then got back on level terms, it was a bitterly disappointed side that dragged themselves off the pitch following Golden Boots’ late winner.
Winning the toss, the Jokers decided to play the first half into an extremely strong headwind, with blustery showers sweeping the pitch. Nevertheless, it was a good start, with the defence maintaining a high line and regularly catching the rather sluggish Golden Boots attack offside. It came as no surprise when the Jokers opened the scoring with twenty minutes played. Seaton-Smith’s clever lay-off found Hyde at the edge of the box, from where he swept a right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner. One-nil into such a wind would have represented a very useful advantage at half-time, and Jokers could have added to their lead when Gromb went close with a header from a corner, or when Wilby forced a save from the Golden Boots keeper, with Prete’s resulting effort sailing over the vacant goal. But instead, the Jokers conceded twice to enter the break a goal down. Firstly, a free-kick was awarded against Milner in midfield. With the ball around the halfway line, Golden Boots lofted it into the area, where the wind took it and carried it with one bounce into the net without a touch; a disappointing goal to concede, but one in which the conditions played a huge part.
This wasn’t the case with Boots’ second, as a ball over the top found a suspiciously offside-looking Boots forward in space. He took the ball on and shot across goal. Linter, diving to his right made the save, but could only turn the ball into the path of a second forward, who, faced with an open goal, made no mistake.
There was still plenty of positive energy in the Jokers camp at half-time. Other than their goals, Boots had created little and Linter had only been called into action on one further occasion. With the wind at their backs, there was a feeling that chances would be easier to create, but for whatever reason, this didn’t prove to be the case. Perhaps the Jokers were guilty of over-complacency, but chances in the second half were limited. Free kicks from Seaton-Smith and Hyde were wayward and Estivalet almost got onto a through ball only for the Boots keeper to advance off his line and kick the ball to safety. The nearest that Jokers came during this period was a drive across goal from Lynes, which glanced off a defender’s head and struck the right-hand post.
When Jokers did draw level it was both a thing of beauty and a source of controversy. Awarded an indirect free-kick in the centre of the park, Lynes passed the ball to Hyde on the edge of the box. He laid it off for Gromb to hit an unstoppable shot with the outside of his right boot which dipped and curled into the top corner, hitting the underside of the bar. As the team turned away in triumph, it became clear that John, the Irish referee, had some doubts over what he had seen (we all had some doubts, actually, as Gromb doesn’t score too many like this). There followed a bizarre interlude in which members of both teams entered into a discussion with all the impenetrable wranglings of Seaton-Smith and Lynes discussing spread betting, or Hyde and Gamson discussing accountancy. It appears that John’s concerns were over a) whether the ball had crossed the line (it had, it hit a bag, and anyway, Morrell put in the rebound); or b) if it had gone in direct from an indirect free-kick (it hadn’t, two other players had touched it). Fortunately, John was finally a man convinced and awarded the goal which still left time for the Jokers to go in search of the winner.
Except that it didn’t work out like that. Although the Jokers hadn’t made a hatful of chances, Golden Boots had only carved out one of their own, with Linter saving comfortably. But now, from a sloppily conceded throw-in on the Jokers’ left, they were made to pay, as the forward turned inside Vere and shot across goal. A goalmouth scramble resulted and the ball flew in via a Seaton-Smith deflection that carried it beyond Linter and Skinner on the line for the winner. With only a couple of minutes left to respond, the Jokers still managed to carve out two of their best chances of the afternoon. Firstly Milner forced the keeper into a block at his near post from close range and then, from the resulting Milner corner, Seaton-Smith headed wide at the far post with the goal at his mercy. A point was probably what the Jokers deserved and if they had contrived to create the sort of chances that they did when falling behind for a second time, then this was a match against an average side that they should have taken all three points from. Instead they were made to pay for a lacklustre second-half display that makes their league campaign so far (two wins, two draws, two defeats) look distinctly average. Tough fixtures in the form of Fowlers away and PA will provide a stern test and do much to shape the rest of the season.