A Thorn In The Side

Newton City 3 -3 GPR

My God, I love football.

You may not have known it this week, though, as the efforts of both sides were overshadowed by a series of poor decisions, leading to frustration bordering on rage for everyone involved.

But most importantly, The Salads walked away from the pitch with heads held high, earning a thoroughly deserved point to snap the 100% record of league favourites, Newton City.

After last week, which felt like the biggest game of the season, I was expecting a slight drop in intensity at the tail end of the season. It quickly became apparent that this would not be the case.

We remembered Newton from the first game of the season. They were physical, shrewd, loud. Their keeper belongs in a choir, not a football club. Luckily for my tinnitus, he got to rest his vocal cords three times today, despite conceding just 5 in the league all season coming into this weekend.

It’s fair to say that the constant chatter got to us at the start. Not as much as it did to the ref, but more of that later. Newton came out of the blocks the stronger side, looking to press high whilst employing a no-nonsense approach at the back.

A flurry of corners for the hosts set the tone in the first phase of the game. I’m going to put an asterisk against both fixtures, as on both occasions we’ve been without any of our first three choice keepers.

But Big Mike instilled confidence from the get go. He parried two corners, and was forced into a brilliant save on another. It was a sample of the rest his game, brave in the air, and imperious in sweeping up a lot of the loose long balls sent his way.

Despite our competency in dealing with the danger, the pressure affected our ability to attack the game with confidence. After twenty minutes, their striker attempted to latch onto a direct ball, getting half a yard of space to go for goal.

Dan, rushing back to block, made a challenge as the striker tried to chip Mike. Despite winning both man and ball, the ref watched the effort hit the bar and roll away, before pointing to the spot. Little did we know, this was to be the least contentious of the major decisions made.

Newton scored, going 1-0 up. After this, a switch flicked, and we got the ball on the ground. Robin and Sina were locking down the wings and starting attacks, playing the ball into the midfield.

Andre, Josh and Tim settled, turning into a whirlwind in the centre of the park as they stepped up to the plate and began running the midfield battle with courage, assisted by Marcus’ drops into space.

Despite this, we went into the break a goal down. It wasn’t the end of the world, and we stuck the plan, making a couple of small tweaks to our game.

The team responded immediately.

Minutes after the break, Jeff caught Josh’s looping ball and drove down the wing. Spinning his man, he cut in from the flank and launched an effort that the keeper saw late, and parried it to his right.

Rory, ghosting into the box, snapped the ball up and tucked it in from close range. 1-1. We were back on level terms.

And then, we weren’t. Having explicitly been told to play it short, Sina drove a free kick from deep into the penalty area, where Andre was waiting at the back post.

With some excellent control, he played the ball back across the face of the goal, and Jeff connected sweetly, burying it into the side netting. 2-1.

It was a perfect response from the first half, and we were looking on top. But Newton know how to win games, and we knew it was far from over.

Midway through proceedings, a missed challenge down the flank opened space up in behind, and the Newton player crossed into the box. It dangled in the air, hugging the touchline, and their striker rose tall to cushion it back to the onrushing attacker. There wasn’t anything Mike could do but watch it go past him. 2-2.

Following this, both sides were out for blood. It felt like there were more goals in it, The Salads winning the game on the ground, while Newton’s tactics provided a consistent threat of danger.

With minutes to go, a ball fed into our box led to a tangle, and their forward fell. It was, in no way, a penalty. Needless to say, the referee pointed to the spot.

It’s tough to referee. When passions are high and both teams are taking chunks out of each other, it becomes even harder. But it’s almost impossible to end up as the enemy of both teams who have spent all game trading blows. Some of the decisions given across the 90 minutes hurt both sides, and took away from the closeness of the game.

At this point, we just lost it. Dan was sinbinned, and three yellow cards were brandished to players and even the manager. Newton scored their second penalty and went 3-2 up with minutes to go.

Our protests must have had some effect on the ref because, on the restart, Raf launched a mazy run into the box, where he was fairly tackled by the defender. Raf proceeded to jump into the air in an effort that could only be matched by Tom Daley, or maybe a salmon.

But, surprise surprise, there was the ref again, standing over the penalty spot. After some justifiable outrage from the home side, Rory dispatched it from 12 yards out. 3-3.

Down to ten men, it took all of our mental strength to hold firm and not let the occasion get the better of us. A couple of pot shots came close to denying us a thoroughly deserved point, but we saw out the game to bring an end to a box office fixture.

It was the first league game Newton hadn’t had it their way, and they may, quietly, admit that they would have taken a point by the end of the match. All in all, a draw felt fair.

This means The Salads are now close to sealing an unprecedented third place finish. It’s not at all guaranteed, so we will have to stay vigilant, but all the ingredients are there to make this a truly memorable season.

MOTM 💫 = Andre and Tim have equal claim to this award, and Jeff and Rory were clinical with the chances they had. The entire defence stepped up massively this weekend. However, in the circumstances he had to face, Mike took the weight of the gloves on his shoulders, and instilled confidence at the spine of the team when we needed it most, so he’s going to get it.

DOTD 👀 = Have three guesses.