Bedwetters No More…
West Drayton 0 GPR 2
GPR is known for many things, culture being our speciality. What we are not known for however, is prowess in front of goal and a solid back line. However, much to the amazement of the watching dog walker, the mighty Grove Park Rangers delivered back to back wins to finish the season! And in style, with a professional performance and a 2-0 maiden clean sheet victory to boot.
The early omens were not good, with multiple casualties to the bank holiday and good weather leaving the lads stranded with a bare 11. That was, until Yann the Man, still on a night out, turned up just after half time.
The Salads started on the front foot, passing the ball nicely and getting behind the defence, despite the linesman’s blatant disregard for the offside rule. No matter, as a lovely ball to Matty down the left hand side sent him away behind the back four before coolly pulling the ball back to Prince who, uncharacteristically, scored. 1-0.
The Salads were on top and playing the ball nicely around the park. Just before half time, the ball was cut back to the marauding Aman to smack the ball first time into the top corner! It was a superb finish that no one in the blue and black stripes had equalled all season. As has been the case since he first walked through the salad spinning door, Aman gave a MOTM performance reminiscent of peak Roberto Carlos. Nothing he does surprises us anymore. What a glorious fella.
The second half was a masterclass in game management and prime Brexitball. Maintaining the ball under pressure, taking time at throw ins and keeping cool heads are tactics GPR have been on the receiving end of far too often this season.
So it was truly beautiful to watch the Sean Dyche Massif steadily keep the opposition at bay, without ever looking troubled for a first ever clean sheet. This result was as much about defensive rigidity as attacking nouse (notwithstanding Matty’s open goal miss).
For the second game running, GPR strolled home to a comfortable victory to finish the season - and against the team that got us points deducted last time we saw them. It’s been a remarkable turnaround since Christmas. New signings, cultural change and better fitness levels have turned the club round, who were sat on just 1 point in late February.
The entire squad can look back on a tough debut season with pride. We will go again next year with belief that we are good news for the English game, we are creative enough and we are positive enough. More to come in the coming weeks… UTFS! 🥗
MOTM 🏆 = Aman. Complete champion throughout the year and a fantastic goal to round it off.
DOTD 💩 = Robin, who decided that a couple of lager shandies and a nice pleasant day at Brentford was more important than the game that really mattered.
