Whinging In The Rain
GPR 3 Eutectic 6
Yesterday’s game was brought to you by the cinematographers of ‘Se7en’. The pouring rain, swampy pitch and gloomy backdrop provided the perfect accompaniment to a vintage cup tie, in which GPR sunk to successive defeats against a well-organised Eutectic. When approaching a cup match, you hope for a game of passion and hard yards, and this weekend’s game certainly delivered.
Nothing screams Sunday League quite like a chaotic scoreline. 2 puffs of Robin’s vape later and we were 2-1 up, despite the black clouds swirling over Oli’s head as he headed to the bench after some choice words earned him a rather unhelpful sinbin. He’d started the game brilliantly, a looping free kick from deep finding Rory, who truly had a day to remember in front of goal. Rolling back the months, he pounced on the loose ball and smacked it into the back of the net. But this bliss was short-lived as minutes later, a cross from the left hand side found the opposing striker, who ultimately came out on top after a tussle with Jack. This decision left Oli less than satisfied and he was subsequently dismissed. Having gone down to ten men, the lads rallied brilliantly. The pace picked up quickly, compounded by a fantastic run from Rory which saw his legs swept in the penalty box. He converted the spot kick without fuss to earn his brace, and was looking imperious against the back four. Soon after, though, a defensive error allowed Eutectic through to make it two a piece. The rest of the half continued in an uneasy fashion, with both sides hitting the post. Yannick and Robbie were moving the ball with accuracy and finesse, the latter putting in a vintage display that belied his veteran status and game time in the last year. Bart and Adam were bombing down the wings, and David ran his socks off in the advanced midfield position. Shortly before the break, however, Eutectic swung a hopeful ball into the box, and their midfielder did brilliantly to adapt and head it past Greg.
We went into half time with the same sense we’ve been having more and more this season - that we could still win the match. The balance of play was fairly even, the only stark difference being their ability to punish small mistakes on our side. We started the second half on the front foot and were pressing. Keeper Greg will have been grateful to the linesman’s flag for intervening when his clearance was charged down by their forward and rolled into the back of the net. Credit to Eutectic, who stymied many of our long balls and rotated well to keep the press. We could credibly argue that we should have been the next to score on the direction of the game, but football holds no false prisoners and with about 20 minutes remaining, Eutectic broke through and made it 4-2. Minutes later, it was 5-2. The game continued to be competitive despite the scoreline, but the fatigue of our bare 11 started to show, save from a short cameo from Rob (who has secretly been pining for a player-manager role). Rory bundled one in with 5 to spare to earn a richly deserved hat trick and continue his brilliant form that we have needed in so many games. With the final touches in the game, a calamitous mixup from a confusing drop ball played in their striker to make it 6.
It’s always frustrating to lose, but the heart and passion for the shirt was there in spades, and if that isn’t what Sunday League is about then I don’t know what is. We’ll look to get back to winning ways against our friendly rivals Chiswick Celtics next week, but for now we can lick our wounds in The Distillers courtesy of Bart, enjoy a roast and thank our lucky stars that we aren’t Man United fans (sorry, Jack).
MOTM 🤌 = Rory, of course. What a player.
DOTD 💀 = There are several candidates this week, from absentees to howling errors. Slough.
