Leopards 1 - 3 Strollers FC

1 November 2006

An away fixture at Battersea, especially to an opponent as formidable as the Leopards, will always send a few Strollers’ arses quivering. But off the back of less than average form, and with only 8 Strollers in the changing rooms with 5 or so minutes till KO, unease developed, shortly followed by acceptance of a damage reduction strategy rather than a winning one.

We started with 10 players and with 3 centre backs so Blackburn, much to his dismay, was pushed up into a CM position, and O’Brien filled in at right midfield, making a 4-4-1 formation with Barrett as lone [hungover] striker.

Strollers’ disarray was evident for the few minutes from KO, as the Leopards began to play the football that we knew they are capable of: passing the ball around quickly, and with precision.

Their dominance was rewarded with a goal after 15 minutes, although it was a little lucky, hitting the post before it went in, and was due in part to Strollers’ napping.

Shortly thereafter, James’s late entry onto the pitch balanced the numbers, and we switched to a 4-5-1 position with O’Brien moving to his favoured Paul Scholes-like position of attacking midfielder and Keniry as lone striker, with Barrett moving to the right wing.

The tinkering paid off almost instantly as Strollers began to play the football that we’ve been missing the past two fixtures. Long strings of passes were aplenty, often initiated by our prolific centre backs (Tear and Lennon) who took it in turns to charge up front playing cool through-balls, and one-twos with the midfielders.

Also, some good break up play and distribution from the central midfielders was observed, with Blackburn taking naturally to his new found potential.

But it was a manoeuvre executed fundamentally by the wingers and Keniry’s pace that lead to an own goal at the beginning of the second half; a Leopards defender under pressure passed back to the keeper who was out of position, and the ball trickled into the goal after what seemed like an eternity.

Much similar dominance from the Strollers led to a free kick in the middle of the second half, perfectly executed by Barrett with Lennon charging in and heading the ball with power into the back of the net.

At 2-1, with around 15 minutes to go, would again usually conjure up some panic and loss of control of the game, and has more than often been our demise. But not this time, Strollers dug deep, and held their ground, and it was Leopards that were making the mistakes.

Some calamity goalkeeping at around the 80th minute and resilient play up front by Keniry, Barrett and James led to a loose ball yards from the goal line. With inspirational composure, O’Brien was first to react and lifted the ball over the diving goal keeper.

The first major scalp of the season must surely do our confidence a world of good, and gives us momentum that we can build on for our following week’s fixture again at Battersea, again against a formidable opponent. Stroll on.

Match details

MoM: Tear, Lennon

4-5-1 (first half)
Brown – Stroud, Tear, Lennon, Bailey – James, Muhsin, O’Brien, Blackburn, Keniry – Barrett

4-5-1 (second half)
Brown – Stroud, Tear, Lennon, Bailey – James, Muhsin, O’Brien, Blackburn, Keniry – Barrett