Slap, Slap, Slap!

Lowestoft & District League Div 1

Spexhall F.C- 3

Pot Black F.C- 1

Match Overview- The Spexhall manager and defence must of been delighted to see that their nemesis Adam Bird was not in the match day squad on the visitors arrival, after proving the match winner on so many occasions in the past.

As a result of absences L'Orange were forced to adapt a 4-5-1 formation against the high flying Spexhall side with only 1 attacker available.

Despite the final score it was by no means one way traffic with Pot Black coming out of the blocks like Usain Bolt completely dominating the opening 20 minutes with Spex looking shocked by the opposition work rate and commitment.

On several occasion Scott Harvey broke down the right but L'Orange were unable to turn capitalise. Steve Collins well timed run was picked out by a beautiful Simon Durrant pass, only to see the last man clearly pull 'The Crabs' shirt as he raced towards the keeper, which the ref penalised with a free kick and no card, had the Pot Black midfielder gone down, I can not see how he could of done anything other than reduce the home side to 10.

Both Keepers before the break pulled of top quality stops, but in truth Spex only managed a couple of breaks with the dangerous looking Karl Brennhan chief tormentor, but with Pot Black having the larger portion of the possession the visitors rightly took the lead as Max Wall slipped his marker only to be wiped out as he attempted to pull the trigger, as Captain/Midfield Anchorman Darren Boyd perfectly struck the resulting penalty into the bottom corner. 1-0 at the break.

After the interval P.B were to be punished for their missed opportunities and lack decisiveness, as near enough from the whistle a break down the left caught out the sleepy oranges as the navy blues equalised, and before the home support could wobble back from the pub their side were in front with a top class finish which was smashed past the helpless Kev Sherwood in goal.

The best was saved til last from any ones point of view as the slightly quieter than usual Danny Milne rose like a salmon seeing his powerful looping header nestle in the top corner.

Ironically from that point the Pot Black back line looked secure once more as the home side rarely troubled again, but it was always going to be a struggle for the visitors who in Vinny Terry and Adam Bird had most of their fire power missing.

As the match went on frustrations boiled over and P.B began mirroring the niggly tackles displayed by the home side in the early encounters of the match (such as Milne kicking the keeper in the legs whilst he had the ball in hands at head height), but the bigger picture is there was not a bad tackle all match, but when two physical sides meet with 6 foot strikers and defenders on both sides, like a pair of Elephant seals there will always be clumsy, noisy, slapping encounters but the only real handbags and moaning was from the Pie eaters and goggle eyed people on the side of the pitch who know it all but can't do it themselves! The real men do it with their boots on, like the two Gavin's, one on each side!

On the day without a doubt the best side won, but for the visitors after a season of negatives, Pot Black are forced to pick out the positives, In the first half P.B looked solid and for once we had 3 substitutes, but more importantly we look to have a returned unity, as even when we were wound up and fouling at least we all did it together!

Goal- Darren Boyd

G.H.Windows & Doors M.O.M- Steve Collins, a positive performance as he quietly went about his business tackling with confidence and playing it simple.