Caught up in the petticoats of Eunice and already being slapped around the face by Frederick and later this week by his sibling , Gladys, His Lordship  sits glumly marooned.. cut off from all power since Friday 11 a.m ... in the backwoods of North Wiltshire...  Her Ladyship, by contrast,  has gamely wired her exercise bicycle up to the grid and is producing just sufficient wattage by her cycling efforts to allow His Lordship to pen this brief account of Saturday's game, before he retreats to the Lordly bed with a thimbleful  of Ben Romach...swaddled in his Nordic underwear.

His Lordship's Inexpert Analysis: No 13

Once again the wind was the winner of this game.. as a spectacle, at least. Credit to both sides, though, who made the best of what were obviously horrible conditions.  A frustrating but fair result .. as both sides enjoyed periods of dominance during the game.

EBFC:  They looked a good side.  Positive, always looking to play football, dangerous at times, particularly their Number 17, young Dom Hutchinson ( ex Watford Academy) who along with their number 7 really harried us down the left in the first 20 minutes or so.  After we scored, they went up a gear and looked more and more likely to pull one back, smacking the bar first and then finally prevailing courtesy of Master Hutchinson  in the 90th minute. Their goalkeeper semed to pick up a nasty injury.. but appeared determined to carry on despite sore/broken ribs(?)

CTFC:  We looked distinctly second best in the first 20 minutes... constantly overhitting ( understandably) through balls and being hustled and snapped at in possession.  Began to assert ourselves after half an hour and looked the more likely to score going in to the break .. with several good chances going begging and a small flurry of corners.  Got the goal...not a pretty.. but a well deserved one... and then began to buckle a bit under Eastbourne pressure .. until the inevitable happened  right at the death.  Thoroughly concur with young Harrison M's MOTM status... he is absolute gold-dust  in terms of quality of football and in example.  You'd guess he's  popular in the dressing-room too.. which is quite something for an 18 year old to have achieved in such a short time.  Interesting that Le Chef didn't bring Ola on... perhaps he felt  the starting 11 (minus young Will for injury... looked like hamstring??.. rather than knee) would see out the game and protect the lead without an injection of liveliness  and fresh legs?

Conclusion:  Not much more to say other than repeat that 4 months ago we would probably have lost this game, perhaps heavily.  We played to our strengths, worked hard and generally looked to make things happen. Like The Voice, His Lordship was really pleasantly surprised by the gate ( 482 ?).  At 2.45 pm  The Bearded Wonder and myself felt that we were facing something in the 300s ... but a late-ish influx and/or debouching from the Bar/Clubhouse proved us wrong and the ground suddenly looked fuller!......

...As an act of common humanity and decency His Lordship will now sign off to warm his fingers up, thus allowing Her Ladyship to dismount from her Exercise bike on which through furious, sustained pedalling she has generated the electricity that has enabled him to post this.....post.  Thanks, dear spouse.


 

Last edited by HisLordship (21/2/2022 3:55 PM)