Westleigh 2s suffer unlucky defeat away to Tamworth

A spirited performance ultimately ended in defeat as some questionable umpiring decisions,
combined with profligacy in front of goal, cost the away team any points.

The mood was very positive ahead of the game after a convincing home win the week before. Even
Kyle getting a puncture, Raj damaging his windscreen and an incorrect push-back time didn’t
diminish the positivity within the group.

However, Westleigh started very sloppily and were soon behind when the Tamworth centre forward
broke through the defence too easily and eased the ball past Matt who was deputising in goal.
The goal shook the away team into life, and there followed good passages of possession play, with
several chances made, but they were not capitalised upon.
After one of these chances was missed, Tamworth took a ‘16’, which the robust centre back ended
up undercutting in the direction of a few players, including his own teammates, who took evasive
action. Everybody expected a foul to be called for dangerous play, but the umpire decided that
potential decapitation was not an offence and played on. The ball landed at the feet of the home
team’s striker who again put the ball into the goal.

The result of this was not just an undeserved 2-0 lead, but also an injury to Matt, who pulled his
groin. Despite Nick massaging Matt’s groin area with unreserved glee, the goalie was unable to
continue. With the game being stopped, Oli bravely volunteered to take up the gauntlet of going in
goal and proceeded to get kitted up. Despite pushing to get a goal before half time, the 1st
half ended 2-0.

The second half ebbed and flowed, but it was mainly the away team forcing the play and looking
more dangerous. It was quite a while though before Westleigh took advantage of their dominance,
when they earned a short corner. Darren stepped up to inject the ball, doing his best impression of a
mix between David Beckham and Jonny Wilkinson. The ball was dragged at pace towards Carl who
switched the ball deftly to right switch, Kyle. The Westleigh skipper smashed the ball towards goal,
and Darren instinctively swept the ball home. His reaction was both comical and a little bit scary, as
he screamed incoherently and attempted a Wayne Rooney type celebration in the middle of the
pitch!

There followed an intense period of pressure where the home side pushed for the equaliser. Several
short corners were earned (during one of these Darren was accused of flirting with the female
umpire), but the goal didn’t come. The best chance fell to Darren at the back post, after Kyle hit the
ball through a crowd of players, but he reacted too late and the ball went wide.
Disappointingly, the final whistle was blown, and it was a gutting defeat for the Leicester based
team, especially after dominating possession, playing some good hockey and creating the large
majority of the chances. If some of the decisions had gone their way, it could have been a different
story.

The rest of the season does look promising though, especially if they can convert more of the
chances that are being created.

MOM: Oli Wakelam, for stepping up when he was needed most, and keeping a clean sheet in the
second half.
DOD: Darren ‘Victimised’ Bird, for missing a great chance to equalise, plus his crazy celebration.

Match Report by Darren Bird