Close But No Cigar

BFC 2 - 1 BEFC

8.15 Saturday morning at Oji homes, Omotesando. 12 gaijins assemble and it would appear that there was not one hangover amongst them. OK, I admit this may be deemed as a good thing but it was somewhat odd occurence, which was to be continued throughout the rest of the mornings game. With the exception of Barry “Mr Unreliable” (a nickname earned after only two appearances! Ed.) who failed to turn up, injured Biffa Bacon, and the holidaying Bridgestone, the team headed to Edogawa for an important match which was meant to kick start the season.

A bit of successful navigating by Lynch, go us to the vicinity of the pitches but this is where the pathfinder Flynn came into his own by touring the convoy of 3 cars up a series of back alleys, and u turns before eventually find the parking facility. Upon cresting the brow of the embankment we were met by the sight of 4 football pitches, somewhat akin to Glasgow city councils best efforts and it brought many memories flooding back for the writer. The weather was cool and windy, the pitch was small, dusty, (OK, in Scotland read muddy), with dubious tufts of grass in the corners and people were changing by the side of the pitch.

Warm up successfully completed without any injuries this time, and the game started. Following his superb 35 yard o.g. last week Flynn though he would try his luck with a shot from the kick off. We all heard a cry of “the wind was against me” and the ball barely reached the 18 yard line. A slow start was to follow with BEFC struggling to pick up the midfield of BFC and only several superb tackles from Vern saved BEFC from being 2 goals down. After about 15 minutes BEFC were getting to grips with the opposition and beginning to play some good football. Bystedt was doing some sterling work in the middle of midfield - wasn’t he meant to be right midfield? (read: compact midfield... Ed.) - and the center-half pairing of Flynn and Vern, were solid despite the presence of the very tall BFC striker. However this is where it all went horribly wrong. A BFC cross came in from the right and Watts jumped at the back post to head clear. As Watts challenged, the BFC player let out a scream, fell to the ground as if he had been shot and the referee pointed to the spot. The penalty was well taken and Norbert stood no chance despite an ‘athletic’, well almost, drive to his right.

From the spot kick BEFC resumed where we had left off, i.e. dominating the game. Although clear cut chances were hard to come by some slick 1-2’s between, Hani, Woolhouse and Bystedt were beginning to create space, but approximately 5 mins after the penalty there was another bizarre incident. A long ball hoofed up the middle from BFC was headed by Flynn, and then by Vern after which the quickest man on the pitch, the BFC striker, nipped in to fire in a shot past the keeper from 18 yards. There was some debate as to whether the shot was straight at the keeper but if so, it was it would be hard to explain another athletic dive to the right from Norbert. Another goal out of nothing and the things was not looking good.

By the side of the pitch the language was also beginning to deteriorate and apologies had to be provided to Mr Collier’s lady friend. A comment from an unnamed team member definitely noted that she very ‘definitely had a pulse’, but the question still remains as to what Mr Collier does to convince anyone to follow him up to Tokyo to watch this level of football. Time will tell if she will return to support her boyfriend but the fact that she stayed until half time, in the chilly weather was testament enough to her commitment.

At this point tactical switches were being planned on the sidelines, most of them involving the redeployment of the quieter than usual Williams. But again BEFC finished the half strongly with Williams beginning to find space and providing a pass for a good turn and shot for Woolhouse. Despite BFC hitting the bar with a 30 yard effort of a corner and a mix up between Thornington and Norbert almost leading to a second for the BFC speed merchant, the scoreline remained unchanged until half time.

A positive BEFC started the second half and soon they were to have their reward for their efforts. ‘A clear hand ball’, according to Williams, whose claim for a penalty may have been louder that the BFC players scream for their penalty. Woolhouse stepped up to tamely side-foot the ball towards the BFC goal where Sid managed to do a good impersonation of Peter McCloy ,as he went down ‘like a wardrobe’ to save. Woolhouse then left the pitch with a sore knee.

Alarm bells were beginning to ring on the sidelines but BEFC kept up their positive attitude and forced a series of 4 successive corners where several goal-line clearances kept the score-line unchanged. The next event was for Norbert to pick up a back-pass and from the resultant free kick BFC struck the post. With 20 minutes to go and time running our BEFC made 2 desparate substitutions, Flett (Dodgy Hamstring) came on for what must be the shortest appearance of the season, (is there an award for this one Tomo?). 2 minutes into the game a lovely through ball from Williams sent Flett clean through on the goal. The ensuing ‘sprint’ wasn’t ideal for the dodgy leg and what followed was a weak shot and a limp back to the sidelines. However the break through was not far away and Jan provided BEFC with a cool finish in front of goal after a good pass from Woolhouse. Only one goal was now required to draw level so Lynch put away the walking stick and donned his rather unused strip to help add a fresh (?) pair of legs to the attack. He might not be a mobile as he used to but his presence up front immediately caused problems and his near post header from 6 yards out hit the goalkeeper to deny another chance. Then the best move of the match came from BEFC. Collier started it off on the left, and passed inside to Lynch, who in turn found Williams in the middle of the park. He played a great ball to Woolhouse who crossed beautifully for Lynch to launch himself and connect with a great diving header. Unfortunately Sid once again got down to save. What more do we have to do to score?

At the other end of the pitch BFC were still trying to counter attack but were being denied by very solid defence of Thornington, Sendo, Flynn and Willis. BEFC continued to threaten. Flynn had several headers which went close and Williams went on some mazey runs but the final whistle was to come before the elusive equalizer was found.

Disappointment all round for BEFC and a lot of smiling faces for BFC. On reflection this was an excellent performance but once again this season we have been unable to put away our chances whilst letting in soft goals. There is no doubt that the first victory will come sooner rather than later and the fighting spirit shown in this game will be required if we are to improve on the disappointing results so far. Gambatte !!

Team: Bystedt, Williams, Johansson, Flynn, Willis, Watts, Thornington, Woolhouse, Shalabi, Fogarasi, Collier.
Subs : Sendo, Lynch, Flett

Man of the Match: Vernon Willis for single handedly keeping BEFC in the match at the start.

Dick of The Day: Not one of the starting players had a bad game. So the award goes to Alister Flett for trying to fly in face of medical advice and try to play with a dodgy hamstring. That makes it 2 games in a row for the DOTD award and I must surely be in the running for this DOTY(ear) award at the end of the season.