T
he season ended on 15th
March with the traditional OA
matches. The two games
were played in torrential rain
with the mud getting deeper
with every drop. By the end
of 90 minutes, two goals from OA Andy Lewis
and two horrendous defensive errors from the
OA veteran right-back left the score at 2-2. The
ball was stopping in puddles, sliding tackles
were turning into land-speed record-attempts
and the rain was starting to fall even harder, yet
the shout went up for, "Extra time!" and there
was not a player on the pitch, including Mr
Haste in goal, who did not want to play more
football! It showed that the season, truncated
by rain, had been too short for an accomplished
side, mostly Villarreal veterans, with young
talent emerging and a German rock at the back
in player of the season, Justus Bunk.
Heavy weather had meant Millfield had
become our first opponents. Fast, classy and
already on the twelfth fixture of their season,
they scored within the first two minutes, but
King's showed some skill of their own holding
on until the final ten when Millfield took
advantage of two more defensive lapses.
Another quickly taken free kick led to a soft goal
that was enough to give Blundell's the result in
a game that saw King's camped on the edge of
the opposition box drawing ever greater saves
from their superlative goalkeeper. Charlie ClydeSmith
scored with a cheeky back-heel against
QEH in a strong team display and a 2-1 victory.
King's managed to emerge as 3-1 winners against
Sherborne, thanks to a late wonder-goal from Ross
Chadwick supplied by a fantastic 40-yard pass
from Kristian King. We took a development team
to Sexey's Bruton and eased to a 4-0 victory with
the goalkeeper largely redundant. New boys Joe
Matthews, Jason Gonultas and James Gonultas
contributed to a great display at Bristol Grammar
School (won 3-1), and we also beat Exeter (2-1)
before Colyton Grammar shaded a close game with
some strong passing football (1-3).
Kristian King showed fine leadership, even
taking charge of the odd training session and
the team were a pleasure to coach: their desire
to win was matched with pace and tenacity.
More ruthless finishing would have seen two of
the three defeats turned around, but the team
gave their all and enjoyed a season with more
to celebrate (at the Raj Poot) than regret.aluredian
75
Soccer
1st XI
by
Matthew
Bakewell
Ed Nash shows his pace
against Colyton Grammar
School