Monday, February 06, 2006
Dazzling
My article from City's FA Trophy 3rd Round game against Cambridge City
Towards the end of last year I wrote about my 5-aside team, Team 54 (so named because there are that many teams in the league and we expected to finish bottom), and promised to keep you up-to-date with our progress. Not being one to break a promise I think it’s about time I reported back.
We ended last season/term on a high, collecting 7 points out of 9. When you consider it took us 13 games to actually win one match, that’s some finish. We finished with 11 points, having won 2 and drawn 5 of our 16 matches. The 54 teams were then split into 6 leagues depending on their points totals. Surprisingly enough, we weren’t in the bottom league. It’s looking increasingly likely that our team name is very misleading!
This season has started very well for us too. In the first week, we won both our matches relatively comfortably: 4-0 and 2-0. We seemed to have finally overcome our scoring issues, taking our chances more regularly. The fact that we won both games in one night ended up costing me money. During last term’s dismal run of form, I said that I would buy the whole team a round if we ever won both games on one night, confident that this would never happen. Thankfully, the team has now decided that this obligation will rotate around the team (though typically we haven’t actually done it since).
Our results in week 2 were mixed. We won one and lost one, ending a 5 match unbeaten sequence. Despite the defeat, we were feeling happy with our performances as we were creating a decent number of chances and not being put under too much pressure. The goals were still coming and everyone was working hard.
We were left with similar feelings after week 3, although we were very frustrated with drawing our first match. We created a hat-full of chances in the first half but couldn’t put them away and risked slipping back into our bad old ways. Our opposition had one chance and grabbed a goal just before half time. It looked like it was going to be “one of those games”, before we managed to get the (well deserved) equaliser. Despite having to come from behind, it felt like 2 points dropped. The second game that night saw us run out reasonably comfortable 3-1 winners to keep up our good start and give a boost to our promotion push.
Confidence is high in the Team 54 camp after picking up 13 out of a possible 18 points at the start of the new term. We’ve started to put away more chances, and I’ve managed to find the back of the net 5 times in the last 7 games. Given my up-turn in form, I may have to ask for an improved contract. Our highest paid player, you may remember, is on a pint-per-goal and my agent tells me that I deserve a similar deal!
So what is behind our sudden up-turn in fortunes? Is it that we’ve finally gelled and are playing with confidence in one another? Is it that our supporter is getting behind us at every game and not having a go after one mistake? Perhaps. For me, however, there is one obvious reason why we’ve hit a rich vein of form: we are dazzling the opposition. Not with our skills on the ball, but with our lovely new bright yellow team shirts. Who said you can’t buy success?!
Towards the end of last year I wrote about my 5-aside team, Team 54 (so named because there are that many teams in the league and we expected to finish bottom), and promised to keep you up-to-date with our progress. Not being one to break a promise I think it’s about time I reported back.
We ended last season/term on a high, collecting 7 points out of 9. When you consider it took us 13 games to actually win one match, that’s some finish. We finished with 11 points, having won 2 and drawn 5 of our 16 matches. The 54 teams were then split into 6 leagues depending on their points totals. Surprisingly enough, we weren’t in the bottom league. It’s looking increasingly likely that our team name is very misleading!
This season has started very well for us too. In the first week, we won both our matches relatively comfortably: 4-0 and 2-0. We seemed to have finally overcome our scoring issues, taking our chances more regularly. The fact that we won both games in one night ended up costing me money. During last term’s dismal run of form, I said that I would buy the whole team a round if we ever won both games on one night, confident that this would never happen. Thankfully, the team has now decided that this obligation will rotate around the team (though typically we haven’t actually done it since).
Our results in week 2 were mixed. We won one and lost one, ending a 5 match unbeaten sequence. Despite the defeat, we were feeling happy with our performances as we were creating a decent number of chances and not being put under too much pressure. The goals were still coming and everyone was working hard.
We were left with similar feelings after week 3, although we were very frustrated with drawing our first match. We created a hat-full of chances in the first half but couldn’t put them away and risked slipping back into our bad old ways. Our opposition had one chance and grabbed a goal just before half time. It looked like it was going to be “one of those games”, before we managed to get the (well deserved) equaliser. Despite having to come from behind, it felt like 2 points dropped. The second game that night saw us run out reasonably comfortable 3-1 winners to keep up our good start and give a boost to our promotion push.
Confidence is high in the Team 54 camp after picking up 13 out of a possible 18 points at the start of the new term. We’ve started to put away more chances, and I’ve managed to find the back of the net 5 times in the last 7 games. Given my up-turn in form, I may have to ask for an improved contract. Our highest paid player, you may remember, is on a pint-per-goal and my agent tells me that I deserve a similar deal!
So what is behind our sudden up-turn in fortunes? Is it that we’ve finally gelled and are playing with confidence in one another? Is it that our supporter is getting behind us at every game and not having a go after one mistake? Perhaps. For me, however, there is one obvious reason why we’ve hit a rich vein of form: we are dazzling the opposition. Not with our skills on the ball, but with our lovely new bright yellow team shirts. Who said you can’t buy success?!
