Men's 2nd XI Vs Falmouth 2

After being appointed as stand in Captain this week, Jon PR gave me the task of taking 16 players to Falmouth 2nds. It was quite the unexpected challenge for more reasons than just the competition.

We started the 1st half with a strong set up and showed great intensity, pinning the youthful Falmouth side back in their own 22 for what must have been 10 mins. We failed to capitalise on this initial pressure due to a mixture of being unlucky and some highly dubious Umpiring (which sadly was prevalent throughout the game)!

Caradon switched off around 10 mins in and Falmouth countered extremely well with their first major attack into our half, and following a clear foot by them in our D, scuffed a shot past Toby Riddle. We were left gawping and perplexed, still waiting for the whistle that never came. 0-1 down!! This should have been the wake up call for the rest of the game.

The decision for 5 of our non regular subs was made pre-match to enter the fray, mid 1st half. And didn't they do well. After letting Falmouth into the game and probing further into our half the youngsters and Garry Mueller had reacted with some sheer tenacity and pushed into the opposing D, setting Martyn Bevin up to slot home an equaliser at the end of the first half!! 1-1 Phew!! Commanded by the ever reliable Tim, Issac North and Toby P at RB and LB played brilliantly out of their usual positions and comfort zones to thwart several attacks.

The half time Captain's talk emphasised the pre-match team talks key points of composure, hard pressing and short sharp passing; which was rare in the first half. The second half set up and substitution plan was different, and the guys responded to what was asked.

Carl Jeffery in a more advance role allowed Ted Dyer to pull out his bag of skills along with epic vision for the throughball in the midfield. Freddie Seeva and Ben Pennington-Ridge, now up front, were true pests to the Falmouth back line and linked up with Martyn brilliantly with a number of attempts, saved or put just shy. Joe and Chris commanded the wings well, Joe's deft touch and broad skill base was on show and and great dribbles by Chris helped pin back the Falmouth defense. It felt like only a matter of time, but with the substandard officiating interrupting our momentum, anything could happen!

The screaming from the newbie Captain for the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half from the touchline, seemed to benefit the squad on field. The breakthrough came from a failed short corner with Ted Dyer venturing forward with a moment of rare selfishness in the D and fired a rocket of a shot goalward, where Tim Wright 'purposefully' deflected it past the keeper to put Caradon 2-1 up!

The usual 110% solid performance by Joel Tamblyn at pivot, allowed Ted the space to pick a glorious through ball to Carl Jeffery who slammed a strike off the keeper, only for the ball to rebound back to him so he could repeat the action....only this time past the goalie into the net! Just what we needed! 3-1

Towards the end of the 2nd half, with the help of the Umpiring, the Falmouth opposition were becoming severely ruffled. This allowed some sublime give and go passing by Gary, Freddie and Issac to quickly push through the midfield, offloading to Joe and Ben PR, to attack the goal. Picking up a defended ball, Martyn with his signature 'skip past 3 dribble' then sent the keeper the wrong way and reverse tapped the ball into the net! 4-1!!

A great game to be in, which tested our nerve, especially mine. As directed from the skipper, we needed to win this one. Credit due to all the players who dug deep, reacted positively and kept their cool throughout the test!

Man of the match was TED for just being pretty awesome with everything he did! Special mentions to Freddie and Joe who played the best I've seen them play. Issac and Toby P stepped up nobley also! Moment of the match was Toby Riddle being smacked it the face with an opposition stick and complaining accordingly to to Umpire stood several feet away, and coming away with nothing!! Thats me retiring with a 100% record now