A beautiful autumnal day with hardly a breath of wind seemed a whole continent away from the conditions of the week before. Jesmond’s is a compact, flat pitch, which tended to cramp individual style, because of the lack of room for players to have any time on the ball. The pitch was also surprisingly firm with a greasy surface, which added to the difficulty of controlling the ball quickly and getting it down and playing football on the ground.

However, having said that, it was the same for both sides and we failed to impose ourselves on the game until the last 20 minutes or so, and then it took a superb strike from a free kick, again from Ritchie Robinson, to draw us level after Jesmond had taken a somewhat undeserved lead in the first half. But there was a great deal that occurred both before and between those two incidents.

We started brightly enough and looked the more likely to take the lead. From an early corner, Ste Farish found himself with a free header at the back post. Only a despairing hand from a Jesmond defender prevented the goal. It should have been a penalty, but the referee saw it differently. We lost our way a little after that, without Jesmond ever looking likely to score, but a lapse in concentration and more than a little good fortune after a good save from Andy Bensley, allowed their number 11, who was a thorn in our side throughout the game, to score. We battled hard for an equaliser before the break forcing a number of corners, but Jesmond hung on.

The second half saw Jesmond take control of the game and a succession of saves from Andy, two of which were simply outstanding reflex efforts from point blank range, kept us in the game. We huffed and puffed but never really looked like blowing Jesmond’s house down, until we were awarded a free kick a full 35 yards out from their goal. Ritchie struck the ball to the right of the keeper into the net for a goal that lifted the whole team and should have taken us onto victory.

Some frantic goal-line scrambles occurred in the Jesmond box and perhaps a cooler head on occasion, would have secured us the victory. Jesmond were there for the taking, but another lapse in concentration allowed them a corner kick in the dying minutes, which then turned into three corners, which we defended stoutly and the game ended. It was a nerve-racking final few seconds and it would have been disastrous to have conceded so late on, having dominated much of the game’s last quarter. Jesmond were delighted with the draw and clearly we were not!

There were positives to take from the game: we did not allow their goal to de-rail us and we defended resolutely with Kevin Mc Mullen outstanding. Individual errors cost us on the day and we all have to accept that they occur at all levels of the game: Rio Ferdinand comes to mind!!

What Have We Learnt:

Referees are all too human and they will make mistakes; badgering them is not likely to either make them change their minds or to look favourably on future 50/50 decisions.
We still need to work on individual fitness levels.
It only takes a second to score a goal and lapses in concentration can create those seconds for the opposition.
We didn’t like drawing and that is the biggest positive to take from the game: the sense of dejection and disappointment afterwards is an excellent sign of the level of expectation we have as a team.

Quote of the Week:
When anger rises, think of the consequences (Confucius)