CUP SF: Re-Union 1 v 2 EM95

23rd April, 2023 Clifton College Sports Ground

TEAM: Sir, Teague, Jim, Neil, Bri, Drane, Stu, Duds, Yinka, Sheri, Morgs SUBS: Rick

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After the exit poll for cup dates, the Colonel was faced with picking a date in April which was the only one he could not make, as always, he took the team view, sacrificed himself and jetted off to Athens to secure team sponsorship.

On a bright sunny morning, the Monday were looking to keep their double dream alive whilst aware of the threat posed by the team that ruined cup final day last year.

The pitch was perfectly manicured and ready for a humdinger of a semi-final. Re-Union arrived with a strong line up, and the 95ers knew this was going to be completely different to the league game they won with relative ease. The game started at a fairly frantic pace with Monday having the better of possession and territory, but really struggling to make inroads against a 4-5-1 formation that was starving Duds and Stu of time on the ball. As Stu told waiting reporters after the game... "We were outnumbered in midfield. Or were we? There were a lot of Re-Unions, and they kept changing. Their danger-man attacking midfielder sat back. Their centre forward came back too. Then he went up front again. A small fella in a bib wandered on at some point and roamed around in the middle. The pitch felt big.” Jim added… “We were hustled out of our comfort zone from the off, as every ball was sharply contended, and no one had time on the ball."

Monday resorted to hitting it long with mixed success and chances going begging via a Morgs header, 1 v 1 fluff, Sheri wide of the left post and a Draner opportunity. As Jim told his post match press conference… "The usual possession-based style disappeared fully during the first half, replaced by a new weapon in our arsenal, the long ball game. Strangely this did yield numerous chances as the pace of Morgs and Draner and flicks off Sheri unsettled the Unionists leading to lots of promising breaks and half chances.” “We can’t handle the pace of their front three,” Re-Union kept shouting, “that’s their game!” I wondered whose game because Monday were playing 442, and – there’s no other way of saying this – the front two were not quick on the day. Stu recalled… “We made some decent chances during a bright opening ten. Morg squared one and I hit it over. After a nice lay off from Sheri I almost put Draner in down the side (our ‘out’ ball) but he couldn’t shake off his marker. It was tight but felt like we were going to get on top.” But Re-Union kept things tight, everyone seemed marked all the time. Monday decided to play the percentage game, hitting the channels to send everyone back up the big pitch. That made the middle of the pitch feel even bigger. Duds marshalled their danger man well. Overall an even half played tough and fair and the ref not getting any bother until a sliding tackle from Yinka that saw the ref give a free kick just outside the Monday box.

The foul was given against Yinka however the Re-Union player graciously admitted that Yinka got the ball cleanly that the ref reversed his decision, a great example of true Corinthian spirit.

Unfortunately, the Re-Union right back and a few others were really not happy with this (which seemed an over-reaction). After that the mood & temperature went up a notch for some reason. Re-Union were becoming increasingly frustrated and vociferous in their dislike of some of the refereeing decisions. Not long after, Yinka picked up the ball in his own box and went on a slow jog with a couple Re-Union players on his tail. He then sent a through ball to Morgs who managed to stay on side this time, but was brought down cleanly by his man to man marker. It was a tactic employed well by Re-Union throughout the half, stay tight on Morgs or just put the flag up since on the odd occasion he was not offside, he would look offside!

The half came to a close with Re-Union getting a foothold back into the game. No big chances for either side, a real battle. The half-time talk centred around the need to take chances and keep playing football. Brian told Stu off for running too much, or in the wrong places. He likes to vary it. Apparently, the ref’s half time verdict was that Monday needed to stop messing around in the middle, which was nice. Ricky came on for Marcus who had done a great job on their tricky No 9 when he ventured wide. As Stu later told reporters… “Marcus stuck to their forward like a limpet and made him do a bad swear.” The second half started in the same vain, tough tackling and a few unhappy players from both sides questioning the referee’s decisions. As Sheri told reporters after the game… “The real fuss was due to the Re-Union centre back not being happy with Morgs chatting at him as he chased him down and Yinka was not getting on with their right back who was a bit over zealous.”

There was also half time talk of getting Yinka more involved down the left and when Stu knocked a long ball over the top, Yinka got his skates on. Despite Yinka keeping the ball in play, the Re-Union full-back slid in and took the ball out of play, the ref was unsure as to give a corner or goal kick. What followed can only be described as a tantrum by the Re-Union player shouting his frustration and moaning about something that had happened on the other pitch. Yinka tried to calm the situation down by calling him a cheat, but the ref gave a goal kick as he couldn't be bothered with the aggro.

This inspired the 95ers to try passing the ball to Yinka again, a simple ball fired to the corner flag allowed Yinka to ghost pass his defender and get to the ball before it rolled out for a corner.

What happened next is debatable, Yinka would say he fired in a shot from an impossible angle to put the team 1-0 up.

Draner would say it was an excellent cross that allowed him to put pressure on the defender to force the ball over the line, Alex just said it was an almighty cock by the Re-Union defender and keeper to deflect the ball over the line.

The goal was strongly contested by Re-Union as Sheri observed… “Bedlam ensued as one of their players said it was out. It was absolutely miles from being out and really disappointing that such a shout was made, even the Re-Union linesman called the ball in play." Sheri was still not happy with this on the half way line and shared his views with the oppo concerned (not something he normally gets involved in.) Jim also commented after the game… “They claimed in desperation the ball had crossed the dead ball line, but I could see clearly from 80 yards away that this was not the case.” This took a bit of wind out of the Re-Union sails and the 95ers started to get on top, they started pushing more men forward which created gaps that the pace of Drane and Yinka could exploit. The Re-Union keeper pulled off two stunning saves to deny Morgs, who took time out from the verbal jousting with their centre back to smash a volley goal-wards at the far post, only to see their keeper tip it over. An even better save followed from a corner with a point blank save from a powerful shot inside the six-yard box.

Eventually the 95ers got a second. A good throw in from Ricky reached Yinka to head for a flick on for Draner who nipped in and toe poked it into the net ahead of two defenders. 2-0.

It was wonderland and the 95ers surely had the game sewn up. However, by this time Yinka was getting too cocky on the left and enjoying his dual with his punchy little marker, a poor step over and attempted acceleration proved too much for his hamstring and he had to come off with 15 mins to go.

Re-Union were not going away though and started to pile the pressure on and went three at the back. As Yinka told Sky Sports after the game… “My coming off seemed to inspire Reunion to keep going and really push for a goal.”

Within 5 mins it came, an excellent corner was cleared, but Monday were slow coming out and a miss hit shot turned into the perfect cross met by a brilliant header in the top corner, the impressive Sir Lee in goal had no chance. Then a through ball saw a Re-Union player released on the right, one on one with big Lee to beat in the Monday goal, despite a good shot to Lee's left, he got across well to make an excellent save. Described by Stu writing in his Monday morning article for the Guardian… ‘Lee’s save at 2-1 was easily the highlight. The ball broke loose about 10 yards out and as someone hammered it he came flying out and made a star shape.’ A fantastic defensive header from Morgs also helped keep the Blues in front. The ref scolded Mark for telling Keeper Lee to waste time. Stu added… “I had a couple of lie downs as they kept bringing on ‘fresh’ legs.”

The final minutes were frantic, the 95ers could have made it made easier on themselves if Ricky had converted from 10 yards out after excellent work from Draner.

In his post match interview, Stu put it more succinctly… “As they pressed we had loads of potential breakaways but found novel ways to fuck it up.”

The game ended as it started with Morgs offside as he crossed the half way line when the Monday had a 3 on 1 to finish off the game. Bri was not happy.

After the game Sheri commented… “Everyone stepped up for the Monday but Duds and Stu despite not totally bossing the middle stood up brilliantly against being up against three in the middle. Sir Lee was not far behind as he swept well, some great saves at key moments and great punches from the crosses.” Yinka had a similar opinion as he told his millions of Facebook fans … “Relentless work from Stu and Duds in midfield was excellent to cancel out Re-Unions strong midfield and was only bettered by Lees excellent saves, distribution and control of his box. MoM for me.” Rance summed up in his press conference… “A great victory in a really, really tough match.”

This was the toughest game of the season for the Monday and the victory was hard won. The Cup final and potential double awaits. Men Of the Match: Stu, Duds, Sir Lee.