O50s Cup: Nailsea 2 v 1 EM95

15th October, 2023 Nailsea

TEAM: Sir, Teague, Jim, Neil, Alex, Yinka, Stu, Duds, Ford, Sheri, Morgs SUBS: Jones, Rance, Colonel

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FIRST LOSS IN TWO YEARS RESULTS IN CUP EXIT!

The Mondays arrived at Nailsea senior school and the dressing room talk was along the lines of, 'Blimey we didn't have a school like this, showers that work, clean toilets, toilet paper vs grease paper.' The last affair with Nailsea was a tough 2-1 win so Monday needed to be on it.

Ominously, the pitch looked vast. This looked like an energy sapper - one for keeping the ball.

The sunny morning started with Sheridan having a long chat with the Nailsea centre half before the team talk began. The team talk consisted of one main theme, keep the ball and use the width of the pitch, tire them out. Not sure what Sheri said to his old mate Rice, but that is exactly what Nailsea did to the 95ers!

The Blues started well, keeping the ball, linking play and establishing some control against what looked to be very good opponents.

Monday had an early warning as to Nailsea’s quality when their forward finished well from 25 yards only to be flagged offside. Which was ‘debated’ by their bench for the next 10 minutes. Monday were just about on top and showing quality too and took a deserved lead when a run from Yinka found Sheri whose shot was saved and parried to Morgs who tapped it in. 1-0

Nailsea then had a few chances and put the 95ers under a bit of pressure and from a corner they bundled home an equalising header.

The 95ers still have plenty of opportunity, Yinka with a few trademark runs causing problems but without finding a finishing touch.

Jim and Yinka then combined to put Jim clean though but the combination of a nosebleed and a heavy touch allowed the keeper to claim.

Half time 1-1. All to play for. Ricky replaced Fordy, Yinka went left Ricky right.

Second half however was not good, at all.

A collective bad day from almost all of the 95ers resulted in failure to get any kind of play going. The Nailsea midfield were everywhere and their forwards caused loads of problems with movement and effort.

The overhead trip wires made more interceptions than the Monday managed did in the second half.

Nailsea’s second goal deep into the second half, had an air of inevitability about it, eventually scoring from a flicked header from a cross. Monday did well to keep them out for as long as they did as the game was played entirely in their half.

Brian came on and provided some quality deliveries from corners and crosses, with the clock running down Bri got his left foot wand out and pinged a lovely cross into the box. Meat and drink normally for Morgs but his weak ankle meant his normal spring was not there so the great escape to take the tie to pens ended there.

2-2 would have been robbery based on the second half so 2-1 to Nailsea was a fair result and the 95ers recent good cup run is over for another year.

So, a first defeat in over two seasons, and the chances of a double double had gone.

Time to concentrate on getting back to back titles. Jim told reporters after the game… “Teams have improved this season so we are gonna get put under a lot more pressure. Every team can have an off day though. That’s one poor performance in 2 years so let’s move on!” Ben Ford also commented… “Overall not the best Mondays performance but this should take nothing away from Nailsea who deserved the victory, now time for Mondays to concentrate on the league.”

Jones added… “They were a tidy side with 2 or 3 very good footballers. It was fairly well matched but we weren’t able to penetrate their defence. We lacked any spark that we normally have and they were the better side on the day. Nobody played badly but nobody had one of those great games that can make the difference.” Sheri summed it up by telling his millions of TikTok followers… “It was our worst second half perfromances in a while. We have since come up with more theories than Einstein about why, what and who as we have not been dominated like that in for a long while. My personal theory is that Nailsea went 3-5-2 and cut off us building through the midfield like normal. We did not get Duds & Stu on the ball. Consequently, we distributed poorly from the back and when we went long we were not accurate and coughed it up… One positive from a loss was that we had one of our best after match pub turnouts with about 12 of us vs the normal 5/6 crew. May the pub turnout continue but not the losses.”

MoM: Not sure anyone put their hand up and played above themselves which maybe sums it up. Though Neil showed his class repelling the relentless pressure second half.