Old Brentwoods II - League (H)

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It was a cold, windy Saturday morning in Tolworth and most of the boys were in the changing room by 11:45 getting ready for a big game ahead of them. However, we were already off to a rocky start. Frankie and Will were Running late with the kit and put the rest of the boys under the impression that they would be there by 12:00 sharp. This was until Frankie sent a photo to the group chat at 12:10 of him doing his warmup on the train. Eventually, Frankie and Will arrived with the kit at 12:25 (5 minutes before KO), leading to the boys chucking on kit and darting out of the changing room, only to be met by the other team in full on rondos and then in their starting formation by the time we all made it to the pitch.

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The first half starts and with the strong wind blowing with us, we have an early opportunity as two of the Brentwood defenders have a mare with a clearance from Scooter. This leaves me with a chance to run at the keeper and slot it between his legs and straight into his Go-pro in the bottom right corner. This left the lads buzzing as this season it was very unlike the LOBs to have a good start to a game, let alone score a goal (two LOBs goals in five games). The half continues and the boys are playing some surprisingly good football and keeping the Brentwood frontline quiet, which was due to some very solid defending from Wilf and Ryan as well as the fact that all the Brentwood strikers shots ending up on either the other pitch or the cricket square. I can’t move onto the next half without mentioning (which is now becoming a weekly occurrence) Cals halftime ritual, where halfway through our tactical analysis of the game so far, Cal jumps off to the side to empty his stomach which he blamed on the two slices of dominoes he had this morning (breakfast of champions - Ed) rather than the long night out he had before the game. Despite all this, Cal still didn’t find himself as mug of the match, which will become clear as to why very soon.

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The second half begins, and we are already under pressure as Brentwood’s number two, resembling a BTEC Shaqiri, decides to use the wind to his advantage and dish out through balls to his wingers like he’s prime KDB. Because of this Brentwood get a corner and the same player whips one into the box resulting in a scrappy goal. 1-1. However, LOBs respond quickly by playing up the pitch and wide where we managed to get a cross into the box where Honeychurch used some part of his leg (not his foot) to put it past the keeper. Wow, who would’ve thought that this game would see us score not one but two goals AND Honeychurch being on the scoresheet. After this, the boys use our momentum to find us in another scoring opportunity where I’m driving off the right and give it on a plate to Frankie eight yards out from goal, and instead for shooting to put us 3-1 up, he decides he wants to pass it to Honeychurch who’s man marked 4 yards next to him which then the defender clears up the pitch. A well-deserved mug of the match and one to forget about Frankie. This then leads to Brentwood getting a corner on the other side of the pitch and is an exact replica to the first goal, and we conceded making it 2-2. We then see out the game apart from a last-minute scare as the striker misses a cross from 6 yards out and skying it over the crossbar but not a massive surprise as this was a reoccurring theme for him throughout the game.

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Great performance from the boys where all the lads worked hard to get our first point of the season which is hopefully a turning point for the LOBs. Special mention to Bradley and Ryan who I thought had very good games and kept us strong at the back and onto Saturday, where we take on the mighty Old Albanians with one of the furthest away games I’ve ever seen for a LOBs game. #UTLOBs 🦞🦞🦞

George H