GOWER XMAS BASH DETAILS - NEXT FRIDAY 12TH DEC

Boys,

The Gower Xmas bash on Friday night Dec 12th is taking place at “Paradise by way of Kensal Green” – although it sounds weird, and their website is a bit odd (www.theparadise.co.uk), I have to tell you, this is THE best pub Ive ever been too.

With 5 different rooms, 3 floors and a club upstairs playing great tunes all night, this is a superb option for our Xmas bash, especially as there are birds galore there….

It is at 19 Kilburn Lane, W10 4AE,
It’s a 10 mins walk from Kensal Green station – you will see it on the map.

Meet is 7.30pm and it closes at 2am.

Its time to get wasted! We want as many Gowers as possible so please drop me a note telling me if you can make it.

Cheers

Phil

Allstars vs Tunfell Park Rangers - Sun 30th Nov - match report by Owen Blandy

Rod, Sav, Glyn , Howard , Lol
Jonny , Ricky , Micky , Ollie (Russ)
Botterill , Blandy

The Allstars lined up in familiar fashion for a potentially tough encounter with MA Cup holders TPR.

After a short delay in deciding which pitch to play on, the slightly less muddier but just as narrow one was chosen. Surely the allstars couldn’t play their flowing counter-attacking football?

After a few nervous exchanges the allstars began to settle down and play their stuff, which soon resulted in the game’s first corner. Blandy finally whipped in a good corner which fell to Jonny 15 yards out who swivelled and with his left foot hit a rising shot into the net. 1-0 Great finish!

This seemed to give the allstars great confidence, winning 50-50’s all over the pitch. Some good play between Sav and Ricky on the left side released Jonny who darted down the wing. After playing a swift one two with Blandy, he then burst into the box and stroked the ball past the keeper’s left hand into the bottom corner of the net. 2-0 and the allstars were looking comfortable. The TPR attack was now firmly in the grip of a very solid back-four, with some inspired defending from all. One huge tackle from Sam Howard and a gargantuan punch from Rod were particularly memorable.

Allstars were now looking to kill the game off and it effectively came 5 mins before half time when Botterill’s pace took him clearly past the TPR left back and into the box. Their was only one outcome, 3-0 and now the frustration really kicked in for TPR.

Halftime and Phil’s only words where, “you know what you have to do”.

And in the second half the allstars did exactly that, while TPR got more and more wound up. The challenges were getting dirty, TPR trying to kick the allstars off the pitch but credit to the Ref as he managed to keep control of the situation very well. TPR managed to come back into the game slightly with some good fighting spirit but that was soon put to bed as a textbook Allstar counter attack with Botterill, Blandy and Durrant combining well for Ollie to flick in the fourth. TPR did manage a somewhat hit ‘n’ hope consolation goal towards the end which was a shame seeing as the back five really did deserve a clean sheet. Brilliant defending in severely difficult conditions,

One last mention for the TPR striker with anger management issues to Botts;
“I’ll see ya after the game blud, you can’t hide in the changing room. I’ll bring my mans down!!”

MOTM= The whole team deserves it for sheer strength of character and determination. Jonny comes close with two very well taken goals but this week it goes to Sam Howard who stepped in last minute, with a great unsung hero performance.

Another win and now that’s 6 on the trot for the allstars, that’s Championship form!!

Keep it up!!

Phoenix Pay for missed chances

Outback 3 Phoenix 0

Phoenix (4-4-2) Allister – Dens, Treen, Nick, Miles – Durrant, Selbie, Bradley, Jo P – Jamie Wood, Simon

On a rapidly darkening Sunday afternoon Phoenix missed their chances and then let individual errors cost the team dearly.

The team started well and dominated the early stages. Simon looked dangerous going forward and was well supported by the midfield flanks. Following good build up play both Joe and Ryan shot across the keeper and just past the post as Phoenix showed confidence and creativity.

They had to be aware at the back – Nick made some fantastic clearances after several Outback through balls dissected the defence. Allister had a minor howler – picking up a pass-back and Phoenix were lucky to clear their lines.

Towards the end of the 1st half and Phoenix tired and began to lose possession and not fight enough to get it back in the breakdown. A poor defensive header from Treeno was snaffled by Mike K from Outback (and Phoenix really – we’re much nicer) who lobbed Allister to make it 1-0 just before half time.

In the second half it was simply amazing that Phoenix couldn’t score. Apart from a few weak shots – we were laying siege to their goal at times and it looked certain that Joe, Simon or Miles were going to score. Somehow we didn’t and Outback punished us in the 70th minute with a long range effort by a player who was allowed to run far to far with the ball and beat Allister at his near post.

Heads went down after that on a muddy pitch with little to no light. Outback scored a highly offside third in stoppage time but the game was won.

Need to take our chances and keep our confidence up as a team Phoenix. Big games against Mixer (this Sunday) and QF of the group cup (14th Dec) coming up.

MOTM – Nick – Fantastic defending – several key interceptions and looked good going forward almost scoring on two occasions. Both him and Simon are fitting in well and quickly into Phoenix.