………..and finally its here as the long summer breaks grinds to a halt and its time for all the hard work and preparation to be put to the test and rewarded, after a surprisingly short drive we arrived at the pitch but the ref was intent on STAMPING his authority early and with no time to warm up or get in the zone we was off, luckily jay had named the team as we were getting changed and was in the shape of ben, nat dobbo trueman(C) jacko duffy mortan dan gav shifty and hill with stanny cooper james and mucky on the bench.
I would say the gate started the worst I have ever seen them but the did not even start until the half hour mark and with such the high standard they have set was still not quite there, however the gate still was not troubled by Stanley and after the 30 minute learning curve there was only 1 team who was learning and adapting to a brand new league, team and refereeing style. The 35 minute mark saw the gate now imposing themselves on Stanley who looked tired and was not reacting. half time whistle went and with some wise and encouraging words from jay and shifty been rested for coops the gate started right from where they left off and really had the game by the scruff of the neck, some fantastic football right out of the top draw and a finish to match by mark hill saw the gate put there noses in front with this new found confidence the football got better and it looked like there was only 1 team going to score the gate was trying to get a tempo going but with stern resistance there was only so much they could do and after having 90% of the possession the gate conceded from a corner they won the first ball but with a leg swung the ball somehow found the net. The gate looked shocked and disappointed but as a team they pulled together and kept there heads up and went right back at Stanley armed with the last 5 mins and gritty determination, up to now the ref had give the gate nothing but yellow cards and that was not about to change with stanny on for mortan he grabbed what was sure to be the winner………… only for it to be ruled out by a dubious off side decision and that was the last kick of the game.
Few key points
COOPER is back and looks hungry
JACKO been the coolest man on the pitch when everyone round him is losing there composure.
GAV getting booked for been fouled
Before the game I would have settled for nothing less then all the points however under the circumstances I think the point away from home is a good result and I think more importantly we all learned something!.
