Randall's Island field #74
Time: 4pm
----- match report by Kevin Gordon
The weather was glorious, but the Sunday afternoon match between Barnstonworth Rovers and Gotham Argo was not. Despite the negatives—and there were plenty—Argos managed to keep their heads up and claw their way back from a series of costly defensive errors to salvage a 3-3 draw.
The Argos started poorly and were unable to put a string of passes together for large portions of the first half. Some could say that this was due to rustiness and the four new faces in the squad, but it was probably due as much to complacency as anything—it was as though the team had expected to win simply by showing up. The play was narrow, hurried, and without purpose. The Rovers, though not an especially good footballing side, were determined and worked hard and managed to capitalize on a series of Argo mistakes to go two goals up by half-time.
The first Rovers goal originated with a free kick inside their own half. Kevin, in flinging his head a ball that was beyond him, only managed to paw it out of the air. The referee had no choice but to show the young lad a yellow card, the first of his life. The free kick was lifted into the area, and the Argos failed to clear their lines. In the scramble that followed, one of the Rovers managed to poke the ball into the net.
Kevin will also have to take some of the blame for the second goal. He failed to stay with his man, the tireless Rover’s number 12, and was trying to recover as the player received the ball near the outside of the box. He heeded Elliot, the Argo keeper’s direction to stay on his feet, but still lunged in too quickly, and the Rover’s number 12 easily knocked the ball inside him and put a cross into the six-yard box. Once again the ball bounced around the area, and once again the Argos found themselves picking the ball out of the net. With this rude wake up call, the Argos managed to fashion a few chances before half-time, but never truly threatened to score.
The Argos got together at half-time, and managed to regain their composure, both individually and collectively. While not accomplishing the same level of passing and movement as in the fall season, the Argos started to take control of the game. They managed to find teammates and move the ball upfield, completing more passes in the first ten minutes than they had managed in most of the first period. Within ten minutes the first Argo goal came. Demian received the ball just outside the area and ran at goal. Two Rovers defenders were quickly on him, but he managed to push the ball between them and hit it into the back of the net from around the penalty spot.
The comeback was on, but not before the Argos hit another hitch. The ref raised his arm as if to call offside on the Rovers, but when he failed to blow the whistle, the Argo defense was left confused and scrambling. As a Rover’s striker approached, Elliot came out to clear the ball, but only managed to bash it against the opposition player and deflect it into his own net.
It didn’t take long for the Argos to regain their domination of the game though, and minutes later they had a corner. Sam hit a high ball across the top of the six yard box, and Bruno wisely ignored James Whiteley’s call and headed the ball powerfully past the Rover’s keeper.
The Argos continued pounding on the door, with Whiteley, Kevin, and Sam all going close, but in the end the equalizer came from the penalty spot. Sam hit the ball waist high and to the right, narrowly passing the keeper’s outstretched hands. The goal was like the Argo performance; it wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.
Though there were no more goals, the remaining minutes of the game were not without incident. Whitely, after nicking the ball of a Rover’s midfielder, turned and began to run down field. His trailing arm, though, caught the Rover’s player in the face as he buckled down to chase after Whitely. Though there was no malice in it, the referee felt obligated—probably due to the amount of leg kicking and cries of agony from the Rover’s player—to show Whitely a yellow. Tensions ran high and members of both teams exchanged unpleasant language for a while before the game was finally restarted.
As it turned out, the issue was not fully sorted, as the Rover's left-back, who'd been growing less and less stable as the Argos mounted their comeback, finally snapped and it wasn’t long before he was lunging in recklessly on Argo’s Momo, catching the midfielder well after he’d released the ball, and earning the hotheaded Rover’s player a straight red card. More words were exchanged, some very forcefull, but in the end the game was almost over anyway.
The Argos can take some heart from the fact that they managed to draw against the third ranked team in the Metro 2 division, despite playing well below their best. Still, they will have to improve if they are to remain at the top of the table, because on the evidence of this game, they don’t much deserve the title.
GOALS: Demian, Bruno, Sam
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