| Match Report
***Now I warn you all in advance certain parts of this Match report maybe slightly less unbiased than normal... for this I apologise***
Sunday 22nd of February and the Bilbao Army arrived at the nicest ground ever seen to a Sunday league side at KingsMeadow home of AFC Wimbledon and MC Harvey, complete with shower cubicles, shower curtains and our own Lucazade machine it was heaven. Unfortunately as we arrived at the pitch they opposition team also looked shite hot in a sparkling white kit, training tops and the fact that they had all been on growth hormones or THG. The team selection contained a couple of changes from last weeks superb win over Walton Town, Jonesy was injured in the pre-match kick about, sorry warm up and was replaced by Rich Sutton making his first start in while and Neil dropped back into Central defence in the absence of Eddy and was replaced in the middle by Ross, with a point to prove before the Cup Semi. Ben Heather also won a spot upfront alongside Denny with the instructions to try and hold the ball up and retain possession up the pitch.
The game kicked off with a nasty wind against us and from the Start Holmes Place looked every bit a premiership team, to be fair going forward they were pretty awesome with lovely penetrating passing and a midfield player who looked remarkably like Hernan Crespo who ran the ball very well. But as is normally the case in these situations we dig in and replace skill with hard graft, and for about 20-25 minutes we held out the only major scare was one of their monsters flying through the air and putting a header over from 2 yards. Finally they broke through again with some lovely passing and a 10 yard finish, that maybe John could have done better with.
By this time though we had actually started to find some of the ball and launch a few attacks of our own, with Denny almost getting in on a couple of occasions. through to work from our two most effective players in the first half Paul & Andy. While this was good Holmes Place were still in control and every corner felt like a life or death situation, well in fact it was, as they didn't seem to care about an opposing player being in the way between ball and goal, Neil & Steve were both ploughed through during the first half... these boys certainly meant it today !!! Before half time they managed to score another and the boy's from Bilbao went in to half-time knackered & 2-0 down.
At half time while Holmes Place went off into the warmth of the changing rooms we stayed out and tried to work out how to stem the tide, Ross was replaced by a suspension free Phil and asked along with Ben & Steve to make a 5 man midfield to try and win the ball and break forward to link up with Denny. This was decided While sitting on a bench in remembrance to Alf and Bob... these were probably two other players that were obliterated by Holmes place.
Now the next paragraph is here to massage my ego... The second half started off much better for Bilbao as we got far more ball and using the pace of Denny, Phil and Jenks we started to win a string of free-kicks and throw's deep into their half, one such free kicked led to the greatest moment in Bilbao history Jenks slung over a free-kick from the right a defender strained to reach with his head but only succeeded in helping the ball to drop outside the area, now some claim it was 30 yards although I'll settle for 25, the ball bounced once and while being closed down Steve ran on to it gazelle like and crashed his black & silver Nike Total90's through the ball perfectly sending a shot rocket-like flying into the very top corner of the goal for the most amazing goal ever scored in the famous Bilbao shirt, this rising drive was going about 75mph and was arrow-like, Steve then after picking up his jaw ran back to the half way line screaming like a girl while the opposition applauded the 'WunderGoal' and ended up in a bilbao bundle and Kyd offering GS to anyone who'd accept.
From here Bilbao tried to kick on and create a big upset, we were now having plenty of the ball and despite their abundance of 6 footers they were really struggling to deal with the high balls. Denny & Wilf got in each others way and both squandered a good chance, Denny also slashed widely wide, but the chances were there, just as this happened, Holmes place fought back and with their playmaker playing an unstoppable through ball to Hernan Crespo who then smashed the ball past a helpless Johners to make it 3-1, quickly after this they hit us again this time their right winger got just inside our area and curled in into the top corner again... unstoppable. Now for the comedy moment in our defence as John confidently charged out of his area to clear the ball, before whacking it a whole 5 yards further down to pitch, Wilf was also involved in an amusing clearance but luckily for him I can't remember the specifics, kind of like my involvement in one of their goals... Lucky that eh !!!
We were now out of it as a contest but continued to battle away, Phil made a great run down the right but over hit his cross luckily it was still gathered by a Bilbao player lofted back in Phil went up for this and was sandwiched to the ground, a penalty was awarded and he dusted himself down to take it and dispatched it nicely, high into the right corner (could Phil be one of the famous 5 for the cup semi !!!). Before the end Holmes place scored once more to give them a flattering 5-2 win, they were a much better side than us, slightly shaky at the back but great going forward and deserved there win... So that was us out of our first competition of the year, not bad considering it's now the end of February. As we left the pitch they all stopped and clapped Steve off the pitch for his wondergoal, and asked if he'd sign up for them... Obviously Steve assured his worried players that he'd never leave the Bilbao Army...We then retired to our luxury changing where we were complimented on our performance by there club Sec & enjoyed the facilities.
This game was a good workout before the semi next week, although disappointed to lose they were a superior team with a couple of non-league players (Ashford Town) if we play at this standard again we should be alright in the biggest game in the clubs history. Some good performances today Wilf and Neil coped well with some good players and a strong swirling wind, Paul & Jenks did well on the wings and Ben worked hard with little reward. While Phil made an impact, overall Steve win's my man of the match award mainly for the goal but also a strong second half performance !!!
Only 7 Days To go now... ROCK !!! .
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