Dominant ATB On Top Form

A long Easter break meant  ATB FC’s squad came back refreshed for an intensive week of fitness training by head coach Maticevic. The training was so intense infrequent squad player ‘G’ suffered from a collapsed lung from the sheer effort of complying with the Boss’ harsh fitness regime and was unavailable for the match.

#PrayForG

Polish number 9 Sawko and gangly goalie Oscar Davies were involved in a training ground clash with reserve player ‘Alasdair the Bruce’, which left the keeper with a damaged ankle and serious grazes. Fortunately, team physio Nikhil Lal was on hand to nurse the injured players. However, the injury ravaged team still had high morale for our first game back against ‘KFC’.

Manager Maticevic’s organisational nous meant we arrived 45 minutes early for our match. This organisational skill was clearly not matched by our opposition manager as KFC turned up 10 minutes late, thus giving us a 1-0 advantage.

With ‘Impenetrable’ Patrick and ‘Solid’ Sam in defence, the Boys proved resistant to KFC’s attacks. Meanwhile, former star player was demoted to Jonny ‘Benchwarmer’ Brown as part of Maticevic’s ambitious plan to start Powell in midfield as the engine of the team with Obi up front.

When we finally started playing, the Boys were rocked by another injury, this time to Sawko who simply miskicked a ball and sprained his knee. Jonny came on in his place giving him a chance to make up for his previous lack of commitment.

The first half was a fairly muted affair. Your reporter, the gangly goalie that I am, was only called upon once to make a save as the defence gave a very good account of themselves. The second half was much more open as ATB pressed forward with Jonny’s spirited performance creating chances for Obi. One such chance happened to fall to the Old Man who, with an open goal at his mercy, could only hit the post (thus earning him the notorious wooden spoon). This miss was too much for Sam who fell to his knees in disbelief at the seasoned veteran’s miss. In Old Man Obi’s defence, his medication changed recently so he found it hard to focus.

Obi’s miss caused heartbreak amongst loyal fans

ATB’s attacking mentality left the team open in defence though the much-improved keeper Davies was called upon to make several important saves when the usually solid defence was broken. By the end of the game, the defenders had clearly grown impatient with KFC’s attacks as they booted the ball as far as possible as soon as it fell to them.

The final whistle was somewhat of a relief to the Boys who had gained a welcome victory- albeit on a technicality.  Clearly, they had maintained the skill that gave them a meteoric rise into mid-table at the end of last term. It was decided the goal we received on a technicality would go down as a Sam Butler goal from a Patrick Atherton assist, in light of their receiving joint man of the match.

After the game, Martin ‘The Boss’ Maticevic said:

“It was an impressive performance for the Boys and I thought we played some attractive football in the second half. I was confident before the game that starting Ewan to reward him for his hard training and impressive recent displays and bringing Jonny on as a supersub was the right thing.

“I’d like to congratulate Patrick for becoming a reformed defender as it appears he is much more effective beside Sam than I was. It means I can now play in my natural midfield position but I’ll probably get less game time.

“Obi was an animal in training but he disappointed me with his poor finishing which is unlike him. I can’t say for sure whether he’ll be upfront for the remainder of the season. We must pray for G now as his lung has collapsed once again when he begun rehabilitation. He has been released from Northwick Park Hospital after a minor operation; our physio doesn’t expect him to return this season.”

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