There once was a plough they called rusty
Whose defense was usually trusty
But they gave up five goals
And were deep in a hole
Their play made them smell a bit musty
What can we say. We started poorly and got worse. The Redwoods scored first on an uncontested dance down the middle of the pitch and into the goal. The second goal was offsides, but the very nice referee apparently didn’t see it. After going down 0-2, the Rusty Plough improved (there was nowhere to go but up) and they started to get some chances. I don’t know everyone that missed a goal opportunity, but the list was long. Nik drag a shot wide? Yup. Hudson header over the bar? Yup. Costello against the post? Mm hmm. Jose dive in the box? Franco would have been sad. Jeff, a slip that resulted in a ball just a bit too high? You get the idea.
At halftime, the Plough convinced themselves that they were “creating chances” and were “still in it”. But the second half opened with a ball stuck in the left corner of the Plough defensive end. It popped out to 69 who spun Hudson like a top and snapped a shot. Forsyth made the save, but they were faster to the rebound and scored a third.
But the Plough kept pushing. Andy W was all over the center of the pitch, winning challenges and distributing passes. Jose Herrarte was everywhere, defending, attacking, flopping. Man of the Match. Kurt, despite being told to take it easy, got smashed in the nose and threw himself everywhere in an attempt to save his squad. Forsyth pushed shots over the bar. Lewis crushed some gray haired guy in the corner. Eric only said “Oh Eric!” three or four times (welcome to the Plough Eric!). Logan got stuck in whenever he could (welcome Logan!). Roberto was such a beast, he had to be told to take it easy. Josh played defense, midfield and striker! Phil played a calm and cool game and destroyed no other humans. Furlong provided a back heel to Peter. Jason ran the wing, despite preferring a striker role 😊.
The hard work from all of the players paid off shortly after the opposition scored their third, when Welch put in a great corner which was met by Hudson’s head at the near post and powered into the back of the net. For a fleeting moment, Hudson held sole possession of the golden boot. Peter thought Nik scored and engaged in some elaborate celebration with him, but whatever. Hudson negated his goal shortly thereafter by misjudging a long ball, letting it hit has back, and setting up the Redwoods’ fourth.
Patty was so distraught, he left several nipples untwisted. The Redwoods scored another and then Peter made things more respectable when Lewis checked his run (realizing he was offsides) and Peter ran onto the ball. He dribbled into the box, danced for a bit, looked for someone to pass to (but no one else was running at this point), so he had to shoot. He scored!
Shortly thereafter, the whistle blew and the Plough had lost 2-5. I would say that the sun was shining and the team looked resplendent, but it rained and Furlong looked hung over. Franco will be back next week to impose his 4-4-2. Maybe that’s for the best.