Gainsborough Report - Part 2

By: Tony Butcher
Date: 30/07/2004

GAINSBOROUGH walked out first and waited, waited, waited, waited. Were Town watching telly? Were they so gripped by DIY SOS that they just had to find out if that two-storey extension was completed?

Substitutions were made, Marcelle replaced the semi-limping Sestanovich and Mumford the hobbling Wheeler. Yes, Wheeler had taken a knock near the end of the half. There is not much to say about Wheeler’s contribution except he kept giving free kicks away by bumping and barging into the back of strikers. For this he kept getting told off by the extremely confident Fraser, who even gave advice to McDermott. "Plenty of time Macca". Not really, it’s the twilight of this god, for Macca gave a sketch of Maccaness. He wasn’t as unbeatable as one would expect, but largely coped by defending without tackling.

Within the first few minutes Town should have scored a couple more. A break down the right , some twists and turns and Soames ran into the area, laying off a pass towards Hildred. It was misplaced but rolled behind Holland near the penalty spot, who leant, swivelled and sent a right foot shot towards the top left hand corner. The goalkeeper sprang away and finger-tipped the ball away magnificently for a corner. The corner was half-cleared and Young dribbled towards the bye-line on the right and smacked a cross/shot towards the top corner. Again the goalkeeper reacted superbly to parry away for another corner. Jones slapped a header well wide from this final attack.

It all got very, very boring for Town supporters after this. The Gainsboroughians would have been mighty pleased by the way they pressed and almost scored a couple of times. A header hit the bar, defenders were forced into last ditch swipes, and some hefty thwacks too. The substitutions started to kick in, and the substitutes started to kick. Jones was taken off with an injury, replaced by Chamberlain, who runs like Mike Edwards, and defends like a junior version. Let’s hope he grows into the real thing. Liam Parker replaced Ramsden with 20 minutes left and Town had two juniors and a tubby trialist in defence. Mumford waddled like a giant Darren Barnard. He had the air of someone who had played professional football, and was a really useful addition to that Sunday league team. Somewhere in all this Trentside twiddling McDermott had another surge forward and a cross shot was saved low to his right by the ’keeper. Holland followed up and slid in, but the ball was blocked and bounced off him for a goal kick.

Soames and Marcelle dived in quick succession, both failing to get free kicks, which annoyed them, but amused us. The Gainsborough number 2 moaned when the ref gave a corner after he rugby tackled Greg Young. I think the ball brushed his highlights on its way out. See: dull, not much happening. Whoops, Gainsborough break, men free, men spare. A cross from the right over to the far post. A striker unmarked, a dozen yards out, just Fraser to beat….we weren’t dooooomed, for the big-bottomed boy stood tall and parried the shot away. In the last few minutes Heggarty, replaced Soames, but not until Soames had made one more mess up. Holland moved well across and behind the defence, anticipating a lob forward into the penalty area on the right. He awaited the dropping ball and controlled in an instant, turning past his marker and crossing from just a few yards out. The ball rolled to the unmarked Soames, 8 or 9 yards out. The goalkeeper had been out of his goal on his left, but managed to run past the dawdling Soames and pick the ball up as it bombled along and past the far post.

That’s it, finished.

Holland was probably worthy of another chance, for he found it hard in the second half, visibly tiring, if not tiring of his ineffectual strike partners: Arrrgh Soames and Flibbertigibbet Clint, the promenading paperweight. Holland had a lot of shots, made some excellent runs and a few fancy lay-offs. He had something. Marcelle looked to be an equivalent standard to Gainsborough players, Soames aspired to that standard. Jones wasn’t required to tackle, just head the ball, which he did very well. Coldicott and Hildred were not overrun, but didn’t run the show. Coldicott looked a bit timid. Young was way, way out of position, looking like a centre back playing as a winger; it just doesn’t work, that sort of thing. Macca looked like an old pro, not quite what he was, but frequent reminders that his brain, if not body, can still find the extra few inches needed.

Sestanovich and Ramsden were by several eons the best players on the pitch.

So what did we learn from a night out in Gainsborough with the home-made chip butties? The catering was good and reasonably priced.

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