Date: 07/09/2019
Venue: ‘The Green’ – Wisborough Green
Weather: Spattered cloud cover but mostly warm and dry
KO: 3pm

The season opener saw us travel to the quaint little village known as ‘Wisborough Green’.
A fine day for football started as all should, with a dunking completion at the back of the pavilion which quickly turned into a ‘who can actually dunk’ competition.

As always, the rondo was set into motion, fun time is limited, for after the rondo, you must switch on. A rule that didn’t apply to Rugwick’s own Fridge Freezer as he was to be banish from the rondo only to show off his clear set piece prowess as he blazed every penalty he took over the keeperless goal – really cementing his decision to leave toady’s opponents in the summer.

A new face on the pitch today as an unknown referee asked the Rudgwick manager where each lino should be with “its been a long summer” following the inexcusably idiotic question. A sign of things to come.

Kick off came and went, the game started very slowly with Rudgwick enjoying the lion’s share of possession, a theme that would continue throughout. Cries of “SHAPE” from both Ian and Nick echoed around the green as Rudgwick finally struck after dominating the game and creating a plethora of chances. Kizza with a calmly taken chance gave the visitors the lead.

A rather uneventful first half was all but over when Kizza notched for the second time in 10 minutes, a scrappy affair in the goal mouth gave way to the astute forward’s quick thinking, a simple tap in of a header greeted today’s eventual MOTM – 2-0 at the half when the ref’s whilst blows.

The most non-Ian Matthews half time team talk then took place, full of insights into the first half, useful advice and genuine encouragement for each player to go out and continue the hard work during the second 45.

Time for a much more entertaining second half, the referee would see to that. Within minutes of the restart, Archer is sent down the left wing, given a clear chance on goal until the Wisborough Green full back scythes him down just outside the box, a clear last man challenge that resulted in a goal scoring opportunity being denied. One can only assume the ref hadn’t read his rule book before what was clearly his first game wielding the whistle as he proceeded to brandish a YELLOW card. A freekick just outside the box, one man takes control (Walshe wasn’t available). Blick Jr. steps up and curls the ball into the bottom right hand corner with aplomb. If the goal was impressive then the celebration was a stroke of genius as the striker ran over to the caged Fridge Freezer (side-lined on his return to his former club due to an administrative error on Wisborough Green’s part) with a loud statement “LET THE BOY PLAY” he cried as the pair shared a warm embrace. 3-0 Rudgwick.

During what seemed to be a somewhat innocuous challenge, Harry ‘HP Sauce’ Pleece went down clutching his thigh and holding his head – a concussion shortly followed to mask a suspected torn hamstring – RIP Mr. Sauce.

The final 20 minutes of the game gave Rudgwick more to think about than the previous 70 as Wisborough Green’s best player and centre half decided to maraud forward into the midfield in an effort to overload the visitors. A tactic that would not have worked had Nick Watt not had a clear lust for blood – a swift Wisborough Green attack sees the centre half in his own bock with a forward bearing down on goal – like a bull to a red rag, the insatiable Watt commits what can only be described as grievous bodily harm to gift the hosts a stonewall penalty. After getting something on the spot kick, Luke could not prevent the clean sheet from disappearing into the distance.

Final score 1-3 Rudgwick.
MOTM – Kizz
WOTW – Nick ‘Hannibal’ Watt
Overall team rating – 7/10

GK – Luke Burrows – 8/10 – nothing much to do with his hands today, his feet did the talking a very rounded performance even though he could do nothing to prevent the penalty from hitting the net.
RB – Harry Pleece – 7/10 – the attack minded full back did very well to rein himself in when the team needed it most, slowing play down at the right times. Very solid, clean sheet – get well soon.
CB – Dan Baker (c) – 7/10 – gave the oppositions centre forward a lot of think about, calm as ever, didn’t really put a foot wrong.
CB - Nick Watt – 6/10 – positive, controlled and composed are just a few words you wouldn’t use to describe his game – the pen knocks him down.
LB – Andrew Whitworth – 6/10 – gave everything he had for 45 minutes, good solid performance from the new father.
CDM – Ross Higham – 8/10 – did exactly what was asked of him, marshalled, supported and controlled his areas of the pitch.
CM – Graeme Sosna – 8/10 – spun the oppositions midfield into a web – the kind of performance you come to expect from him.
CAM – Kizz Greig – 9/10 – Today’s MOTM – everything you want in a no.10; floated in between the lines, brought others into play and bagged a brace for his troubles.
LW – Josh Archer – 7/10 – with his Thomas Muller socks and shin pads combo, he caused the opposition problems on whatever side he played, scrappy and tenacious at times but what else would expect from a cage fighter?
ST – Mark Blick – 7/10 – troubled their best player throughout the game, chased down every ball and scored in honour of his fallen friend. 10/10 for the embrace, would hug again.
RW – Steve Blick – 7/10 – an unusually quiet game for Blick Sr but when he was involved, he caused untold problems for the opposition’s back line – plenty more to come from this guy.

Subs:
LB – Bradley Barnett – 7/10 – composed performance from the right footer, extremely switched on after the rondo
CM - Ryan Cox – 7/10 – into the fray to take over from Ross and did exactly that – put himself about and made sure nothing was easy through the middle
RB & CAM– Adam Kemp – 7/10 – not his natural position but certainly did a job after injury forced Harry off
RB – Sam Pole – 7/10 – a short time on the pitch, did his job well and saw the game out.