League:
Portsmouth Family Church 1-4 TESTWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH
After 2
wins from our first 2 league matches, a similar result against PFC would
send us to the nose-bleedingly-dizzy heights of first place in Division
2.
Southampton-Portsmouth
footballing encounters are tense occasions at the best of times and this
was no exception. “Welcome to Cosham” sneered the roadsign. Undaunted by
this outlandish display of hostility we pressed on to the sports-ground
where our contingent of travelling supporters (a record breaking 5!!!)
were subjected to a barrage of polite “Hello”s, “How to you do”s, and “Lovely
weather for this time of year”s from the home fans.
The game
kicked off and (for once) Testwood started the brighter of the two teams.
Roger Frapwell and Andy Daish each had a chance cleared off the line and
were leading the PFC defence a merry old dance. At the other end PFC could
only muster a few long range shots which caused little bother.
Midway
through the first half a quick John Murray throw-in released Rob Oag down
the left. His cross found Frapwell who made it to the by-line and squared
to DAISH who was left with the simplest of tap-ins.
About five
minutes later Testwood were awarded a free-kick just outside the PFC box.
Chris Allcock chipped the ball goalwards and OAG managed to flick the ball
over the advancing keeper to make it 2-0.
A little
later, a promising Testwood move broke down and PFC found themselves on
the counter-attack. A sweeping move led to their striker slotting the ball
past Duncan Cheyne in the Testwood goal.
Half time:
Portsmouth Family Church 1-2 TESTWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH
At half
time we sensed the next goal would be critical, and so we thought it best
if we scored it. This strategy worked rather better than we’d hoped as,
soon after the restart, Oag threaded a ball through to FRAPWELL to run
on to and beat the keeper from 12 yards.
After a
good spell of pressure Testwood extended their lead when FRAPWELL found
himself one-on-one again, and beat the keeper with ease to make it 4-1.
Testwood
had a late scare when Grant Angel was adjudged to have fouled PFC’s centre-back
(who was about 7 feet tall!!) and a penalty was awarded.
The player
coolly stroked the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal, leaving
Cheyne helplessly looking on, but our youthful referee (sporting his very
first shaving cut!!) ordered the kick retaken for encroachment. This time
Cheyne flung himself to his right and pulled off a magnificent save which
made the game safe, secured the 3 points, and forced us to leave the pitch
with tissues clutched to our faces….we were top of the league!!!!.
Final score:
Portsmouth Family Church 1-4 TESTWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH.
The squad:
D Cheyne, M Billows, C Allcock, J Billows, P Shepherd, C Hendley (G Angel
45), C Hayward, J Murray, R Frapwell, Rob Oag, A Daish.
