Gloucester A 0-1 Woking A by Mary, Mungo & Midge
It was a happy pre-match changing room. It was a focussed pre-match changing room. And best of all, it was a full pre-match changing room. Harvey ‘Shut Eye’ Clifford, for once, was in attendance. And for the first time in recorded history, he was the first to arrive.
Soon to follow were Brother Liggett who had no shoes, Desmond Lynam who had no socks and Pain au Chocolat Jones, who had no trousers. While changing rooms, by definition, are for changing, several of the assembled throng had little to change out of. One person who had though, was Stopper Moroney, who had conceded seven and saved precisely none while wearing Cornwell’s yellow-tinged apparel in his two previous district appearances – his return to the tried & trusted all-grey of yesteryear almost proving to be the masterstroke of the season to date.
The first half of Woking’s visit proved to be a close-fought affair with defences by and large on top – Mclean, Desmond, Jones and Blackburn equal to all the Surrey team’s forays into the Gloucester half, Moroney’s only save of the first period being an excellent tip over following Gunn’s rasping shot.
For Gloucester, Smith’s return to something resembling an upright stance following his previous appearance which featured 89% of sedentary striking, saw him threaten the Woking goal on several occasions, one effort flashing just wide of the far upright, while another was well saved by Hill.
Right on half time skipper Blacker beat two defenders down the right, cut inside, but drove his final effort over the bar as the first thirty finished goalless.
The second period saw the game open up somewhat, with Liggett providing most of Gloucester’s footballing creativity, but Blacker and the city side’s other offensive players were well marshalled by the visitors’ pair of extremely competent centre backs.
At the other end Moroney, revitalised by the return of his former kit, produced two great saves to keep the scores level before Davies peeled off his marker to head home what proved to be the winner with eighteen minutes remaining. Even the all-grey jersey couldn’t keep that one out.
Gloucester tried hard to come back, Clifford having coming off for a second half nap as his earlier than usual start to the day began to play havoc with his waking patterns, but despite their commendable effort, the city side produced little to threaten the Woking goal and it was the Surrey outfit that came closest to scoring when Gunn fired against the woodwork.
Bread & water Smith was reintroduced late on to try to give the visiting defenders something to think about, but they ignored him completely and the ingenious new tactic which had taken whole seconds to think up, failed to bear any fruit whatsoever.
Also largely ignored was Pain au Chocolat’s post-match meal, a lack of expensively assembled French viennoiserie pastries rendering his voracious appetite largely inconsequential.
Not ignored at all though was the visiting coaches’ post-B Team game’s mathematical musings, though it surely didn’t take them 45 minutes and three sheets of A4 to calculate this was the first time they’d done the double over Gloucester at Longlevens – and without conceding a goal into the bargain.
Woking head coach Glenn La Roche, a man not known for overt or extensive signs of happiness, greeted the final whistle of Game Two and the completion of the numerical revelations with a grin so wide that his dental records could be studied in detail by partially-sighted spectators from a distance approaching thirty metres, an expression that, barring a brief ‘comfort break’ at Reading services, was still intact as the final rites of FA Cup Match of the Day were being pronounced at a few minutes to twelve.
Meanwhile, it’s going to be a week of rumination and reflection for Gloucester’s wounded warriors as they trawl the guide books in search of a route to goal. And a visit to Primark in search of trousers, shoes and socks might be a good idea too.
Gloucester A: Moroney; Lynam, Mclean, Blackburn; Blacker, Jones, Chamberlain, Clifford; Smith. Subs: Liggett, Wilkes, Lawson.
Soon to follow were Brother Liggett who had no shoes, Desmond Lynam who had no socks and Pain au Chocolat Jones, who had no trousers. While changing rooms, by definition, are for changing, several of the assembled throng had little to change out of. One person who had though, was Stopper Moroney, who had conceded seven and saved precisely none while wearing Cornwell’s yellow-tinged apparel in his two previous district appearances – his return to the tried & trusted all-grey of yesteryear almost proving to be the masterstroke of the season to date.
The first half of Woking’s visit proved to be a close-fought affair with defences by and large on top – Mclean, Desmond, Jones and Blackburn equal to all the Surrey team’s forays into the Gloucester half, Moroney’s only save of the first period being an excellent tip over following Gunn’s rasping shot.
For Gloucester, Smith’s return to something resembling an upright stance following his previous appearance which featured 89% of sedentary striking, saw him threaten the Woking goal on several occasions, one effort flashing just wide of the far upright, while another was well saved by Hill.
Right on half time skipper Blacker beat two defenders down the right, cut inside, but drove his final effort over the bar as the first thirty finished goalless.
The second period saw the game open up somewhat, with Liggett providing most of Gloucester’s footballing creativity, but Blacker and the city side’s other offensive players were well marshalled by the visitors’ pair of extremely competent centre backs.
At the other end Moroney, revitalised by the return of his former kit, produced two great saves to keep the scores level before Davies peeled off his marker to head home what proved to be the winner with eighteen minutes remaining. Even the all-grey jersey couldn’t keep that one out.
Gloucester tried hard to come back, Clifford having coming off for a second half nap as his earlier than usual start to the day began to play havoc with his waking patterns, but despite their commendable effort, the city side produced little to threaten the Woking goal and it was the Surrey outfit that came closest to scoring when Gunn fired against the woodwork.
Bread & water Smith was reintroduced late on to try to give the visiting defenders something to think about, but they ignored him completely and the ingenious new tactic which had taken whole seconds to think up, failed to bear any fruit whatsoever.
Also largely ignored was Pain au Chocolat’s post-match meal, a lack of expensively assembled French viennoiserie pastries rendering his voracious appetite largely inconsequential.
Not ignored at all though was the visiting coaches’ post-B Team game’s mathematical musings, though it surely didn’t take them 45 minutes and three sheets of A4 to calculate this was the first time they’d done the double over Gloucester at Longlevens – and without conceding a goal into the bargain.
Woking head coach Glenn La Roche, a man not known for overt or extensive signs of happiness, greeted the final whistle of Game Two and the completion of the numerical revelations with a grin so wide that his dental records could be studied in detail by partially-sighted spectators from a distance approaching thirty metres, an expression that, barring a brief ‘comfort break’ at Reading services, was still intact as the final rites of FA Cup Match of the Day were being pronounced at a few minutes to twelve.
Meanwhile, it’s going to be a week of rumination and reflection for Gloucester’s wounded warriors as they trawl the guide books in search of a route to goal. And a visit to Primark in search of trousers, shoes and socks might be a good idea too.
Gloucester A: Moroney; Lynam, Mclean, Blackburn; Blacker, Jones, Chamberlain, Clifford; Smith. Subs: Liggett, Wilkes, Lawson.
