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Raven's Ramblings

Raven's Ramblings

GAFC News5 Oct 2015 - 10:34
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David Raven gives us his unique look at the previous weeks footballing highlights

We successfully negotiated a potential banana skin with a little more conviction in the FA Cup against Hullbridge Sports . The previous round had seen us make hard work of getting into the hat and we then followed that up with a poor performance and a deserved defeat against Bognor Regis Town.

I said last week that defeat came at a good time for us as we have a real testing run of games coming up and having our feet planted firmly back on terra firma seems to have done us a power of good. DD has threatened a hat-trick on several occasions already this season - which would have been a first in some time for a Blues player - and after missing the last round through suspension and a tough old game against Staines Town last week he was determined to make an impact on Saturday...but the BFT beat him to it. DD eventually rounded off a good win by completing a hat-trick of his own which already has the anoraks running to their almanacs to find out the last time two players scored hat-tricks in the same game in alternating sequence. News on this as it breaks.

Our u18s successfully negotiated a potential banana skin as they got their FA Youth Cup campaign underway last Monday night with a resounding 4-0 win against Eton Manor at Mill Field. Nana Boachie's side had lost 3-2 to the same opponents in the league in the previous week and for many of the squad it was their first experience of playing under floodlights and their first experience of playing in the FA Youth Cup. After an understandably nervy start the lads settled down and a brace apiece from Joseph Boachie and Billy Davis sent the young Blues into the 2nd Qualifying Round where they will face AFC Hornchurch at Bridge Avenue next Thursday night. Joseph Boachie, Billy Davis and u18s captain Ben McGill have started the season well, train- ing with the senior squads and playing for the reserves and the experience is already proving beneficial to the u18s and judging by Monday night's performance it won't be too long before more of the younger play- ers will be knocking on the reserve team gaffer's door!

The reserves successfully negotiated a potential banana skin as they got their ESL Reserve Shield campaign underway last Saturday. The Blues second string hosted high-flying Thurrock who had only conced- ed once in the league this season and had handed our lads a bit of a beating on the opening day of the season. On that day a freak injury ruled out goalkeeper George Kamurasi hours before kick-off and travel problems meant only 12 players made it to the ground and only 10 players made it to half-time with the score at 1-0. The next time I tell this story our one-legged goal- keeper will have saved three penalties and our u15s back four washed away in the flood that carried the ball into the goal to make it 2-0. The rest, so they say, is hist- tory. On Saturday the Fleet were stunned to find themselves watching the draw instead of being in it as goals from 18- year-olds Jamie Fuller and Calum Maltese sealed the vitory and set up a home quar- ter-final against Waltham Forest with the date and KO time still to be decided.

No word in foobtall minds up the messes like Brazil. Zico, Rivelino, Socrates, Ronaldo and many, many more but none more so than the master Pele...the beauti- ful game transcends to a level where you forget the poverty, the social mayhem and the kids exchanging automatic weapons fire as they battle for prized turf in the drugs war...and now...Gabriel Murta is a name that will become as hard to shake off as the aforementioned legends. Murta was officiating a non-league game between Brumadinho and Amantes da Bola. When a Brumadinho player was not sent off for an infringement the Amantes manager and substitutes - the team's name translates as 'lovers of the ball' - ran onto the pitch and attacked the referee. Murta, also a police officer, responded by pulling out a hand- gun to ignite a series of brown trousers as his assistants desperately persuaded him not to use the weapon. Murta will now go through a psychological assessment before a decision is made on his ability to officiate in future games.

I was reffing on Sunday and I didn't have an awful lot to do because the two sides just wanted to play football and when the wind picked up the ball stayed on the pitch an awful lot despite the best attempts of the players. I was tempted to time how long the ball was in play but a) that'sbecoming a bit too obsessive and b) we really can't have a Sunday League game having the ball in play for more than a Ryman Premier League game. While the game was a decent 1-1 draw I have possi- bly ended up with a cute kidney, apparent- ly. I was clattered from behind after a winger changed direction in front of me, I changed direction so my run would put me in better position as we hit the attacking third and the lad trying to get forward changed direction so he could take me down, erm, get in a good position to link up with the winger. It had to be the big feller didn't it...clattered me good and proper in the lower back on the left-hand side. I felt like Drago must have when Rocky 4 pummelled him in the same place in the end of level fight and lifted the big galoot off his feet. He didn't see me, apparently. I'm not exactly hard to miss and I've lost a pencil. Knowing my luck the ambulance that comes flying past me next Sunday is the one rushing a football player to A&E with the blunt end of an IKEA pencil poking out of his thigh.

Last Saturday saw a new entry go all the way to number one on the ball-in-play chart to lead the race for the Floccinaucinihilipilification Cup. 19.8 min- utes of ball-in-play in the first-half. The campaign for pro-rata refunds is ramping up. I was so gobsmacked that in my nuta- tion my philtrum got an extra crease and my aglets popped off. Ah, the tintinnabula- tion...
Time to ramble on...

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