Nomads Twos gets pipped at Skeggie

With the traditional McBrunch at Spalding, Nomads Twos ventured north to Skegness. The bracing nature of Skegness was not apparent, but it had stopped raining by the time we arrived!

The Twos still bare the scars of the first match of last season whereby we arrived on glorious sunny September afternoon and whilst we were unfurling from the long journey we went 3-0 down. We proceeded to win the rest of the match but not not by enough to win the fixture. We were determined that this would not be repeated!

The match started well with good Nomadic procession. However, Alford scored first - somewhat against the run of play.

There were periods of the game during which Nomads maintained possession, switching the ball from either side of the pitch, probing forwards and recycling when necessary - all very elegant. Nomads only goal came from a short corner routine with Ed injecting to Rick stopping. Paul clipped off a strike which was parried by the Alford captain in the pads to Arthur. He drew the oncoming defenders and slipped to Ed on the line. His push wasn't comprehensively defended: 1-1 - excellent - back in the game!

In the second half, Matthew (at least) was certain that, in a goal mouth skuffle, the ball had crossed the line. Had he been less sure, he convinced us, in the post-match analysis, that he would have committed himself further - no doubt sending ball, himself, the keeper and a couple of defenders into the back of the net too!

Alford secured their victory 15 mins into the second half. Jez forced his man out wide on the baseline. The Alford attacker turned and lashed a ball into the P spot, passed a couple of Nomads' open sticks, just out of reach from John's foot. There, at the back post, was a clatter of sticks and then, sadly, the ball in the back of the net.

Nomads were keen not to return to Cambridgeshire empty handed and pressed hard - but too hard in reality - we asked the ball to do too much with unconvincing passes breaking down our possession. Paul managed to pick off a ball and go one on one with the keeper. Going for glory, he fizzed his shot just over the crossbar, striking metal, but unfortunately, that of the footie goals behind.

With the clock ticking down, we redoubled our efforts, but no avail and the score remained 1-2.

Small mercy, but the showers were hot, the teas were good and the traffic had subsided by the time we had returned.