Report

De Novo 2 – 2 Streatham Stanley

Own Goal

Jablonski

STREATHAM STANLEY WIN 3-1 ON PENALTIES

Date: 26/02/2012

Location: Nursery Road Playing Fields

DE NOVO ‘DE NO-GO’ ANY FURTHER AS STANLEY PROGRESS TO THE FINAL

So here we are, the cold mornings of previous weekends gave way to a sunnier and milder climate for the Frank Blunstone Cup Semi Final. Streatham Stanley, todays opponents De Novo, Cyrus the Great and AFC Balham were all looking to reach the final at Sutton United in May.

With a record of played 2, won 1 and lost 1 against De Novo, Streatham Stanley were confident of an upset against the Division 1 leaders. Despite drawing 1 and losing 6 of their last 7 games, the cup represents a different story for the boys in blue, knocking out Westminster Wanderers and Southbank en route to today’s fixture.

Suspensions and upcoming nuptials meant that Streatham were missing – Kenny and Dersal the two missing out. With 14 players to choose from, manager Gavin Osborne tinkered away with a formation and game plan straight out of the ‘Paul Lambert Naaarwich lovers guide to tactics’ book.

Streatham lined up with a 4-1-4-1 formation: 

Newman

Tom TBow  Stuart © Michael

               Gary

 Dan   Jamel Pau Dean

Jimmy

Subs: Tolu, John, Derick

With the sun on the side of the pitch and no wind whatsoever, there was little point winning the toss, which De Novo called and won. The pre match handshakes out of the way, it was on with the game, Stanley kicking off. 

Both teams were evenly matched in the opening exchanges, the wide pitch giving licence to spread the ball out to the flanks to involve the wingers. Some nice early touches gave Streatham confidence and it nearly provided the opener with Jimmy Jablonski chasing down what looked like a lost cause before toe poking his shot just wide. 

De Novo got back into the game and send a shot towards goal before Richmond got a head to it over the bar. Shortly after that, Tom made a fantastic last ditch tackle to deny De Novo. They then had the ball in the net but the keen eyed linesman spotted an offside and Streatham were off the hook. Shortly after though, De Novo did take the lead in controversial circumstances, a loose ball was about to be gathered by Newman, but the De Novo forward lead with a high boot into him and knocked the ball past the stricken keeper. 1-0 to De Novo with the worst possible start from Stanley – previous matches had seen heads go down and further goals conceded in quick succession – would they be able to stem the flow?

The answer was yes as Stanley took the game buy the scruff of the neck and were unlucky not to be level on a number of occasions, with only some desperate defending keeping them at bay. Jamel McCoy had a couple of efforts that just whistled over. Dean Henwood created havoc with some well placed corners and Jimmy put the defenders under pressure at every opportunity. Dan Berry was his usual tricky self and the midfield three of Pau, Jamel and Gary (in his infamous ‘fly round S**T’ role) kept everything tight and created some nice interplay.

As the half wore on, De Novo had the ball in the net a third time, but for the second time in the game, the offside flag saved Streatham and Tbow, who had smashed the ball into his own net. At the back, Newman’s distribution has come on leaps and bounds and he was his usual commanding self. Tom at right back never stopped running and was never afraid to stick a boot in. Playing in the left back spot, Michael Hoolahan was giving it as good as he got, providing good support to Dean on the flank as well as marking well and tackling hard. The centre back pairing of Richmond and Thiebault or ‘RAT’ as I’d like to refer them as, kept it tight and scrapped for everything.

At the end of the half, De Novo broke clear with their tiny forward going clean through after knocking Richmond to the ground. The short A**E managed only to dink the ball into Newman’s hands just as Richmond got back to stick a boot in to attempt to tackle *cough*. Mini me did not like that one bit and ran up to the Streatham captain repeating the same words ‘are you serious? Are you serious bruv?’ My reply to that is no, my name is Stuart, now leave me alone and get back to the other Borrowers.

HALF TIME:DE NOVO 1-0 STREATHAM STANLEY

Streatham were far from downbeat at the half time whistle knowing that they could easily be level or even in the lead but for circumstances (such as not putting the ball in the net!) Manager Gavin Osborne gave a good, strong speech which spurred on the boys in blue and electric yellow. We had 45 minutes to do ourselves proud.

De Novo were about to kick off. James Jablonski got angry. Very angry. I think at one point he turned green and became noticeably muscular. As the ball was kicked, he shot out of the traps like Usain Bolt and intercepted one pass, knocked it on and clattered another – this was going to be a good half. 

Jamel McCoy, brushed off the broken spine dished out by his own player from a corner, and started to dominate the midfield with Pau and Gary, snapping into tackles and making some intelligent passes. Streatham then went and scored the equaliser, and It was that man Jamel McCoy who got it with a shot on goal from the right hand side of the box which the defender could only swing at – giving it enough of a change in dynamic to outfox the goalkeeper. They could only watch in horror as the ball bounced into the net. GAME ON!

For the next 15 minutes, the game was end to end – both sides could have scored. Chances came thick and fast, with Newman saving Stanley’s bacon a number of occasions. 

With 75 minutes on the clock, Mini me was at it again. Out by the touchline, Richmond put some tackles in trying to get the ball, which he obviously took offence too. As the ball made its way into Newman’s gloves. The Striker raced up to Richmond and had the unfortunate repeating affliction again, which must make it difficult to hold a conversation with him. ‘Pussay, pussay, pussay, pussay’ he went on ‘I’ll see you after the game’ 

Then he got subbed. Ha! In a piece of comic timing not seen since the great Tommy Cooper, Danny Dyer on the sidelines hauled him off, much to his displeasure. 

With the game heading for extra time, it was going to take something special to win this game. The next goal was going to be important, and as the ball was knocked goalwards by Dan Berry (I think), Jimmy Jablonski found himself practically on the goalline to smash the ball home, making up for his 3 shots in a row with just the keeper to beat (for those with a keen eye for stats – it was two at the keeper, one near the corner flag). The Stanley players celebrated – 87 minutes had gone and Jimmy had put them within touching distance of the final, surely that was it?

No. With the clock ticking down, a routine long ball was hit towards Richmond. 9 times out of 10 he would usually send it back from whence it came, but on this occasion, he tried to control it. As the ball bounced down, he could only swing a right boot at the ball which made its way to the edge of the box. The onrushing De Novo player then went down under the challenge of a Streatham player. Free kick. Whistle Blown. Ball in net. Heartbreak. 2-2. Extra Time.

FULL TIME: DE NOVO 2 – 2 STREATHAM STANLEY

It’s at this point that I’d like to mention the Streatham Ultras – made up of the suspended Kenny and players from Streatham Stanley II. Their enthusiasm and words of encouragement (which may be the result of a few beers which were consumed) gave the players a bit of a lift, and for that, I think they should be thanked. Thanks guys! (Although Kenny had to leave early to watch Liverpool labour to a penalty win in the Milk Cup).

Manager Gavin Osborne rallied the troops once more as another 30 minutes were in store. Some were suffering from cramp, others were worried about whether they’d forgotten to record the Antiques Roadshow. It didn’t matter, stretch out those hamstrings and catch the repeat on the iplayer – we’ve got a game to win!

The first half of extra time was largely uneventful, both teams tiring and not creating too much. Substitutions had been made – Tolu on for Michael, John on for Jamel and Derick on for Pau. Second half and this was a bit more open. Jimmy headed just over from a corner, some desperate defending kept De Novo out at the other end. 30 minutes over. Penalties!

So this was it, 5 on 5, penalty shoot out. Names were put forward and the line up was Dean, Gary, Stuart, John and Derek. With Newman Grobelaar in net, Stanley knew they had a chance in this lottery. 

De Novo called the toss and won, choosing to take first penalty. This is how I think it went because I can’t remember their penalties. 

1^st Pen: MISS! De Novo player strikes the ball to Newman’s right, but Newman dives and gets a hand to it, then collects the second bounce!

Dean: SCORE! Dean sends the keeper the wrong way ‘Give ‘im the eyes, he’ll fall for it every time’ he says.

2^nd Pen: MISS! De Novo player runs up and again Newman dives and saves, a fantastic save as well!

Gary: SCORE! Gary runs up and kicks the ball. It travels at approximately 0.2 miles an hour, down the middle and still ends up in the net. Cool as you like!

3^rd Pen: SCORE! De Novo player strides up and scores a goal, pulling it back to 2-1.

Stuart: MISS! Shocker. I walk up, put the ball down and rush it. Gave the keeper the eyes, he bought it, I send it the other way but take my eyes off it just as I’m about to hit the ball and it sails just wide of the left post. De Novo are back in it.

4^th Pen: MISS! De Novo player strides up and sends his penalty in the same spot as mine, with the same result – wide!

Now at this point Gav celebrates – he thinks it’s all over…..it isn’t, one more needed!

John: SCORE! Calmness personified, John walks up and strikes the ball hard past the goalkeeper, leading to unbelievable scenes Jeff! Streatham players sprint to celebrate with Newman and John, and in the sprint, Dean pulls his groin and squeals ‘me groooiiiiin!’ He eventually makes it to the group who celebrate a victory – Streatham are in the final!! They’ll face long term rivals Cyrus the Great at Sutton United’s ground on May 6^th.

MANAGERS COMMENTS:

"Wow... Unbelievable.! What a game, what a performance. The boys today were absolutely outstanding. When it had got to penalties, whether we had won or not i was proud of every single 1 of them. They ran there socks off, showed so much character and determination and i couldn't have asked or expected for more. Tough on De Novo as losing in a shoot-out is never nice but unfortunately there had to be a loser. However i think over the cause of the game we were better and deserved the win. This has lifted everyones morale and has given this season allot of substance and meaning. We return to league action next week and need to take the confidence gained from this game into that and get the results needed to climb above from the bottom 2 in the league. A cup final that we can all look forward to now on the 6th May, but competition for places in that squad and starting line-up are up for grabs. A great game to be involved in today and a game that will go down in our history and be remembered for a long time to come. I thank those that watched and supported from the second team, also suspended Kenny Dowling for coming down to support his team mates."

MAN OF THE MATCH:

"A tough tough choice for the award today but there can only be 1 winner... Our 18 year old Ghanian international goalkeeper Newman Poku.! Newman was fantastic today, making the catches, quality distribution, commanding, many great saves and offcourse 2 penalty saves in the shootout. He even took his knocks and punishment during the game but was the man of the moment when needed. 

 The whole squad get a mention for today but Tbow, Tom and Jimmy were outstanding also and deserve a mention.

-------Full Time – De Novo 2 – 2 Streatham Stanley (Streatham Win 3-1 on pens) --------