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AS MONTEL VILLOSANGES v 3rd XI
20th NOVEMBER 2011
When I arrived here for this match I was asked if I had brought my boots with me. There were just 6 Pionsat players warming up for the match. A couple of minutes later Malik turned up for the match, and as we waited for something to happen, Xavier, Vincent and Stéphane arrived. And with just 10 players, the match went ahead against a full complement of Chimps.
And this is what really annoys me about all of this. Last night the 2nd XI's match against Gerzat was cancelled. And it's true to say that even if a match is cancelled, you need to fill out a team sheet and enter a team, if you wish to claim the point for being present.
But this is not very intelligent on Pionsat's part. A team consists of a minimum of 8 players, and so in circumstances like this, you just write down 8 names - and usually of players who aren't available for the weekend anyway. That frees up an entire team of 14 to compete at another level the next day.
But no, not here. Pionsat's 2nd XI for last night consisted of, once again, 2 goalkeepers (one of them playing outfield) and so not one of them was able to turn up for the 3rd XI today. Xavier, who drew the short straw, was as fed up as everyone else was about all of this.
It's been one of my regular complaints as you know, and I'll still keep on moaning about it. When is the rest of the club going to take the 3rd XI seriously?
For the first 15 minutes or so, you would have been hard-pressed to have told which team had the 10 and which team had the 11. Pionsat were certainly giving out as good as they were getting and you had a feeling that had one or two other players been on the pitch to help out, Pionsat would always be likely to demolish what looked like a pretty … errrr … less-than average bunch of Chimps.
But nevertheless, we have a calamity. A cross into the area hits a loose divot and bounces up into the hand of one of the Pionsat defenders, and the ref blows for a penalty. Handball it was, but clearly accidental and I doubt that it deprived the Chimps of an advantage, but a penalty was awarded all the same.
Not that there was very much that Xavier could do about it, and that was that. One-nil to the Chimps.
But a brief word about Xavier here. Does anyone remember the scene in Escape to Victory
I had to admire the psychology.
What made matters worse was that 10 minutes later there was an identical incident in the Montel penalty area and the referee (in the 4th Division, referees are supplied by the home team) waved "play on". And the same thing happened 10 minutes before the end.
I don't mind severe penalties being given if that's what the referee wants to do, but it would be nice if there were to be some kind of consistency in the decisions. It avoids all kinds of unpleasant allegations being hurled from off the touchlines - the kind of allegations that can easily bring the game into disrepute.
But as I said, you would be hard-pushed to tell who had 10 players and who had 11 players out there. Pionsat are constantly going forward and they have just won a succession of corners.
This one is flung in from the left-hand side and there's a scramble in the goalmouth as half a dozen players try to get a foot to the ball. It bounces about everywhere, beating the keeper, but one of the Montel players puts a foot to the ball and knocks it out for yet another corner.
It's nice to see Pionsat putting a few men forward for the corner. As well as the forwards, there's also Vincent,the left-back, and Nico who is playing at right-back today but who has a good head and a lot of muscle to throw about.
It's probably a good idea if I read out the team while I'm here. Xavier is in goal of course. The back four is Vincent, Malik, Max and Nico. Midfield is Marco, Fabian and Valentin, and Stéphane is playing up front with Didier on the wing.
And another quick word about Xavier. He's just been spoken to by the ref for having expressed his opinion of some of the decisions. Not that that's anything special, but it shows at least that there's someone on the field in a Pionsat team who is prepared to stand up and shout. Pionsat teams and captains are usually far too quiet and need to shout an awful lot more.
He's also been bellowing out instructions to his team, racing off his line for balls, and on one occasion coming right off his line to the right-side touchline for a loose ball and using … err … a touch of gamesmanship to give him time to get back between his post.
The first time I saw Xavier play in goal was against Beauregard Vendon a few seasons ago and his performance then was what might have been expected from a big bulky centre-forward. I don't know if he has been taking lessons since then but there wasn't much wrong at all with his handling today and he was certainly much more aware of the game, as well as being much more confident. He even came off his line to palm a corner away from off the head of an attacker.
Fair enough, he didn't have much to do in the Pionsat goal because quite frankly the Chimps were dreadful and never gave him anything like even a simple test. But what he had to do, he did it well enough.
Malik, playing in the centre of defence, was having an outstanding game - he really was. And so it goes without saying that Montel try to find a way of slowing him up.
What happened just there would have been classed as a high tackle in a rugby match and Malik certainly felt it. But eventually he stood up, shook himself off, and went back into the centre of defence. And my own personal opinion, for what it's worth (which, let's face it, isn't very much) is that whoever it is who is refereeing today has forgotten to bring the cards out onto the pitch.
Eventually the ref blows for the final whistle and the players troop off the field. Pionsat, playing with a man short for all of the match and without the luxury of three replacements like their opponents, really didn't deserve to lose 1-0. Had there been a full complement of players out there and a regular goalkeeper (seeing that there was not one but two available today) they could - and should - have demolished what looked like the worst side I have seen for quite a while.
This isn't three points lost, it's three points thrown away. And not by the 10 players on the field but by a bunch of other players who weren't on the field and who really ought to be asking themselves why they weren't out there today. A great big chapeau from me to the 10 who made it out.
And man of the weekend? Without any doubt at all, easily the best player on the field for both the Pionsat teams, who never put a foot wrong throughout the entire 90 minutes and who should have inspired everyone else with what was the best performance I have seen for quite a while by a player in a Pionsat shirt, it has to be Malik at centre-half. There's one particular diving header right across the penalty area to head out of play a really dangerous cross that shall stick in my mind for quite a while.
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