Well, it shouldn’t have done, but there are so many matches in arrears that Pionsat’s 1st XI hastily rearranged a postponed match against Lapeyrouse.
And hasty was the word too, so hasty in fact that Pionsat were short of five or six regular players and they had to pad the team with players from the 2nd XI who play 3 divisions lower down the pyramid.
Of course, Pionsat lost, and by 2-0 too, but then you can’t expect half-a-dozen players from Division 4 of the District league pyramid to compete against a team that last year was playing in the Elite pyramid.
The first goal was quite avoidable though and Pionsat’s defence should be pretty depressed with that. All the defenders drawn to the near post and then the ball driven across the goal to a couple of Lapeyrouse players standing unmarked at the far post.
The second goal from Lapeyrouse was a peach, though, and worth the price of the admission … "it’s free!" – ed. A free kick about 35 yards out played to an attacker standing about 15 yards from goal and he hits the ball on the volley. It’s one of those shots that could have gone anywhere – the stand, the school playground, the cemetery, the abandoned railway line, but this one chooses to go into the far top corner of the net despite a despairing dive from Michaël.
Pionsat had their moments too and they were desperately unlucky on a couple of occasions.
We had a moment where a confusion between the centre-half and the keeper saw the former back-head the ball over the outstretched arms of his keeper. The ball hit the cossbar and in a desperate tangle on the line, neither the Lapeyrouse keeper nor Frédéric could make contact with the ball and the Lapeyrouse n°14 hacks it away before Cedric can get to the ball.
In another moment of desperation in the Lapeyrouse defence, a really good corner from Pionsat is won in the air by one of the Pionsat forwards and the other Frédéric just can’t make a contact with the ball to force it into the net.
Nevertheless, with most of the Lapeyrouse defence paralysed, the defender covering the far post (the near post in this photo) manages to hack the ball off the line at the very last moment to avoid a certain goal.
Pionsat also had a clear penalty denied when Nico was blatantly pushed off balance as he went for a loose ball in the area, and there was another incident in the Lapeyrouse area that some referees might have punished with a penalty for Pionsat for holding.
But then again, to be honest, I don’t really remember either goalkeeper having a proper save to make. Pionsat’s attack looked well below par today.
But the weather was quite impressive this morning. We had clear skies for a few hours until early afternoon, not like winter at all today in fact. I think that when winter does finally come, it will come in spades.
– “as fast as go can me”
