Druids Till I Die!!!

     The second half, unlike in many previous games, continued much like the first with the Druids on top but not creating many chances. With a draw being enough to win the league, long ball began to replace a passing game but to their credit, the Druids gave little away at the back with Holmes and Harrison as a new solid centre-back pairing. One-nil was never entirely comfortable but the lead was doubled O’Reilly, who was looking good in only his second game had an excellent shot turned round the post by the ‘keeper. Morrison’s corners had been below par to this point but this one was headed in by Marsh at the end of one of his usual energetic runs. The victory and the league title were sealed when Walters fed the ball to Morrison and his deep cross was headed against the bar by O’Reilly who got the rebound back via Liggins and finished from close range. All the subs now got a deserved run-out, as all had helped during the league season with the exception of one. Top quality sports-scholar JJ Moore, sporting a hangover came into the action and almost had an immediate impact with a good shout for a penalty! Had he not been such a state, he may even have got it. Oh well. Another three points and a one-hundred percent record since Christmas in the league saw the Druids win division three. This was a good way to finish off as most of the squad graduate in the summer (or are forced to leave anyway) so their last league season ended in their first title! Bring on the cup!

29/2/04 Having had a week to recover from the Druids trip, the lads turned out looking fresh and awake (as much as possible anyway!) to take on Haldon Athletic this week. The Druids, now looking for a fourth successive victory had every reason to be confident but the game began in shaky fashion with neither side playing great football. However, as the first half progressed, the Druids began to play some of the passes seen in their previous games. With about fifteen minutes left in the half, player/manager Ed Marsh was heard to say “let’s get a goal”, showing the inspired thinking that has propelled the team to the top of the table this year! The previous manager, and victim of the Marsh coup, Alex Morrison duly obliged when he turned neatly on a pass from Farquharson before scoring from fifteen yards. The Haldon goalie will have felt angry not to have kept out this effort at his near post but it meant the Druids got the interval one up all the same. 

     The customary substitutions came at half time and continued like a Sven Goran Erickson friendly throughout the half, making the most of the rolling substitutions rule of this league. The Druids second goal came soon after the interval when Barnes showed good strength to knock away a defender before sending the ball forward. It eventually came to Liggins who powered the ball across the face of goal for his trusted striker partner Holmes to smash in from two yards. Mardon were now playing excellent football and seemed to be cruising to victory when two substitutes combined for another goal. Ed ‘Random’ Schofield showed some great skill and pace in a wide position before crossing for debutant Mike O’Reilly to score just minutes after coming on to the field. The new American recruit showed a cool head to side-foot the ball across the ‘keeper into the far corner from six yards.

     Now playing some flowing stuff, the Druids set about the weekly business of allowing an inferior team to make a worrying comeback. In true Tottenham style the team allowed Haldon through on goal twice in quick succession to bring the score back to three-two. The big strong boys of Marsh, Holmes and Sladden were brought into more defensive positions and managed to prevent any further scares of note. The final whistle was greeted with disappointment by the Cuban Boys players (beaten by the Druids in a rough game the previous week) who had sportingly come to abuse their previous opponents. The pathetically childish behaviour only strengthened the Mardon players’ resolve and made victory all the sweeter. Mardon now sit top of the league so the lads went home satisfied after another good day at the office! Provided that the Druids avoid defeat in next week’s match with Haldon Hurricanes, the league title will be won for the first time since the team was formed. Admittedly it is intramural league division three, but the boys will be very determined to win the game this coming Sunday!

22/2/04 After a long day previously travellling to North Wales and back to watch the mighty Cefn Druids play several members of the Press were talking of a "European match Hangover" before todays match with the bizarrely named Cuban Boys, but with two wins out of two under their big fat belts the Druids had every reason to be confident.
The match started very scrappy but Walters and Vesey linking up well in midfield and Harrison and Grundy dealing expertly with raids down the flanks, the Druids were in control. Cuban Boys threatened early on with few corners which Marsh and Rogers dealt with comfortably but no one seemed sure where a goal was going to come from. The pressure switched to the Cuban Boys penalty box as Holmes strong shot was knocked out for a corner. Mapo Morrison screamed in a succession of tasty looking corners, which Rattue and Walley headed over and Harrison came close with a stinging shot. Evenatually a goal came as Mapo hailed in another corner which a Cuban defender stuggled to clear and under intense pressure from Rattue squeezed it into his own net. For a moment it seemed like the crowd had gone wild, but it was in fact children playing in the playground over the river, oblivious to the top class football being played nearby.
This goal brought the game to life as Mapo and Farquharson took control of the flanks with more crosses into the box than whinges by their number 9.Soon after Vesey was presented with a chance outside the box, the crowd shouted "Shooooooot!!", as they'd seen him score for fun in friendlies but become the John Jensen of the Druids midfield in competitive games, but the shot was skewed just wide.
After a succession of raids a Vesey pass left the Cuban defence remininiscent of businessmen hailing taxis in the City as they waved their arms calling for offside as Mapo chased a ball down the left flank and crossed for Rattue to prod home. The Cuban defence went wild with the lino's decision, but didnt help their argument by changing their views on what happened each time they opened their mouths. The Cuban Number 9, being the 21st person nearest the ball clearly had an excellent view, and screamed down the pitch demanding a retake. The goal was given and a forboding ill wind descended over the match as the Cuban Boys felt hard done by. Andy Townsend in his "Premiership" truck later analysed the decision and sided with the referee in giving the goal.The bad temper of the match seemed to suit the Druids more as they kept a cool head and late in the first half added a third as Walters pass was knocked by Rattue into the path of Holmes who spun and sent a low crisp drive into the bottom corner.

Halftime came at a good moment letting both sides cool down and let the Druids bring on John Sladden to settle a few arguements for them in midfield. Barnes, Ellison and Williams were also brought on for Rattue, Grundy and Harrison. Unsurprsingly the Cuban Boys strarted the half brightly and had a string of chances and the number 9 should perhaps have been booked as he lost possession in the box and then jumped over Ellison and onto the floor claiming blindly for a penalty. The Druids had chances though as, after linking up with Barnes, Holmes chipped and excellent pass through for Mapo Morrsion who unfortunately shot wide. The Cuban Boys then had their best chance as the striker rounded the goalie poking the ball to the line but Marsh managed to race back and clear the ball out of touch almost smacking it into his own net Johnny Wilkinson style. Soon after the Cuban boys did score as confusion ran through the Druids defence as their number 9 managed to squirm free and fired the ball home. Soon after that the Cuban Boys scored again from a free kick as Number 9 was left free at the far post and managed to stab the ball home again to make it 3 - 2. The closeness of score line urged the Drudis back into action and with Harrison back on he, Williams and Sladden tackled everything that moved as the game grew nervy.
A couple of minutes from the end the game it was settled as from a free kick 25 yards out Harrison screamed the ball into the back of the net to make it 4 -2. The remaining minutes were niggly as Holmes and their numbers 9 and 7 started to square up. By the final whistle though the Cuban boys knew they'd been fairly beaten and the Druids made their way home, seeing the opposition had decided to name theirseves after a cigar,were singing "I'd rather be a Druid than a fag" (report by Ed Marsh)

17/2/04 Mardon Druids 6-4 Ransom Rangers. After last week’s heroics, a depleted druids squad, shorn of nine players arrived at Duckes to try to maintain their good form against Ransom Rangers. However with a bit of re-shuffling and a couple of debutants on the bench, confidence remained high. This confidence looked a bit misplaced when, in the very first minute, a Ransom midfielder lobbed Rogers in the Druids goal from the corner of the box, inspiring as much ‘did he really mean that?’ debate as Ronaldinho’s free kick against Seaman. Despite this early setback, the Druids roared back and when a good ball came into the box, Random Ed challenged well and the ball dropped to Liggins, who was never likely to miss from six yards. Soon after, he showed he could do it from twenty yards as well, curling the ball into the corner, giving the keeper no chance from Farquharson’s pass. For the rest of the half, the Druids were the stronger team although the defence of Williams, Durrant, Walley and Hastings had to be alert to deal with Ransom’s strikers. Towards the end of the half, the Druids added a third after Morrison’s corner was flicked on first by Walters then Liggins before Harrison, playing a rare game in midfield volleyed the dropping ball home. At the break the new boys came on, Myers getting the huge privilege of wearing the black and white in attack and Rob/Paul??? the even bigger privilege of wearing the glorious brown in goal, with Rogers moving on to the wing with Random Ed and Hastings the men making way. Myers soon showed his worth despite a Ransom midfielder’s urging the defence he was tormenting to ‘TAKE HIM OUT’, getting to the by-line and cutting the ball back for the prolific Liggins to complete his hat-trick. Liggins then turned provider, setting up Rogers who took a touch before calmly curling the ball into the corner past the goalie’s despairing dive (at least that’s how I remember it anyway.) 5-1 and that was the end of that. Wasn’t it? wasn’t it? If spurs have taught us anything, it’s how to pay massive amounts of cash for crap strikers, but if they’ve taught us anything else, it’s that ridiculous comebacks are possible, but still, when a Ransom striker squeezed a shot past the Druids keeper from a tight angle nobody was really worried. When they got another we were a bit concerned and when a man ran through and lobbed the keeper to make it 5-4 we were all bricking it. It was around this point that Harrison came into his own, wasting roughly half an hour on every goal kick he took and generally tackling anything that moved.  With just a few minutes to go a collective sigh of relief was breathed as Myers collected a long kick from the keeper and rolled his shot into the corner. It was fair reward for a good performance, but Ransom’s keeper will be disappointed to say the least that he let in what was a soft shot.  The game ended 6-4, an excellent victory in the kind of awkward match we might well have lost in the past, and meaning that no-one had to do a David Pleat and explain to the gathered press how the hell we managed to throw it away. Hurrah! (Report by Dave Rogers)

8/2/04 Mardon Druids 5 - 0 Spitroast F.C. A truly astonishing week in football came to a fitting end yesterday at Duckes Meadow, as goals rained in, ending a poor run of form and somewhat lifting pressure from the manager Edward J. Marsh's head. A five star performance and quality goals from Walters, Rattue, Morrison, and two from Holmes proved that the Mardon Druids could indeed transfer their sparkling five-a-side form into the more important 11-a-side format. Prior to Sunday morning, the manager was feeling the heat following a less than impressive first term from the boys; and two successive weeks of rain meant that they had to wait until the end of week four to put that right. Having beaten Spitroast just over a week ago on the cage in a thrilling 3 - 0 display, Druids went into the game full of confidence - aided by the return of stalwarts such as Rob 'Slippy' Grundy, 'Dirty' Doug Williams, and Jamie 'show us your celebration' Hastings. The confidence showed, as they eased into an early lead from Sam 'Freeloader' Rattue's tidy finish from good work by Tom Walters. It was then Walters' turn to show his class with a superb 30 yard piledriver, giving the Spitroast 'keeper, Yellow shirt, no chance at all. The writing already looked to be on the wall, and was further confounded by the third goal, just 25 minutes into the game. Grundy and Stuart 'Fartypants' Farquharson combined well to set David 'Na Mate' Holmes off into the area to fire low past a despairing Yellow Shirt. The goal was greeted with the customary finger and "have it you ****". Pure class. Shortly after the third goal, Fartypants prematurely exited from the action (not the first time apparently) following a vicious tackle from black shirt. This saw the first change, as Tom 'Stitch' Barnes made his entrance. Druids were under little pressure in the first half, dealing well with the windy conditions. Anything dangerous was quickly snuffed out by a solid defence led by Will 'Brewster' Harrison. Phil 'Scummer' Durrant and Hastings gave nothing away, with Dave 'Shaggy' Rogers commanding from the back.

 Half time saw changes in midfield with Mark 'Squealer' Vesey making way for John 'Jonty Rhodes' Sladden. Squealer will no doubt feel disappointed, as scouts from Leeds were down to watch him following his fantastic stats in friendly matches, but unfortunately he simply couldn’t make the step up in class. Alex 'Gaffer/Mapo/Big Gay Al' Morrison, Rattue, Durrant and Hastings made way in a reshuffle that saw Williams, Dave 'the' Walley, Ross 'Yiddo' Ellison, and Rich 'Juan Pablo' Liggins come into the action. Holmes decided his afternoon was over after scoring arguably goal of the season with a bicycle kick, rounding off a great team move involving Barnes, Liggins and Sladden. Again the celebration, to little response from yellow shirt. At 4 - 0 there was clearly no coming back for the poor opposition, despite, presumably, a roasting from the manager at half time... Towards the end of the half, there were re-introductions for some of the players, as Druids turned on the style. Rattue, who replaced Holmes found himself in a great position (offside anyone?) after a delightful ball in from Barnes, but spurned the opportunity, firing over the bar from 2 yards. Morrison in particular showed both sides to his game: cutting in from the left, he unleashed a scorching ball into the area, eluding everyone, and ending up in the back of the net. Unfortunately, the three-year ever-present showed the other side of his game, as he saw the ball trail past him as he appeared to be looking at his watch, to jeers from the crowd. The capacity crowd of 3 dog walkers, and a handful of substitutes went home thoroughly entertained by a performance to match any from the week just gone: the only question remaining is whether the team can continue this form to bring home the bacon in either format of the game. I wouldn't bet against it on today's evidence. (Report by Tom 'Stitch' Barnes).