Muglet Lane, Maltby, South Yorks
Maltby Main (1) 2 (Radford 38, Mason 90)
Hallam (0) 2 (Tate 68, Asquith 70)
Admission £5, Programme £1
Attendance 114
When we arrived, in spite of the torrential downpour the Maltby groundsman was doing a fine job of getting everything all spic' and span just 20 minutes before the big kick off.But the so called 'showers' soon began doing a passable impression of a South Yorkshire Tsunami.
You could barely make out the 18 yard line an hour later because it had virtually washed away.
Tonight's crowd was made up of 114 paying spectators and a veritable 'who's who' of NCEL league officials, managers and coaches.Given the conditions the players had to cope with, it was a lively and entertaining game.
Respect is due to both teams for soldiering on.
In spite of struggling to find much cohesion or shape in the battering wind and rain, Hallam looked the livelier team in the first half and were using the advantage of playing down the sloping pitch on a fast pitch well.
But for all their efforts they only came really close once when they rattled the Maltby cross bar.
On 38 minutes Maltby got a free kick around 30 yards out. It was hooked powerfully towards the goal but was heading straight at the keeper ... however the spin on the wet ball made handling it very tricky and Main's centre half Jason Radford was on hand to put the home the rebound from Hewitt's fumbled attempt.
When it's wet and swerving about punch it!
Half Time 1-0
The players look on aghast as a giant flaming meteorite descends earthbound.Then a clinical pass found Simon Asquith unmarked in the left hand channel and he ran on to bury the ball, much to the delight of the visitors bench who all emerged out into the rain to do a few animated star jumps in celebration.
Maltby is a bit 'rough and ready', and it would be fair to say they have a few local characters (off the pitch) who were forged at the school of hard knocks. One of their fans spent the second half taking centre stage in the stand amusing us all with a series of gags and wise cracks using a vocabulary that would have made Chubby Brown blush ... but nobody was offended, the subject matter though unrepeatable here was only borderline non-PC, in fact I even saw the linesman chuckling a couple of times, though perhaps not to the booming advice on offer to "Oi liner, give us a f***ing penalty if you want any windows left in your car on the way home tonight you ***t!"
In some heat of the moment incidents these malicious sounding threats are seldom seriously meant or carried through to their grim conclusion.
I wouldn't be too sure of that in Maltby though.
Ah! Maltby. That's where John Leslie's been hiding."C'mon Maltby, remember the Alamo!"
Hmm, I'm not one to split hairs, but as I recall it, the home side lost that one quite heavily.
The game entered injury time and everybody started to walk round from the stands for a quick getaway at the end, taking advantage of the lull in the storm, as the torrential rain very generously turned to a mere heavy drizzle for a few minutes.
Out on the left wing, Maltby launched a cross deep into the box in a last ditch attempt to salvage a point ... their man of the match (Hallam's keeper) dropped it straight into the path of Greg Mason who gratefully bundled the ball into the net, much to the delight of the noisy natives.
Hallam might have played the better, passing football in spells, but for their determination to fight right until the very last kick of the game, Maltby Main deserved a point too.
You never know, when The Alamo is repeated on TV this Xmas (I'm sure it will be) John Wayne might rally his dwindling army of renegades with a battle cry of "Remember Muglet Lane!" and finally, at the 47th time of asking, the Mexicans might have to settle for a draw this time too.
