43 – A break in play

Back in September, after a couple of false starts, the u16’s junior league season eventually got under way.

The first two fixtures were both cancelled by the opposition, due to players missing because of Covid and/or injuries. So after a good pre-season we were left without any games until the first round of the league cup, 3 weeks later.

Nevertheless, we looked forward to the game, away at Thorncliffe. Our games against Thorncliffe have always been close affairs, so we expected a tough test and we’d have to be at our best if we were going to get through to the next round.

We’re generally slow starters at the beginning of the season, so the couple of postponements didn’t do much to make me feel any more confident.

From the first whistle, we were excellent.

As surprised as we were, I think Thorncliffe were too. They hardly had a kick of the ball and when they did, one of our lads was pressing them or flying into a tackle to get the ball back.

I can’t remember a game where we’ve started so well. Attack after attack in the first 20 minutes or so and Pat was more or less a bystander. The only part he was playing in the game was receiving back passes and keeping the ball moving.

The only problem was that after half an hour, it was still 0-0.

Then, in one of their few attacks, the home side got a free kick near the left corner of our box. In Pat’s game there aren’t too many weak areas where I think he’s in big trouble. Free kicks definitely aren’t a worry for me. For the last few years he’s done a lot of work in training, setting up walls and defending the goal. They generally have to be very good free kicks to beat him.

He knew the free kick taker from his time playing for Sheffield Schoolboys and he knew the lad would fancy having a shot.

The left back placed the ball. Pat set his two man wall up, making sure they were exactly where he wanted them, then took up his position.

The left back hit the ball well but it really should have been blocked by the wall. Anyway, he got across well, down to his left and pushed it out for a corner. They defended the corner and play carried on.

At half time it was still 0-0 and it definitely had the kind of feeling that we’d missed enough good chances in the first half that it might come back to bite us.

And that’s how it turned out. A free kick in a similar position to the one Pat saved in the first half, ended up being the difference. The ball was further out towards the side line though, so less chance of the taker having a crack at goal. He whipped the ball across, in between Pat and everybody else. A difficult ball to defend – for both the defenders and Pat – as it wasn’t deep where Pat could come and either attempt a catch or punch. As the defenders and strikers ran in, Pat was trapped close to his goal line, anticipating a touch from somebody. Nobody got to it. The ball bounced and with Pat still near his goal line, he had to try to react to the high bounce of the ball, off the hard ground.

He couldn’t reach it and it went into the goal, high, just inside the far post. 1-0

The rest of the game was made up of us having half chances that we snatched at and couldn’t take advantage of, with Thorncliffe creating chances where they were through 1v1 with Pat a few times. Thorncliffe looked more likely to extend their lead, rather than us forcing an equaliser. It finished 1-0, so we were out of the League Cup at the first hurdle.

A really disappointing start to the season, especially with Pat being singled out as being at fault for the goal.

Good save from a free kick, given away by a defender with the kick going through the wall. A few 1v1’s in the second half where he came out on top every time, keeping it at 1-0. The forwards missing chance after chance in the first half to put the game beyond Thorncliffe. A needless free kick given away with the striker going nowhere, near the side line. But the resulting goal was put down to him and in front of the rest of the team.

The life of a keeper, eh?

Fair enough. They’re under 16’s and they’re seen as big enough and old enough to take criticism when they make ‘mistakes’, so that’s the way it will be. Although since then, nobody’s been individually dug out in front of the rest of the team for any mistakes they’ve made.

We went home, with Pat feeling down in the dumps. I reassured him that it was a long season and there’d be more reasons to be cheerful than feel down. I would only ever criticise him if he isn’t putting 100% in and since the u8’s when he started, I can honestly say I can’t remember a single occasion when that’s been the case.

Onto the next. A league game away at Wickersley. Another tough game against a team that generally just have the edge over us.

The pitches at Wickersley aren’t the best. A few to choose from, behind Wickersley Comprehensive but none are particularly good quality. When we got to the pitches, they were in the process of moving all their warm up equipment from the usual pitch to another because of a load of mole hills down one wing.

As I warmed Pat up in the bottom goal, I told him to watch out for shots from distance as the wind was blowing towards him but kept moving to blow almost diagonally towards the corner flag. I know he knows all this but I just look at things how I’d be looking at them if it was me in goal. We always throw the ball straight up in the air, in different places in the box to judge the bounce as well. Every single ball we threw, bounced totally differently because of the surface.

He seemed fairly confident and up for it, partly because of the opposition and partly because of the previous week. I think he had a point to prove.

Within a few minutes, all the preparation had gone out of the window. One of their midfielders received the ball and ran, unchallenged about 15 yards. Somebody shouted “shoot!” And he did. It was a good shot but wind assisted, it went like a rocket and was always moving away from Pat. He got finger tips to the ball but couldn’t get enough on it to divert it over the bar or past the post.

Throughout the first 20 minutes we struggled to make any impression on the game. Wickersley kept making chances, wingers mainly beating their marker and putting deep crosses in. Soon enough it was 2-0, with an unmarked runner connecting with a cross.

We were hanging on for half time, having hardly troubled their keeper but with about 5 minutes left to play, almost a carbon copy of the second goal meant we were 3-0 down. Another unmarked forward connected with the cross on the volley and it smashed against the bar. As it flew downwards, Pat got a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out and it bounced just over the line.

We limped through to half time. I’d got my half time team talk ready for Pat. Not really much to do differently for him. Maybe a bit more vocal to his defenders and go long with goal kicks now that he had the wind behind him.

Pat came straight over to me, a bit anxious. “I think I’ve broke my finger.”

I didn’t think he would have, as he’d not had much to do since the third goal. He said he couldn’t bend it as he took his glove off. He’d definitely done something.

So that was that. He took his other glove off and his shirt and passed them to Jack, the midfielder and stand in keeper and I took Pat to hospital. On the way there I asked him how he’d done it. It was definitely on the third goal but he wasn’t sure if it was when he got a hand to the ball, or if he’d landed on it. Either way, he’d carried on until half time. At the hospital, we were waiting a few hours to be seen by the triage but once we’d got in and he’d had an x-ray, it only took about half an hour and we were on our way back to the car.

The nurse that looked after Pat was a football fan and his daughter a keeper, so I think we might have had a bit of preferential treatment from an unexpected part of the goalkeeper’s union. Pat’s finger was dislocated and while he was on the gas and air with the nurse manipulating it back into position, he was definitely under the influence, laid back giggling.

Pat had to go back to hospital to the Hand Clinic the following day where they gave him a compression dressing, some exercises to do to help it heal and also said that as well as dislocating his finger, he’d fractured it as well. Estimated recovery time was anything up to 6 weeks depending on how well the swelling went down.

The bruising came out straight away and Pat did his best to keep moving it and do the exercises from the hospital. He was back in action after 3 weeks out.

While he couldn’t play, both his Saturday and Sunday teams won a game each and his PE teacher rearranged a school cup game so that they didn’t play while Pat was unavailable.

Pat’s never had much time off from football because of injury and I’ll be honest, it wasn’t much fun for any of us. Apart from the problem of him being a keeper and having to put an outfielder in goal for matches while he can’t play, it took all of about 5 minutes for him to get mardy and start taking it out on his sister, mum and me.

We’ve had a few ups and downs in the 9 years he’s been playing but I think the dislocated finger has tested me most as to whether I could keep the faith.