Don't mess with Football God from Kyiv to Newmarket
Football God is a figment of my and Phil's imagination. He was always there looking over you awarding hardcore football fandom and punishing the fair weather fan. The funny thing was that it actually seemed to work. If you went to the trouble of going 100 miles for a meaningless Ukrainian 2nd division game with no public transport back to Kyiv, you could rely on Football God to provide a sunny day with plenty of goals and a free lift home with a friendly truck driver who was making a delivery to Kyiv (true story). Similarly if Tatarchuk went home early because the game was dull or the weather was bad the last 20 minutes would be a flurry of goals and excitement. He certainly rewarded the faithful and punished the weak.
So when I entertained Joe on Saturday and had a football free weekend and Ely won 7-1 and Cambridge won 7-0, I was expecting the worse when I went to Newmarket for the game against Ely on Tuesday night. And surprise, surprise the final score was Ely City 0, Newmarket Town 0. See what I meas about Football God (come on play along with the joke a bit).
To be honest, I can't really complain as it was the first 0-0 I have seen since Arsenal Kyiv drew with FK Kharkiv on 17th May 2008, so that's a lot of games with goals. The weather was also very good and both teams put in a lot of effort in what was a very well balanced game. It must also be remembered that it was the first time I had ever seen Lee Pacey keep a clean sheet and indeed the first time I had ever seen an Ely team keep a clean sheet.
Ely dominated the first half, but Newmarket were able to keep Mason and Impey quiet with some good zonal defending that didn't allow for much manouevering around the box. The first 20 minutes of the second half were dominated but Newmarket, but when one of the Newmarket players fouled Brady Stone and then got lippy with the ref, he was given his marching orders and the balance was tipped back in the favour of the Robins. However, despite some good chances Newmarket didn't cave in and just before the whistle a superb save from Pacey saved the day for Ely.
A 0-0 draw, but an entertaining evening out with a good solid performance from 2 teams who hopefully won't struggle at this level against some of the richer clubs.
So when I entertained Joe on Saturday and had a football free weekend and Ely won 7-1 and Cambridge won 7-0, I was expecting the worse when I went to Newmarket for the game against Ely on Tuesday night. And surprise, surprise the final score was Ely City 0, Newmarket Town 0. See what I meas about Football God (come on play along with the joke a bit).
To be honest, I can't really complain as it was the first 0-0 I have seen since Arsenal Kyiv drew with FK Kharkiv on 17th May 2008, so that's a lot of games with goals. The weather was also very good and both teams put in a lot of effort in what was a very well balanced game. It must also be remembered that it was the first time I had ever seen Lee Pacey keep a clean sheet and indeed the first time I had ever seen an Ely team keep a clean sheet.
Ely dominated the first half, but Newmarket were able to keep Mason and Impey quiet with some good zonal defending that didn't allow for much manouevering around the box. The first 20 minutes of the second half were dominated but Newmarket, but when one of the Newmarket players fouled Brady Stone and then got lippy with the ref, he was given his marching orders and the balance was tipped back in the favour of the Robins. However, despite some good chances Newmarket didn't cave in and just before the whistle a superb save from Pacey saved the day for Ely.
A 0-0 draw, but an entertaining evening out with a good solid performance from 2 teams who hopefully won't struggle at this level against some of the richer clubs.
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