“So then they done scored another goal and we was 3-0 down and I thought the game was over no way we can win this game now against A Sea Milan because they are dead good and champions of Germany but then Stevie G had a word with the lads and was all like ‘ehh, calm down, I reckon we can do this, we’ve come on the magic flying bus to Abroad so we might as well have a pop’ so we did and then we scored a goal and another goal and another goal and then there was no more goals and we done scored more penalties than them and then we won the cup and it was ace.”
This passage from Jamie Carragher’s upcoming autobiography is so exclusive that not even the ghost writers have got to it (not that I think they’ll need to change much), and it obviously recalls ‘the miracle of Istanbul’ where Liverpool, 3-0 down at Half Time turned the world on its head to win the European Champions League for a record breaking 5th time. Well, a comeback of a similar scale was perpetrated this Saturday, perhaps with even greater ramifications for history – I mean for the love of all things good, this is the NLD Security Plus Pennant League group 2 we are talking about!
Nothing fills a team with confidence more than when the skipper tries to discreetly walk around the lads during the warm up desperately trying to get a volunteer to kick the goals, and with this confidence duly instilled and the now mandatory rushed warm up completed, for the second week in a row the 2nd XV looked to right a wrong from earlier in the season – this week it was letting a second half score of 26-0 inflict a rare defeat in the reverse fixture.
With this being a top of the table fixture, there was actually a pretty good crowd which I’m sure had everything to do with the magnitude of the fixture and nothing to do with the cancellation of the 3rd XV game as well as the rest week for the Vets… Although in the first half, they had to endure some mixed fortunes – Moderns started well into the wind and up the hill, some early field position leading to a penalty which kicker for the day Bevis could not convert – as we shall see later, he is very much from the same kicking school as Mr Gaunt, a school which teaches that scoring shots from in front of the posts is beneath them, finding instead the true essence of goal kicking to be slotting outrageous efforts from touchlines. Or something…
The match then turned distinctly in Lincolns favour for the rest of the half – first Moderns lost two props in 2 minutes to nasty looking injuries, then concerted periods of possession combined with some glimpses of the indiscipline that has largely been eradicated this last month allowed Lincoln to dominate territory, a half which Moderns finished with 13 players due the referee losing patience with infringements in our 22 – Sideshow (definitely) and Pope (questionable) the victims. Or ‘Protagonists’ as the referee preferred to call them! However, as has been reported much before, the 2nd XV do not give up scores easily, Lincoln only managing to get over twice in the half. 0-14 at half time.
The half time talk need not have been delivered, everyone knew what was needed - two tries was not a good enough return from the advantage of the hill and the wind at their backs, and so a little more control, discipline and good old fashioned calm would allow us to start stringing attacks together and get the scores to win the match. This is a good point to start mentioning the complete domination the excellent forwards were enjoying in the scrum, even after loosing 2/3rds of the original front row. It was to prove a crucial advantage to hold, especially with a misfiring lineout, and it was from a scrum won against the head that the first try was to come, No.8 Hirsch picking and falling just sort of the line, but the ball was recycled and Alcock crashed over from 5 yards. This try, added to a penalty (from out wide – Bevis smashed the one bang in front of the sticks against the post) meant that a converted try would complete the turnaround.
With injuries coming thick and fast as Moderns fought harder for the win than Scouse Hookers fight for leftover scraps at the butchers at the end of the day, but the constant flow of changes made parts of the half a scrappy affair and time was in danger of running away. Thanks at this point go to the visiting Physio (yes, I know – a 2nd team with an ACTUAL Physio – could you imagine!) who both patched up our ever growing list of walking wounded AND told Bobby Burbidge to **** off!
It was one of the walking wounded who was score the essential try with 3 minutes remaining. Fitton got hold of the ball at 10, and looking across to see a centre pairing of two props decided for some reason to throw a massive miss pass into the always safe hands of Peasey, who complete with his Terry Butcher-esque headband, scampered round some Lincoln types to go in for the score. Bevis decided that the conversion was sufficiently difficult to be worthy of scoring and we had turned the game around. Dogged defence from the kick off led to Mods being awarded a penalty with 40 seconds left. Considering how dominant our scrum was, and how poor our lineout, Fitton made the CORRECT decision and called for a scrum to kill the time off. Which we promptly lost. But somehow, we managed to convince their scrum half that knocking it on was the correct course of action, and the comeback was complete!
Man of the match this week was Craig Barlow - excellent in the tight and the loose, smashing oncoming No.8’s backward from penalties, manning up and finishing the match after badly dislocating a finger – he did it all today!
Dick of the Day goes to Mat Burrows, for ever so kindly and ever so loudly volunteering that he was well enough to come back on to cover front row duties whilst we had two forwards in the bin – thanks Mat, but we’d rather you shut up and let us take the uncontested scrums option!! |