19th April 2005 - BCI V's A.R.G. UK

BC1 tried hard to throw away a much deserved 3 points last night as they struggled to capitalise on their
chances and made hard work of a game that should have been wrapped up by half time.

Poor control, passing and a lackadaisical approach to defending, combined with the wasted chances up front,
allowed ARG UK to consistently peg back Bunky’s and turn what should have been a comfortable
win into a nervous and narrow victory.

In a changed line-up that saw Benaldo and Mark Rogers replace Rolfey and Richard Moss in central midfield,
it should have been a team resilient and competent to cope with the opposition and it did appear (briefly)
when Sean opened the scoring mid-way through the first half from a through ball from Gazza that any
nerves would settle, as this followed some good possession and movement.

Unfortunately, ARG UK exploited the gaps in midfield to equalise shortly afterwards
and BC1 failed to heed the warnings.

Shortly before half-time another through ball from Gazza again found Sean who restored the lead but
immediately afterwards Gazza somehow failed to clear a relatively straight forward interception,
ending in another ARG UK goal.

Bunky’s should have gone into the break 3-2 up after an ARG UK defender had encroached into the area to
turn a goal-bound effort from Sean past the post but Sean failed to make the resulting penalty count
and the half time scores were therefore level at 2-2.

At the start of the second half, Richard Armstrong replaced Dazza in goal as Russ left the pitch and
shortly afterwards Mark Rogers side-stepped a few challenges in the middle when cutting in from the left to
put BC1 3-2 up with a wonderful curling strike that found the top corner.

Several missed opportunities followed before Sean finally secured the points with a near post effort,
completing his hat-trick.

What should have then been a straight forward run-in, however, saw ARG UK again score from a lack of concentration
in the Bunky’s centre and it took a few Ritchie Armstrong blocks towards the end to ensure the victory.

Ultimately a win is a win – but it could and should have been by a distance and Bunky’s seem to have got away
with some sloppy football. Lessons to be learnt, me thinks.