14th February 2009
Keymer & Hassocks vs Ardingly
Div 2
Keymer & Hassocks beat Ardingly 5-4 in what most agreed was the worst game of football the Club have taken part in-- with some laughable defending the scores could have been in double figures.
Admittedly K & H had 2 very late withdrawals through injury which upset the balance of the side and the Ardingly keeper didn't appear a natural in that position more a stand in perhaps but both keepers had scant protection throughout.
The sense of farce was added to by one of the spectators pointing out the Ref bore a passing resemblance to Father Jack (of Father Ted)-it certainly seemed as if he wished he was elsewhere.
For the record Ardingly opened the scoring when K & H completely lost their marking-the rest of the 1st half was then
fairly uneventful with Ardingly looking the more lively.
K & H got back in just after the restart when Toby Raftery danced into the area and pulled back for Stuart Thompson to fire home-but Ardingly quickly replied.Once again K & H clawed their way back Raftery setting up James Emmens who was completely unmarked but continued poor defending let Ardingly increase their lead to 4-2.
All seemed lost but the 3 subs then came on with Troy Raftery pushing up into midfield. K & H MOM Toby Raftery pulled it back to 4-3 after the the ball came back from the crossbar.
James Handford made an immediate impact with a perfect cross for Emmens to head home although again he was completely unmarked.
With time almost up a draw seemed a fair result but Ardingly missed a glorious chance to seal it firing wide of the post.The comedy was however perfectly concluded as Robin King slashed wildly at the ball just outside the area-it spun skywards before dropping down towards the goal where the keeper was odds on to deal with it but the spin must have caused him to misjudge and it slipped through his hands into the net.
The K & H players slunk sheepishly back to the halfway line too embarrassed to celebrate whilst the Ringmaster Ref bought the comedy of errors to a close .
