5th January 2013
Keymer & Hassocks vs Copthorne
Div 1
Looked like another bleak weekend as K & H’s game v Crawley Portuguese fell away-Crawley is seems was submerged in water- but the League managed set up this unexpected home tie v Copthorne at short notice
K & H were convincingly beaten in their previous encounter, albeit with a weakened side,so it could be expected Copthorne would be confident of a result and it was as such that they started ,closing K & H down quickly whenever they had possession and conversely attacking at speed and in numbers so that the home defence were at full stretch most of the time trying to contain them ( however perhaps could have done without some of the time worn old shouts such as ‘’they don’t want it there’’ and ‘’skin him’’ which seemed to bear no relation to reality).Ian Parsons worked tirelessly in midfield to help stem the flow and keep the visitors at bay until near then end of the first half when they got behind the K & H defence and their man could not be caught as he strode forward and finished in style
K & H were not too downhearted at half time feeling that although Copthorne were obviously fitter younger and bigger man for man they were still in the game but the signs were ominous when they were again outpaced at the back for another good finish although there was a real suspicion of offside but it was not called so the goal was good
Psychologically this was a pivitol point in the game-it would have been understandable if heads had gone down- but a perception that Copthorne were starting to become a touch arrogant spurred them on reviving memories of the history of this pub team whose trademark so many times down the years was to come back from adversity after half time when the Friday night hangovers had started to clear.So it was when James Brown delivered a sucker punch to get them back in the game and followed it up shortly after with the equaliser.K & H’s confidence grew with MOM Dan Goodrum starting to be influencial having moved up from the back and they were now going toe to toe sensing they might just pull off the win.It came when Ian Parsons hit one of his special deliveries from a free kick and Stuart Thompson finished with a flying header
Good team that they are Copthorne continued to press but K & H were starting to get some openings and may well have extended their lead if Joe Davey had seen Brown free with the defence outnumbered.The drama continued to the last minute when the goalie Gary Thomas conceded a free kick just outside the area for which he was booked-seems one of the Copthorne lads felt it should have been red but one of them was then booked, the Ref being heard to say it was because he had now sworn at him three times, so justice was even handed it seems.In the event the free kick came to nothing and the game was won
One or two of their players did not seem to take the defeat too well with some unfortunate comments being made but their manager was a perfect gent and some goodwill was quickly restored as the observation was made that perhaps everyone should just be grateful a game had actually been possible given all the recent postponements
