Sparticans 4 - 2 Cheam 2s (H)
By Simon Fitch
Sparticans lighten the gloom at Sugden Road on Saturday
A deserved victory on Saturday for the Sparticans after a game full of ebbs and flows. Once we eventually started after the injury in the preceding game, a young and fast Cheam team came out of the blocks sharply and took advantage of some defensive uncertainty to score before most of us had touched the ball. Even with the 2.30pm start the floodlights were a welcome addition, and we quickly extricated ourselves from this gloomy start and within ten minutes were 2-1 up.
The game settled a little and we took advantage of Cheam being reduced to ten men for ten minutes after a correctly awarded yellow by Ravvers, who took control of events with Ian very effectively (thank you). A third goal was added by Kev, his second of the game continuing a very strong start to the season, with the other first half goal coming from Steve.
Skippy emphasised the need to control midfield in his half time team talk, and fair play to him for recovering from the disappointment of his country being eliminated from their own cricket competition earlier in the day (our South African contingent’s eyes were also not shining soon afterwards). He then scored our fourth from a short corner, which dribbled over the line in action reminiscent of his recent shuffle in our cup game. They all count…
At 4-1 we should have put the game to bed, but this was not a match in which we played at our best. Cheam continued to pressure and pulled a goal back, but 4-2 it was at the end. We welcomed the return of the mini Marquee of Dreams for presentations following a sumptuous coq au vin.
Moment of the Match was presented to Jimmer for his unique contribution to their first goal, with Skippy eventually winning Spartican of The Day after multiple recounts unaided by our designated Colt Freddie Sutton’s efforts on the counting front which completed an unfortunate day for our new signing after his somewhat random green card in the first half. The quicker we have Toby back to facilitate our award calculations, the better.
So not the greatest performance all round, but a win’s a win and we move forward accordingly…