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Brigg, league leaders, eight victories on the spin, big b*stards and champions elect against demoralised Thornton last victory ages ago, several first teamers missing and made up with lads who should be revising for their O’levels or whatever they are called now. To make matters worse Bob was in a foul mood as Paul Hughes had wound him up about us bankrupting the club despite us standing our corner as regards subs and fines etc. A bit rich coming from Mr Hughes as every time I see him he has got a new item of Thornton clothing on, where’s our sweatshirts? At least we could still use the mini-bus for the long journey after work but yet again it was devoid of any fuel and only just crawled to the petrol station. Even our fine looking bunch of supporters and Lady Fox did not make the journey fearing the worst.
Kick off is 6.30pm and we arrive at 6.25pm. Not ideal to say the least which is an apt description of the changing facilities, an old container with one shower with a see thru shower curtain in the corner, a perverts paradise. The Brigg management seemed very confident as they gleefully said they only needed two wins from their next five games to win the league. Not one to let a Nobber get the better of me I did tell him after tonight it would be two victories out of four. He looked visibly shocked at my impudence.
So no warm up, a home team baying for blood, a very young Thornton side and me as Linesman. A recipe for disaster. Young Andy was in nets, Aiden (Paul Hughes son) at left back (Paul did ask for a signing on fee) and another lad, who I must apologise I have forgotten your name, were drafted in. Liam Macdonald was playing despite having more bandages than a Mummy. Brigg must have been sh*tting themselves (not).
A welcoming drizzle engulfed a rock hard pitch and Brigg were soon on the offensive. They used their superior physical presence to get the ball up to the front men but Sam and Stubbsy were equal to everything. It was Thornton who had the first chance when Ben’s snapshot was well held by the Brigg forward. The Thornton forward line were caught offside on about five occasions in the first ten minutes but did not complain whereas I put my flag up twice in the whole game which apparently is against the law in Preston. So ten minutes in we score. Foxy throws in a monster throw into the box and skims off a Brigg into the net. What a weapon Foxy has got! Brigg poured forward thinking that young Aiden maybe the weak link, how wrong they were, he was mustard linking well with Ben Cox. The only time Brigg did get clear Andy made a breathtaking save not once but twice to deny them. Thornton broke clear and flick into the area saw the ball struck an arm of a Brigg defender. Now I would have been a little miffed at the penalty decision if it was against us but hey they are from Preston. Ben strode up and sent the keeper the wrong way.
Two up against the league leaders and we were more than holding our own until the Referee intervened with a bizarre free kick award to the home side, which was duly despatched in expert fashion. The home side were now buoyant but five minutes before half time they were hit with a sucker punch. Foxy, from the opposite side, arrowed in another exocet throw and Joe Howarth out-jumped the giant Brigg defenders to head home. A killer blow but well deserved for Thornton. Half time Brigg 1 Thornton 3.
Thornton’s gallant, brave soldiers came off for a deserved drink of lukewarm tap water apprehensive for the next 45 minutes as they were prepared for a second half onslaught. Liam was struggling badly now with his knee, I would like to add it was nothing to do with the bottle throwing incident in the previous game as that was a pure accident as the bottle was aimed for Joe’s head. Anyway Liam decided to carry on for the cause. The second half began with Brigg throwing everything at us, even the Referee seemed to feel sorry for them and decided to give them a helping hand! To be honest though he was probably trying to even things up after the first half penalty. He certainly did that early in the second half as he awarded a soft free kick to Brigg and the home side capitalised to make it 2-3.
Now when I was a kid, admittedly more than ten years ago now, I was always told to say “man on” (in a footballing way of course). However, Sam Johnson was penalised on the edge of the box for exactly that. According to the Referee that is ungentlemanly conduct punished by certain death or a free kick, luckily for Sam it was the latter. Brigg did not take advantage of their fortune. With Liam and Steve willing runners up front, well just Steve anyway, Bob made his first and only change of the game (we did have only one substitute). As Liam slowly made his way to the touchline he was overtaken by Jay Holland who came off. Jay had a badly sprained something. To be fair to Jay this was his best game in a Thornton shirt and he did not put a foot wrong all game. Jay was replaced by another youth team player whose name I regrettably forgot.
For the next 20 minutes or so it was the Andy Show. For someone so young he was not intimidated by the bigger boys and pulled off some stunning saves, one tip over from a looping header was breathtaking. Credit must be given also to the defence who were magnificent especially Aiden at left back. Thornton did make the odd chance but the emphasis was on keeping them out. Brigg must have won about twenty corners and some of them were justified, the Referees arm always seemed to be pointed at the corner flag despite clearly the ball not touching a Thornton player. Brigg were thrown a lifeline in the 75th minute when the penalty decisions were evened out. A Brigg forward wriggled his way into the area and was brought down. I did shake my head but not for the decision but for a needless foul, it was a penalty. This was Brigg’s best chance and the Brigg player stepped up with confidence. But no, Andy hurled himself down to his right to pull off a fantastic save. A star in the making.
Had Brigg’s chance gone for victory and the answer was an emphatic yes. Thornton were now on the ascendancy and now attacked their demoralised opponents. Time and time again they played the ball round Brigg (which they didn’t do against 8 man Lammack). On 85 minutes their pressing paid dividends when Steve sped passed two defenders than unselfishly squared (note the word squared for the Brigg faithful) to Ben who thrashed the ball home to make it 4-2. Thornton easily held out for the best and most unexpected win of the season.
Thornton had refused to be intimidated by the Preston team and never backed down at any stage of the game. The Brigg players were visibly shaken at the end of the game and the home support dismayed to be beaten by little Thornton. You cannot honestly say they took defeat well and there were no comments of “well done” or “congratulations”, more like “you are a disgrace” and “fat b*stard”. Harsh but Bob took it well. The Brigg management staff, all 8 of them, were however true footballing people and congratulated us in the correct manner. They even wished Blackpool well in their quest in getting into the Premiership, that bit is a lie.
The whole team were a credit battling for every ball and the major plus was that every single player gave 100%. This bodes well for next season. Man of the match should be the team but to be honest you can’t look much further than Andy the Keeper who was quite simply brilliant. He did comment at the end it was an honour to play for the under 18s and see how a team should be run with the professionalism and tactical genius of the under 18s.
So it was back in the van for a long journey home and Bob was heading back to work at the Nuclear Plant at Springfield, leaving his son Bart, sorry Liam, to come back with us. We arrived back to the club at 9.30pm where Neil, Danny, Paul and his wife were waiting for us. Obviously they had been planning our demise but their cunning plan seems to be as good as Gordon Brown’s chances of retaining PM i.e. no chance. On a serious note we must thank them for the 3 players who were a credit. |