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London Saint Dave Thomas, centre, agrees with Pete's moan about Best, while fellow LSSC fans Robin Richardson (front), Paul Wathan and Tom Henson look on in disbelief
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
So your rookie striker has a bit of a mare, spends a large part of the evening getting himself offside then scores a bizarre own goal (good ball for the 2nd goal though). So what does Burley do? He asks him to take the 1st penalty in our most crucial of games, writes Pete Berkeley
That's my gripe over though. Generally speaking we showed bundles of courage and never gave up. And the support was fantastic. There's not a lot wrong with this side and I do feel confident that we'll be there or thereabouts next year.
Eric Shadick's match report
Mr. Burley restored Kelvin Davis to our goal for the do-or-die game at Derby, but it was impossible to find support for that decision amongst the travelling fans. Other changes were imposed by injuries as George searched through the squad to make the best of a bad job.
It meant a return for the neglected Crainie as Pele wasn't trusted to look after Howard, but it was centre back Moore who gave the Rams an early lead as some again asked questions of Davis, maybe a bit unfairly. However Bywater in the home goal soon threw Saints a lifeline with a headed clearance on the edge of the box that Viafara returned into the empty net.
Gradually the balance of play began to favour the patched up Saints side, but could they carry on the good work after the break? The answer was an emphatic yes, with Best setting up Viafara for a goal that levelled the aggregate scores. That was as good as it got for poor Leon Best, as he unwittingly gave the overall lead back to Derby when he got the last touch to a corner.
It was a tough ask for the team to raise their game again, but on came ex-Ram Rasiak who silenced three sides of a passionate Pride Park with an 88th minute goal following good work by Belmadi. The tie had long since reached epic proportions and Saints and Derby continued to go at it in extra time, with the closing stages becoming almost unbearable as dramatic endings were possible for either side - but there were no more goals, and we should remember that a weakened team recorded an impressive 3-2 win.
What would we have given for an away goals rule? However, that's not how things are done in the Football League, and penalties ensued. Neither keeper came close to saving any of the 9 kicks, so credit to Surman, Skacel and Rasiak. Bywater was getting involved where he shouldn't, to try to upset our takers, but I suspect it was Best's part in Derby's second goal that was playing on his mind as he sent kick number one wide.
What Idiakez was trying to do with our fifth effort, we don't know - but high and wide meant down and out. A draining evening with the seats only used for a rest as the teams changed ends; an immediate reaction was we never want to go through that again, but taking on such challenges is what the game's all about and we can be proud of our players on the night.
Man of the Match: Jhon Viafara - two goals but not quite a hero.
P.S. Well done Reggie Tours coach services as well, with a really good trip nearly turning into one we'd talk about for years to come.
