Line-up (5-3-2):
Big Adam; Moore, Johnston, Rogers, Walsh, Eyre; Pratt (Butt, 65), S Newman, N Newman; Kuczynski, Wills

It was a cold bleak day at Regents Park where the prospect of a shower was never too far away as the game got off to a flyer with the pace of Kuczynski proving too much for a static Resolute defence. The ball broke quickly thru midfield and was cleverly knocked wide on the right. Richard, who seems to have a great touch for a big lad, used his bulky frame to hold the ball up well inside the box before using his ass to create space for a neat finish low into the bottom left of the goal. 1-0 in the first ten minutes and things were looking good for CPR.

The game then seemed to take an ugly turn with a few harsh tackles going in from Resolute midfield. One of which resulted in a racial outburst that saw the Resolute right mid sent for an early bath. This incident should have spurred on CP but there still seemed to be a lack of belief.

Resolute pushed forward in the middle of the first half and should have been closed down quicker when they found the equaliser. A scrappy ball broke thru the middle and was quickly knocked into the area. Some words need to be said about the CPR tackling in midfield, I have seen harder tackles from a woman’s netball team. And in the end the lack of heart led to the equaliser from The Resolute.

Approaching half time and CPR started to gain the momentum again. Some inspired footwork from MOTD Scott released the wee wing gypsy who pinged a hopeful pass into the box where the ball sneaked thru and was sent home by the onrushing Steve who celebrated his goal in true style.

The end of the first half saw CPR take a bit of a pounding from the pace of The Resolute forwards. One effort saw Adam make a cracking save as the ball rebounded off the post and the bar before it was hoofed to safety. CPR’s sweeper seemed to lack the pace to cope with the Resolute pair – however what was missing in pace was made up by great covering, sheer size and tackling. The game drew to a scrappy first half conclusion.

Half-time: CPR 2, The Resolute 1

Resolute started the second half in a determined fashion and for the opening blows they seemed to have the ‘extra’ man. Some girly tackling again allowed the Resolute midfield to find their way thru the CPR defences and get themselves on level terms.

CPR then picked up the pace again, with Richard proving a handful and wee Skoosh using his pace to good effect to create a couple of decent opportunities: unfortunately poor finishing let The Resolute off the hook.

The 60-min mark saw the end of the game for Rich as he took a knock. He was replaced by the able Saif who fitted in well on the right-hand side, combining well with Nick and Steve to gain the upper hand again in this scrappy affair.

There was not much to report within the next short/cold spell of the game with the exception of a minor earthquake as Paul Johnston tried to head the ball whilst running sideways and missed it whilst crashing to the ground. Also on the sidelines there was a piece of true skill as The Alvaro tried a pass up the line and it actually went all the way to their keeper… I say Alvaro with his size 8 feet floating around in size 11 boots should have started.

As the game drew to a conclusion The Resolute got up a head of steam and some nice play led to a corner on the left. A decent in-swinging ball looked harmless until the untimely intervention of Danny, who somehow managed to head the ball onto his hand then bat it into the net for one of the most bizarre own goals I have witnessed. This turned out to be the last action of the game which definitely saw a defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. I must say that the result seems harsh but them’s the breaks. It’s a funny old game.

Final score: CPR 2, The Resolute 3

Match Reporter: Jambo Graeme