BENNY'S BLINDERS 0 - 9 WHELAN'S WARRIORS

Saturday 11th August 2007

Benny's Blinders: B Whelan, Minty, Morgan, Dobson, Milner, Haywood, Barber, Tomlin, J Povey

Whelan's Warriors: M Whelan, Wilson, L Clements, N Clements, T Povey, Mills, Davies, Muckle, Sacbuker

Half time score: 0-1

Kings AFC Scorers: Clements (3), M Whelan (3), Mills (2), Sacbuker

White's Man of the Match: Mike Milner, Red's Man of the Match: Nathan Clements

OVERALL MAN OF THE MATCH NATHAN CLEMENTS

The Battle of the Titans games are quickly being written into Kings AFC folklore and the anticipation was huge as the Kings AFC squad and their friends donned the red and white jerseys to once more take to the field to do battle with one another for bragging rights for the season.

This time the game had the added twist of the two managers being brothers! Mike and Ben Whelan, were the lucky pair who were given the opportunity of taking centre stage and facing each other in the coliseum Esq. atmosphere of the King George VI stadium.

Sadly, some players leading up to the game lost their nerve for the battle and that meant only the toughest and most committed warriors took up the fight. It disrupted the game only momentarily but did have the added difficulty of both sides only having 9 players to call upon, which on a large pitch and in very warm conditions took its toll on a very open game.

Just before the kickoff, whilst limbering up for the game, Ben Whelan, comically slid over the top of a ball, to be seen high in the air before landing firmly on his back side to the vast amusement of the other players standing by. A great start to the day for Ben and I’m afraid it didn’t get any better...

The tight first half had few clear cut chances as Ben’s Whites held a large proportion of the possession without making many clear cut chances, and Mike’s Reds looking to release their forwards on the break at any opportunity.

The back three of Wilson, Luke Clements and Tom Povey playing particularly well to snuff out any potential attacks from the Whites.

It took the games man of the match to step out of the goal and take centre stage to give the reds the edge as Nathan Clements stepped forward to give Mike’s team a cutting edge up front. He was decisive and opened the scoring after beating Milner and placing the ball around club captain Haywood, who was playing in goal as he is presently nursing a sore ankle.

It was then down to Haywood to make 2 or 3 excellent stops to keep the score looking competitive at half time.

The second half began with tired legs starting to appear around the pitch. The heat was really draining it out of people, despite the opportunity to take on fluids every 15 minutes. But as the game became more stretched, Mike’s teams pace up front, and slight stamina advantage enabled them to take advantage of the fact that they had no recognised defenders in their line-up.

Manager Whelan himself adding goals, along with more from Clements, a brace from newboy Mills and a solitary goal from a neatly taken corner from Allen Sacbuker.

Barber, Tomlin, Morgan, Minty and Co tried to rally the troops, with Milner in particular pulling the strings and trying to orchestrate things from the back, but it was too much to cope with as Whelan’s Warriors ran riot.

A special mention has to be made to Wilson’s antics at the back end of the game, who was placed up front by Manager Mike for the last 30 minutes of the game. He used his space well getting three assists during his rare stint as an attacker – but stupidly joked that he would “show the clubs other strikers how to do it” only to miss what can be accurately described as an open net, as a fast Whelan cross was hit high over the gaping goal.

It was a strong performance, and easily the most dominant of the Titans clashes to date. Despite the obvious disappointment in the result by the reds – it must be agreed that it was an excellent opportunity to get some fitness training in on a full sized pitch.

By Steve Wilson