Rusthall (0) 2 Parsons 50, Carey 60
Tunbridge Wells (0) 3 Powell 51, Beaton, Cass
Att. 162
Entrance: £2
Programme: None
Mileage: 44/44
I’ve enjoyed this World Cup, it has had far more good games than bad and some have been downright thrilling. The United States throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Belgium, the agony of the Swiss as they hit the post in the last throw of the dice against Argentina and the bewilderment of Spain’s capitulation to Holland in the group stages all produced magnificent memories alongside many more. Never mind that England were the fall guys of the tournament, those three games taught us nothing that the majority of people didn’t know already.
Despite there being two semis, a dead rubber and a Final still to be played, it was time to lever the backside off the sofa and get Season 2014-15 underway with a pre-season friendly at Jockey Farm for Tunbridge Wells’ visit to Rusthall.
Quite often pre-season, games are interrupted midway through the half for a water break as the players battle with a hot summer’s day. Not so on this occasion as a torrential downpour led to flooding en-route to the game and a delay of 15 minutes to the kick-off as the deluge continued. All of which was a bit of a nuisance, because despite wanting time away from the sofa, I still wanted to be home and back in said position for the mouth-watering prospect of the host Brazil versus an ominously threatening German side.
With no programme or team sheet to aid the identification of the new players donning the red shirts of Tunbridge Wells, the opening minutes were consumed with the task of getting to know who was who, with not complete success I would hasten to add.
The one thing that became apparent and not a little disconcerting is that there has been a big turnover of players at Culverden this summer, something that has gone largely unreported. Lewis Mingle’s departure to Hythe was known, as was Andy Irvine’s departure from the club, but not his destination. The list of players not on show at Rusthall and, shall we say, their rumoured destinations, amount to Chris Oladogba, who has seemingly retired, Scott Whibley who has joined Rochester United, Jon Pilbeam who has decamped to VCD whilst Irvine has ended up at Ashford. Andy McMath has left the club whilst Chris Seenan’s absence was hopefully nothing more than unavailability.
It does appear that there is a lot of money swilling around the Southern Counties East League with Greenwich signing Gary Alexander, fresh from the Football League. Ashford and Sevenoaks also, seemingly, with cash to fund a promotion push. Add the unknown element of Lingfield and Crowborough and the sense is that this League is going to be even tougher to get out of this season.
The first half was a struggle as players got to know each other as much as we were getting to know them. New signing Brendan Cass was partnered by Danny Powell as the pair battled for scraps in Rusthall’s territory. Nick Barnes was positioned in central midfield rather than the winger that we were used to seeing in his Longmead days. He put himself about and certainly can be expected to do a job at SCEL level.
The second half saw Rusthall taking an early lead through Matt Parsons but seeing it immediately cancelled out when a shot from outside of the box by the unknown left back taking a heavy deflection off Powell leading the home keeper stranded. Alex Carey restored the home side’s lead on the hour mark with a well hit shot low to Steve Lawrence’s left and into the corner of the net.
At this point, 65 minutes in, it was time to depart for home to claim my seat on the sofa for the World Cup Semi Final and what transpired left me open-mouthed and staring at the box in total disbelief.
When Thomas Mueller put the Germans ahead on 11 minutes my immediate thought was that now we will see what the Brazilians are made of, having been unconvincing throughout the tournament. Nowhere, even inside a vivid imagination that I do not possess, did I foresee the six minutes between the 23rd and 29th minutes happening at Jockey Farm earlier, let alone the Semi Final of the World Cup. The Germans scythed their way through inept defending to register a five goal lead by the half-hour mark. It was jaw-dropping, in some ways it was heart-breaking to watch Brazil being ruthlessly demolished. Most of all, it was literally bizarre. These things just do not happen, especially not to Brazil. With the game over, two more goals were added in the second half to complete the humiliation as a nation wept.
Meanwhile, in my absence at Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells showed at least a modicum of resilience that the Brazilians would have done well to possess with goals from Tolly Beaton and Brendan Cass earning a 3-2 victory.
Season 2014-15 is underway, but in the coming 10 months, nothing is going to astound me quite like the TV viewing of Brazil’s horror show.
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