The Dixie Defecation Disaster

Report

Chaps first—and last—appearance in the Centenary Cup came in the form of a bye to the Quarter Final, against Hizza Utd. For only their second game of 2016, and second game in 4 months, Chaps fielded a much changed lineup with the squad facing numerous injuries. Disaster struck during the twilight hours prior to kick off as several members of the team appear to have been infected by some dodgy gourmet chicken at Dixies' Chicken of King's Heath. This sadly forced Tomolinson out of the game, our thoughts are with him and his family. Our founder Farr, also struggling with poultry pains, stepped in at left back for his first appearance of the year. Penny—pushed into centre midfield after N.Hobbis headbutted some poor chaps' knuckles—was flanked by Tansley and Feasey, with captain Whalley alongside him. King, Slater and Tarplee completed the defensive lineup, and the absence of Dowsett meant a start for Jones, paired today with Watkins.

Chaps started fairly well on a boggy pitch, but it was the front pairing of Watkins and Jones that really shone in the first half. Early on Jones picked up the ball in the final third, ran past 3 players and bent in a shot which the keeper parried at full stretch. Watkins was right there waiting in the wings to pounce and finished well to put the chaps in the lead.

Minutes later Hizza replied, managing to poke in a close range effort, and took the lead towards the end of the half with a deflected strike from the edge of the box. Chaps kept going however, and the tenacity of Jones and Watkins paid dividends, creating two goals in the space of two minutes to take Chaps into the second half in the lead. Jones chased down a seemingly lost opportunity on the goal line out towards the corner flag, managed to win the ball and beat his man, only for a defender to smash the ball into his chest. The ball then looped goalwards with a flailing defender unable to keep it from crossing the line, 2-2.

On the following attack, Jones played a deft ball through to Watkins, who, with space running out on the left hand side of the goal, fired a fine finish past the Hizza keeper, 3-2 to the Chaps.

The second half did not go well. playing on a slight incline, Chaps were unable to get the ball down and pass it, one of their strong points. Hizza, to their credit, kept battling away and managed to score two goals themselves in quick succession to level and then regain the lead. The leveller was a freak goal, a low cross in fact from the right hand side corner flag which crept under Hobbis at the near post and somehow then curled in. Hobbis can hold his head high still, as he has made numerous game changing saves for us since his introduction, including another few today. Hizza's fourth goal came from poor defending at the back post as a ball was headed back across from a Hizza free kick.

Chaps struggled to get a foothold in the game during the second half, except for an intense ten minute spell at the end of the match which saw Jones ruthlessly hacked down. He was then extremely wronged in receiving a yellow card for pushing the foulee's face away from his own in clear self defence. Watkins was also very unlucky to hit the post after a superb lobbed shot in the second half.

Many thanks to Mosedale for running the line for us all game despite having a back problem, and to Moores Junior and Senior for coming down to show the Chaps their support.

Chap of the match today is a joint award for the front duo of Jones and Watkins. They really were the standout players for Chaps, creating all 3 goals themselves and working tirelessy in very difficult conditions. Congratulations Kev and Watko, some positives to take forward to the revenge match next week - in the semi final of the Bridgewater Cup! UTC!