We came, we saw, we almost conquered!

Worthing Supporters 5, The Rabblers 5
Friday 20th March 2008
Friendly Match at Goring-by-Sea

It's a good few years since we ventured down to the South Coast, for our only previous match against the Rebels supporters. No win for the Hamlet fans this time out, & thankfully no own goal from Mishi Morath against Matt Hammond, as he was rumoured to have 'bottled' the trip, fear a 'phoenix from the flames' type scenario!
As it was there was only adozen who made the early journey down to Sussex, ranging from the old to the ancient, with a couple of youngsters thrown in! By 'youngsters' take that to mean late twenties, & NOT the genuine strapping young pups, who wore the Worthing red. Indeed one or two of them wouldn't have looked out of place in the Worthing Youth Team, & it was rumoured that the odd one had!

We were fortunate to meet up with London based Rebel Nick on the train, so he led us straight to the ground. It was somewhat strange to stroll to an away game alongside fields and horses! On getting to the pitch we were met by a large Worthing squad, most of whom were younger and fitter. There was an almost gale force wind blowing across the pitch, and it was on a slope! Memories came flooding back of schoolboy football matches at Brockwell Park! If ever there was a team for which the expression 'underdogs' was invented then it was 'The Rabblers' today!

But strength in adversity, we didn't just take an early lead, but went into the break three one to the good! It was a superb performance from everyone involved, and it was only weariness that got the better of us at the end, as Worthing fought back to earn a draw. I'm not entirely sure they deserved honours even, but given their youth it came as no surprise. They were perhaps helped slightly when Andy Tucker unilaterally opted to come out of goal in the second half, to play out on pitch, as although stalwart Steve Rickerby did an adequate job between the sticks, I think even he would hold his hands up and say we would have won if he'd stayed in the centre of defence, with Andy still between the posts.

The result, although a little disappointing, was one I am sure most would have settled for before the match. And it must be said that this was a true supporters' game as they should be. Great fun, without a hint of malice. A pitch full of people running around, who really should know better at their age! Marvellous!

The goals came from a brace each through Lawrence Marsh & Chris Garrett. One of Chris' efforts being from down the wing, as he went forward & cut in, almost reminiscent of his wondergoal against the PSG Belgium fans in Paris early last year. And what can you say about the last goal from maestro Marsh? A superb assist from Mishi Morath from the centre spot, as we kicked off having just conceded, as he knocked the perfect pass to his feet. Larry then took a step or two forward, looked nochalantly up & struck the ball sweetly into the back of the net, probably on a par with that famous David Beckham strike against the now Milton Keynes based Wimbledon FC a few years ago on 'Match of the Day'!

And what about the evergreen Ferenc Morath. It's been a while, but he's back on the scoresheet for us. A somewhat over the top celebratory run back up the pitch followed, after he hit the back of the old onion bag. The onionbag being almost as old as himself, as at the 'youthful' age of 47 he becomes our oldest ever 11-a-side goalscorer! I wonder how long it will be before he hits another, or someone else takes that mantle off of him?

It was good to see Shaun Dooley have another run out, he's almost a regular now with this being his third appearance after a decade or so absence. And a first run out of the current campaign from the mercurial Lee Shailer. Not to mention Darren Nicholas, making only his second turn-out for us this season.

Well done to everyone who played, against a younger, fitter & numerically stronger Worthing side, who were worthy opponents. If you really want to judge the gulf between the two sides, which tells you what a magnificent result this was for 'The Rabblers': our threadbare squad of twelve included two over fifites; three over forties & only two UNDER thirty year olds!

Team: Andy Tucker; Mick O'Shaughnessy; Steve Rickerby; Shaun Dooley; Phil Baker; Lee Shailer; Mark Hutton; Darren Nicholas; Lawrence Marsh; Chris Garrett; Ferenc Morath & Mishi Morath.