Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean
Water, water everywhere and
all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.

Or in other incorrectly translated terms…

It has been piddling down for weeks,
Not very much football is being played
and the rain has converted every pitch into a muddy bog.

Yet away to Broadway in the lovely surrounding of Knowle West, we travel to begin the New Year…

Eager to start the game, Broadway immediately cast all fear aside as they brutally introduced Bradley Stoke to a full contact sport as they collided and body checked on every tackle. Less than 5 minutes into the game, a ball played into the feet of Adam Morris was greeted with a fierce sliding tackle that saw him on the ground with a jolt to the neck, lucky he was ok. The loose ball was turned and struck at the keeper, was then spilled by James Potter and the waiting Broadway forward tapped the ball into an empty net. Generally Stoke was looking a bit slow on the anticipation and also a little scared of the intimidation. Even so, Stoke were soon level with some beautifully connected passes from Liam to Jay Eager into the path of Squirt who smoothly stroked the ball into the corner. This moment of pure magic was unfortunately just a moment. After much pressure Stoke eventually conceded a second goal from a cross that bounced up and down endlessly in the 6 yard box as Bradley Stoke watched Broadway eventually bring down the ball in the very crowded box and slap it in from 5 yards out. Broadway then scored again as a wild cross dropped into the far roof of the net.

Bradley Stoke returned from the brake with renewed vigour. Winning the ball in the air, tight marking and a good work rate. Broadway were pinned back and opportunities to score started to present themselves. Unfortunately, after 30 minutes of mainly Stoke possession, Broadway against the flow, counter attacked and took the wind out of Stoke’s sails. A long range shot looping over the head of Potter was saved. The keeper and the ball both fell from the sky inside the 6 yard box. As the forward was following up on his own shot, James lunged at the ball pushing it wide of the forward who struck at thin air only to find a second player waiting for the easy touch in at the far post. The formation was changed to 3-4-1-2 to try and find some goals. This created very attacking end to end play. But Stoke could not finish
on any of their attacks as Broadways keeper turn away some fine strikes from Dave Stephens, Chris Hodge and Jay Eager. Finally to rub salt into the open wound, Luke Taylor was called for a deliberate hand ball in the box, even though the referee had no vision of the ball clearly being controlled by his chest. The penalty was firmly slotted into the corner.

Luck favours the strong and Broadway was the stronger team on the day, even though 3 of their 5 goals arouse from bizarre (?) events. An unconvincing first half did all the damage.

Match report courtesy of Roger Smith