Inter Yammam 8 – 3 Putney Pacers

By Nashy
 
Pacers went all experimental in their cup tie against the mighty Inter Yammam with a new 3-5-2 (or 3-2-3-2) which almost paid off apart from the 5 goal difference between the two teams on a crisp, sunny day on Clapham Common Lido.
 
The line up, after days and days, e mails and e mails and debate about who would best compliment this new winning formula was eventually decided by FATT Matt turning up just in time for the pre-match minute silence and Good/Gash Ash showing  up in time for the two minutes silence on the Monday.
 
Nick donned the gloves with the back three of Ivo, Nash and Spracks. Alex and Ed started as holding midfielders with John in front and the only real “Pacers” (maybe Ben or Curtis pending the result of their race could be added to this); Sean and Norf playing in the new wing-backs spots and Curt and Lewis up top.
 
The idea was to dominate in the middle, protect the back line who had, up until Sunday, conceded 15 in 3 and use some real pace down the channels. It looked like that might happen too for about 4 minutes of tidy play from Pacers before Inter Yammam got Inter the back of our defence and scored two in succession with some clinical finishing and soft defending.
 
“Heads up lads!” the first of many came and  indeed Pacers did get their heads up and genuinely dominated possession and pegged Inter Yammam back. Someone grabbed one back (sorry for forgetting who) after Ivo distracted the keeper by jumping in front of him from a throwing. It was all very positive and apart from conceding another two goals after some cool finishing, Sean scored a very nice bullet header after some very tidy play indeed.
 
HT and 4-2 but the tone was clear. “We are the better team here and apart from conceding silly goals (again!), should be in the driving seat” said the gaffer (or something along those lines anyway). The mood was positive and the formation was looking credible but if ever being 4-2 down could be classed as a honeymoon period, the honeymoon 45 minutes swiftly crashed and burned. Spracks pulled up with a groin injury and was replaced by Matt whilst John swapped with Nick and went in goal.
 
The second half was just not good enough. Simple mistakes like passing to their players led to them queuing to get on the score sheet and they put the game to bed quickly. Ash replaced Ed but the game was done and Pacers were 8-2 down before a neat finish from the boss added some sort of credibility to the score line. Curt managed to make the day worse by doing his now “cankle” although at least I got to drive a BMW.  Which was nice.
 
Beaten by a very good side by an embarrassing scoreline, but genuinely some of the best passing football the Pacers have played in a long time (Spracks will tell us just how long). The questions still remain: What the hell has happened to the defence that was far more water tight last year? Will Alex risk the 3-2-3-2 again? Are we all sadomasochists that like to have our backsides handed to us on a plate every Sunday?  Who will face the Pacers backlash? 
 
Oh well. It was a Micky Mouse cup anyway. Time to focus on promotion.