10th Dec 2007 - Captain Marvel leads Hedge End to victory on last game

In Pete's last game for Hedge End he was announced as captain.  It was a tricky away game in Cosham and the weather was awful.  It was freezing and cold, and in the back of every player's mind was the hope that the game would be cancelled and we would just have to pop down the pub for the morning.  Hedge End took their biggest away crowd of the season as Bernard's girls Laura and Holly and also Pete's fiancé and his parents came.  

After Hedge End's poor performance the week before, Pete was going to make some big changes, but as only 12 players turned up and Mike didn't want to get cold he decided that all 11 players should play.  This was to prove a good decision by the captain.  As Cosham's home kit is white in colour Hedge End played in the black away top for only the second time this season.  The only other time was a 9-1 loss in the cup.

The match kicked off and it was raining hard with puddles near both goals.  Early on in the game Cosham took a well deserved lead when their player hit it from just inside the area and it went into the bottom right hand corner.  The Hedge End keeper did dive but there was a very muddy puddle in the middle of the goal as as it was cold he didn't want to get too wet.

After this Hedge End put a lot of pressure on Cosham and a lot of great passing was on display, even though the pitch wasn't in good shape to handle it.  After some good wing play Sunny crossed it in from the right, it just missed Pete but in came Luke, from right back, and hit a low shot into the corner of the net.  At 1-1 it was a fair reflection of how the game was going.  Bernard, Ben and James were loving the pitch and sliding in last ditch tackles to save Hedge End.

Then Cosham took a quick corner and it fell to their striker who just had the keeper to beat. He made it 2-1 to Cosham.  Within minutes Cosham then went 3-1 up when a big mistake by Dave in the Hedge End goal gifted them, as he kicked it straight at their striker and it rebounded into the net.

The half time whistle blew and Hedge End huddled around for their team talk.  Although to be fair the huddle was more in aid of trying to stay warm.  Captain Pete decided to keep things the way that they were, a brave decision.

Straight away as the second half kicked off Hedge End were taking advantage of the wind, rain and pitch being in their favour. 

After only five minutes they got a corner and Ali took it and placed it into the net via a defender.  Then a little while later Ali took another corner and again it took a slight deflection and went in.  James took note of this 'pattern' that seemed to be emerging and so next time Hedge End won a corner James ran into the box and tapped home Hedge End's fourth goal of the morning.

With 20 minutes to go Andy went in goal and swapped with Dave.  Andy didn't let in any goals and so cemented his chances of becoming Hedge End's regular number one.  Well at least until Chappers returns again.

Hedge End by this point were controlling the game and it wasn't long before another goal came, when Sunny crossed the ball in, Steve knocked it on and Dave scored a simple tap in.  This spurred Matt on make sure that he was still top goal scorer and so soon afterwards a great ball by Ali led to Matt hitting it on the ground and passed the keeper.

With about ten minutes to go the ball was hoofed up and Matt won it on the right wing, he then passed it to Pete who took his shot.  Time stopped still, flash backs of Matt Le Tissier scoring on his last game and the last game at the Dell flew into people's minds.  Everything went silent and the crowd ( Pete's mum ) gasped, but it wasn't to be as the keeper dived to his left and it deflected for a corner.  That would have been a fairy tale ending.

Right at the end one of Pete's last touches was to cut inside and set up Matt to grab his second of the game, and Hedge End's seventh, as he hit it to the left of the goal and it was so powerful it went through the net  ( although rumour has it that the net already had a hole in it  ).  Then came a moment to remember as Ben got the ball and blasted it..... right into Steve's face.  Both Steve and his fat lip would like to thank Ben for this.  The final whistle blew shortly after that and although we normally shake hands afterwards, everybody ran for the changing rooms to get warm and stick their bodies under hot water.

Pete's last game before moving to the US ended in a win for Hedge End ( what were the odds on that ), and Pete had a good game to finish on.  He didn't get the goal that we all wanted him to get, but after setting up a few and stopping some breaks that Cosham had, Pete gave the effort and commitment that had made him a Hedge End favorite.

Although we had a bumper crowd turn up a special mention must go to Pete's mum, who was the only one brave enough to get out of the car and actually watch us in the cold and rain.

The biggest result of the morning was after the game, when there was hot water coming out of the showers.  Not many of the Solent Church League Division 2 clubs have this 'luxury facility'.

Another special mention must go to Cosham who played the game in a great spirit and although the weather wasn't nice it was a fantastic game to play in.