Basford Utd A — Sat 20 Oct 2007

Match report

Half time: 1 – 2

Samba entertained Basford Utd 'A' at Burton Road , keen to get back on track after dropping 2 points at Ruddington the previous week. G.Taylor was unavailable so Loach started up front in an otherwise unchanged side. Basford had lost all their previous games and looked nervous from the outset with a number of sliced clearances. Their confidence was given a wonderful shot in the arm though, when they took a surprise lead. Basford had been awarded a free kick 35 yds from the Samba goal but the kick itself did not present any problems to the Samba defence as the ball sailed over their heads and towards the goal. Unfortunately Ballard lost the flight of the ball and it dropped under the cross bar for 1-0. The shock of conceding temporarily kicked started Samba who had been sloppy in possession and Gibbons bucked this trend with an incisive ball to put Loach clear. As the keeper came to narrow the angle Loach slotted ball past him into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Having got back on level terms you would have thought Samba would have gone on to boss the match but a few minutes later they were behind to the most bizarre goal of this or any other Samba season. Again it came from a Basford free kick, which again was overhit but as everyone thought Ballard would claim the ball, he ducked and let it run straight into the net. Everyone on the pitch paused before the referee signaled the goal, with Ballard claiming that the referee had indicated an indirect free kick, therefore the goal should not stand. The referee quickly refuted the claim and Samba were 2-1 down. This marked a spell where Samba's play sunk to its lowest level with in house arguing between senior players adding to the woe. With half time approaching Samba started to show one or two more promising moves but the game seemed in a weird state, as Samba seemed to have the attitude of 'oh it will be alright we have the second half to get us out of trouble'. Samba were improving though but as the half time whistle blew they were staring an embarrassing defeat square in the face.

Although expecting stern words at half time, there was a sense of disbelief at the team talk and it was a case of the 11 players putting right the wrongs of the first half. Gibbon started the 2nd half in exactly the right manner with a thrusting run into the heart of the Basford defence before winning a Samba corner. It seemed like Samba, with the slope in their favour, had finally got a grip but out of nowhere Basford got another goal. From the Samba left the Basford man choose to cross first time with the outside of his right foot. It was speculative but had a vicious curl, which caught out Ballard, who slipped and the ball bounced into the net. At 3-1 down, things couldn't have got much worse but then Samba went down to ten when Loach was sent off for retaliating against the Basford full back who also saw red for his initial stamp on the Samba man. With both sides down to 10 men and on a very large pitch it was obvious the game would get very stretched. Samba started to pass the ball better in phases though still were not fluent. They earned a succession of corners with Hill tormentor in chief for the Basford defenders. It was Hill who provided the lifeline for Samba rising the highest on one of such corners and it gave Samba a big boost to be back within one goal. A few minutes later Rose who had replaced Hawkins wriggled free on the Samba right and hit a hard low cross, which the Basford keeper could only divert into the goal for 3-3. Time was running out for Samba to get a winner but in the nick of time Gibbons received the ball in the Basofrd box before drawing a clumsy foul to earn Samba a penalty. Hill converted and the relief from Samba was tangible. As the game had got stretched Basford had threatened for the first time in the match on the counter attack, with the ball flashing past the Samba post on a number of occasions. Thankfully Samba held out to maintain their unbeaten record but the performance was poor and the players knew it.