The Bell Inn were cruely beaten in the County Cup Final in a game described by many as ‘Barcelona, Real Madrid like’.
Ok that’s a lie. It was a scrappy, physical affair between two teams who were completly on par with each other.
Arriving at manager’s Ian Babb’s house at 8.30am, the squad convoyed to Fakenham, which included some risky car over-taking from all of the cars. They did however arrive all in one piece.
A crowd of 182 turned up to watch Tom Brown, albeit some did turn up to watch the actual game. WAG’s were in attendance, although assistant-head WAG Carly Leveridge was spotted playing on Facebook for 80 minutes of the game.
Families and friends flooded through the gates, each paying £3 to watch their heroes. Injury victim Chris Sutcliffe, who turned up suited and booted, took the manager’s role. As well as this, assigned physio’s were in attendance which resulted in many players claiming to be injured pre-match, just to get a rub down from the pre-teen work experience physio.
It didn’t help that the Bell Inn conceded a goal after just 20 seconds. It was a comedy of errors involving about 5 of the team. Whether this was down to nerves, lack of concentration or just the fact that some players are shit, I’m not sure. But it wasn’t pretty.
The Bell Inn did fight back after this bitter blow, but conceded again after 25 minutes. Somehow a Rory Delap throw-in managed to reach the six yard box without touching anyone and was tapped in with ease. However, due to no hangovers, heads didn’t drop and the Bell Inn battled on.
They were rightly rewarded on 35 minutes, when a quite simply perfect free-kick from Tom ‘odds on to get Player of the Year’ Brown, was finished by Ian Babb. The fans went mental, the roof of the stadium was lifted and it was game on. The club’s firm, which consists of Rob Bingham, Matt Campbell, Kristian Carter, Tom Nicholls and Ben Hall, stood in the terrace in their Stone Island jackets and burberry t-shirts. This prompted the oppositions firm to keep quiet. There was reported to be one arrest after the game, rumoured to be Ben Hall. More to follow…
Half Time: Bell Inn 1 v 2 Fairstead
An instrumental half-time team talk from Babb and Sutcliffe gave the Bell Inn the belief that they could win the game, and after dominating for long periods in the second half, maybe should have.
Babb had a couple of half chances, Richard Donovan nodded a Brown corner inches wide and Johnny Holland had a shot blocked at point blank range.
The back four of Stu Henning, Nath Sadler, Robbie Stone and Donovan himself were solid all game and didn’t give the Fairstead strikers a sniff in the second half.
Josh Eyre and Kris Lane worked their socks off in central midfield, as did Holland and Reece Ashman on the wing’s. Brown was again accused of ‘not putting in a shift’, but I can confirm that his legs ache today so this is bullshit. And Babb, who should by knighted for the work he has put in off the field for bringing this club to where it is today, was again brilliant.
Subs Paul Munday, Ben Spalding and Baz showed their class when they came off the bench, many saying that if they started it may have been a different story. This, we will never know…
And a special mention must go to Liam Ward, who was the unlucky 4th sub who was not used. He didn’t moan or kick up a fuss, something that can not be said about alot of other players when subsituted in other games.
Finally, thanks to everyone who came to support. I have to mention the WAG’s else they will cry about it. So well done Carly Leveridge, Kirsty Parker, Claire Butler, Helen Smith, Charlotte Babb and the other’s whose names I do not know. In other news, Whitney Leveridge has been sacked as a club WAG due to poor commitment. When asked why she didn’t attend the final, she simply replied “because I was in bed”.
Final Score : Bell Inn 1 v 2 Fairstead
(Babb, which gifted him the Golden Boot award with 28 goals, one ahead of the deserved winner Brown)
SUN RATINGS:
Chris Richmond – 9 – STAR MAN -Brilliant all game. Made his presence felt, didn’t spill a thing and made one Gordon Bank’s type save.
Stu Henning – 7 – Used to ball well, didn’t bottle a single challenge and set pieces were a real threat.
Richard Donovan – 8 – Played through pain in both knees but was solid in every tackle and almost scored the equaliser.
Nath Sadler – 7 – First game in week’s sober and it showed. Back to his usual self, calmness on the ball brings confidence to everyone in the team.
Robbie Stone – 7 – As always, deliverys dangerous. Kept their dangerman very quiet.
Johnny Holland – 8 – Started quickly and caused the left back serious problems. Inches away from grabbing a late goal.
Josh Eyre – 8 – Spent all game winning headers. Which is good as he isn’t much good at anything else. Worked tiressley.
Kris Lane – 7 – Not in his preferred position but worked very hard, used to ball well and his flair created a few good chances.
Reece Ashman – 8 – Considering he hasn’t played for 6 weeks, was brilliant. Like Holland, gave their right back a headache.
Tom Brown – 7 – Kept fairly quiet, saving himself for next season. Beckham like set-pieces were the only way the Bell Inn were going to score.
Ian Babb – 8 – Battled harder than an Ethopian kid walking 10 miles a day to get water from the lake for his family. Took his chance extremly well, unlucky not to score more.
SUBS:
Baz – 7 – Added calmness to the midfield.
Ben Spalding – 8 – Could have done with him starting.
Paul Munday – 7 – Living in London hasn’t ruined his football ability.
Finally, it’s been a great season for the Bell Inn. In August they were nothing, now they are still nothing.
But promotion to Division 3B in their first season and a cup final appearance is more than they could have wished for pre-season.
A Season Review will be issued and posted on this website in the next few weeks, so keep your eye’s peeled. It will be good.
It’s been a pleasure writing for you idiot’s each week. Next season I wont be so harsh on myself and give myself better, more realistic ratings.
7th May, end of season night out. Put it in your diaries.
The Bell Inn F.C 