Bell Inn down to 4th.

Firstly, I would like to apologise that there has not been a match report yet this year. This has mainly been because we haven’t won a game since December and I don’t like people knowing that we are rubbish at the moment.

Anyway, what’s happened in 2014?

We started the year with a home game against fellow promotion chasers Heartsease. This got cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch. It was re-arranged for the next week and was again postponed for the same reason.

Finally, on the 19th of January, we played a game. At home to Sprowston Wanderers who we had earlier beaten 5-3 away from home this season. We were top of the league.

Joint manager Neil Anderson decided to go on holiday and take Jack Tarrant with him. Tom Brown was left to his own devices and opted to play a 4-3-3 formation, with top scorer Dale Simpson in midfield. He also brought along 3 of his friends to sign on and be on the bench for the day.

Bell Inn lost 7-0. Their heaviest defeat since Brown and Anderson took over. The first time they hadn’t scored since Brown and Anderson took over. Nuff said.

Despite the heavy defeat, the Bell Inn remained joint top with Earlham and visited Sloughbottom Park the following weekend to take them on in a game which could make or break either team.

It was Dale Simpson’s last game before we went travelling and he gave a pre match speech, which can be seen on Facebook.

His girlfriend Michelle came to watch his farewell game and said how he had been practicing his speech all night and that he was determined to win the game for the Bell Inn to give them the best chance possible to win the league.

He started well with two well taken goals as the Bell Inn raced into a 2-0 lead. This didn’t last though and a mixture of dodgy defending and pure unluckiness, Earlham came back to win the game 3-2 and make a real statement.
Dale then drove home and that was that. How could we win without Dale you may ask?

Well we certainly pass more without Dale but he is sorely missed, as was proved last weekend against PL Rangers.
More weeks went by and more postponed games went by as the Bell Inn host PL Rangers finding themselves down to 4th in the table, albeit it having a few games in hand that could take them back up to 2nd.

Adam Brown gave them the lead after a good Josh Farrow free kick but minutes later PL Rangers equalised.

Half time saw emergency striker Luke Appleton go back into his favoured striker position and the Bell Inn took the lead again after another assist from Josh Farrow. This time it was Jamie Butler who scored the goal. I’m not totally sure how as he seemed to mis-kick the ball but it went in which was the main thing.

PL Rangers went all out attack for the last 10 minutes and despite having a goal disallowed, got the leveller to give both teams a point with keeps them both in the title race.

So yeah, basically, we haven’t won a game for two months now which is simply dreadful.

However, there have been a few positives to take from the last two months.

a) Jonny Page, who despite turning up to every game last season to watch and begging to be signed on, has had terrible commitment this season. Recently though, he has played more and it has made a difference as he is a class defender; even when he does turn up a total mess, still drunk, weeing on the dressing room floor.

b) Turning Luke Appleton into a striker. Simply brilliant move from Brown. Mulbarton manager Daniel Gaskin has since decided to do the same thing. This proves Brown is a better, cleverer manager than Gaskin.

We have 5 games left and 5 wins will guarantee us 2nd place in the table and a playoff final against 2nd place in Division 1A, with a place in the Premier Division up for grabs.

5 wins may also give us the title, depending on other results.

We take on Ribs Rovers, Acle Reserves and Unicorns (next week), all sides in the bottom half of the table but anything can happen in this league.

We also entertain both Poringland and Heartsease, who are in the promotion chase as well. These are simply huge games.

If we don’t get promotion, there are strong rumours that Brown is set to resign as he sees his squad as the best in Sunday football and failure is not an option. The option would be to give up. But he has faith they will do it.

Hopefully we can get back to winning ways at the weekend and then I can do a proper match report again. If we don’t, I probably won’t.

Enjoy.
Tom ‘shall I play next weekend?’ Brown.