Hampstead vs Wimbledon (4-0)

Closing the Gap!

Money time. 4 games left and each being a must win game if we are to take the league title.
In the away fixture we got a last gasp 3-3 draw. I played exactly 1 minute, scored the opening goal and hobbled off the pitch having pulled my hamstring in the process. Awesome.
The Dons have a decent side and for the return fixture they had allegedly brought in some ringer who Claw claimed to be absolute world class. He wasn't.

We started brightly and immediately took control. With Neil and Penners controlling the distribution and Lo and Haydn running the midfield we were always going to threaten going forward. Australia got us off the mark midway through the first half with an easy, reliable finish. Double Dutch were again serving up a treat, tearing up the Wimbledon back lines and conjuring up sweet memories of 1996, the year Richard Kraijcek conquered the green grass of Wimbledon. This soon led to some space for Mark at the top of the circle. Deciding a shot on his forehand was for amateurs he turned onto his backhand and gracefully stroked the ball into the top left hand corner. 2-0.

On his 9th attempt Claw also got in on the act from a short corner by lobbing the keeper and the linestop to hit the backboard and send us into halftime with a 3-0 lead. An inspired speech by Moore of which I can't recite much because I chose not to listen and we were ready to finish our opponents off. Something we are exceptionally inept at. However, the spirit was high and after soaking up some early pressure we subsequently overwhelmed our enemy. Trying to impress his wife Moore inexplicably found the circle and stumbled into a shot that fizzed past the post, although the Wimbledon defenders claimed it was flirting with the sideline. Wave after wave of attacking intent with utter rubbish as an end product finally led to a stroke. Mark wanted to excercise his inner demons and bravely stepped up and stroked it into the side netting.
That was the game as the Wombles imploded and folded like Tim Henman in a Wimbledon semi-final. Hampstead should have walked away with a double digit score but their keeper made some extraordinary saves, in particular a diving stop off a Dutch drag fizzer!

Much later in the day we would find out that Southgate dropped 2 points against the Wayfarers, an exceptional achievement, and we have closed the gap to 1 point with a superior goal difference in hand. It's really heating up...

Next week EG away.