FINAL SCORE:

Shotgun.........................4 Tantamount FC........... 0

Report by Ben Howarth

For the second consecutive week, Tantamount played with only sic players, rather than the full qouta of 8. Surprisingly, the impact of this was not all bad, and as a group they played with a great deal of dedication, especially in defense. They will certainly have come away from the games fitter. Over the 3 games between the sides this season, Shotgun have consistently outplayed the Tantas, but it is hard to see why. They are neither the strongest side nor the most technically gifted. But they do have pace, and this has been the difference, and it was again in this fixture. The game started cagily with neither side having many chances. The first 'incident' was a 50/50 challenge which Howarth came off badly from, recieving a sharp kick to the knee and a poke in the eye, which temporarily dislodged his contact lense, and forced him to the subs bench. Soon after, the game opened up. Shotgun scored first, but this seemed to gee the Tantas up too. Charman was heard to comment, "its only one, lads". To prove this, he soon broke free, and though his timing was awry, it showed clear intent. Moddy followed his lead and got fouled in a good position. Confidently, he smashed his free kick into the opposition goal. One-one.

Or so we thought. Steve the ref said otherwise, this despite him allowing Wheatsheaf an identical goal three weeks earlier. The words "a bloody outrage" sprang to mind. After that, it was mostly Shotgun. Tantamount never lifted their game. Howarth completely failed to spot someone behind him, leaving the goal begging. The valiant Spencer couldn't contain his anger after he was fooled by what seemed a very tame shot for the third. The fourth came with the Tantas having pretty much given up. Shotgun were the better team, but would the difference have been so great if the Mount had been level at half time? It does seem that, as every struggling side seems to realise, luck is rarely evenly shared out.

Moody - had a free-kick disallowed

LINE-UP: Spencer; B.Howarth, Pilcher, Charman; Moody SUBS: Jacobs

SCORERS: None

Manager's Comments:

"We always struggle against Shotgun and it was no different today. It was 1-0 at half-time and Modders had a free-kick disallowed which would have made it 1-1. We all said that it was similar to the free-kick Wheatsheaf scored from against us but, thinking about it, their free-kick was won for a foul and ours for the ball going above head height. No-one seems to know when a free-kick is supposed to be direct or indirect and while the ref may have got the decision right, it's still his job to tell us whether it's direct before we take it. It's no good him letting Modders bury it and then taking a full minute to decide it wasn't a goal after all. To be fair to Shotgun they passed and held the ball up well, and their 2nd and 4th goals were crackers. James could have saved the 3rd and he knows it, but it was good to see him express his frustrations by angrily booting the ball against the wall. He made some good saves and we'll miss him next week if he's out.