21/01/2006
Tyneside Amateur League Division 2

IJLW Brazil
Paterson, Ellis, Churchley, Walker, Kennedy, Mitchell (Honeywood 55), McGowan, Freath, Haigh, Goodliff, Bull.

Brazil’s woeful January continued as they travelled to Palmersville to face ex-Northern Alliance side Forest Hall. On a large pitch, Brazil started as the better side. There were some nice short passes in and around the midfield, particularly involving Jonny McGowan and Mark Freath, with Shaun Haigh finding a lot of space on the left. Up front, Les Goodliff and Matty Bull were looking to link up and were making good runs, but Forest Hall were defending well and they never quite managed to break free. The best chance came from Bull’s inswinging corner. McGowan had completely lost his marker at the back post but he couldn’t quite get enough contact on his header.

Brazil’s defence was kept busy but was holding out well with Craig Ellis (well supported down the right by Tom Mitchell) making a lot of tackles, Dave Churchley intercepting a lot of through balls and Bryan Walker winning a lot of headers. Ewan Paterson, playing in goal, was very quick off his line and dealt with most of the balls beyond the defence. When Forest Hall did finally get through on goal, Mark Kennedy slid in to tackle the striker and stop the shot but the ball fell kindly to the second striker who put the hosts one up. A second goal followed before the interval. The striker was several yards offside but the referee overruled the linesman and Brazil’s defender had stopped prematurely, anticipating the whistle.

As the second half progressed, Brazil were getting outnumbered in midfield so Simon Honeywood was introduced. With 28 minutes remaining and the score still 2-0, the referee limped off with a groin strain. After a lengthy delay one of Forest Hall’s substitutes (claiming to be a qualified referee) took over the whistle.

The longer the game went on, the more Brazil tired. Whether it was a lack of fitness or a lack of youth (Brazil only had 2 men under the age of 25), Forest Hall capitalised and started to overrun Brazil. As they poured forward in numbers, Brazil’s defence was often outnumbered and five more goals were scored. To be fair to Forest Hall’s referee, he was no worse than the neutral one but he did manage to incorrectly disallow a Brazil goal. Honeywood’s great through ball was smashed first time into the back of the net by Bull. The linesman flagged and the whistle was blown but the original match referee, who was standing alongside the Forest Hall linesman, protested in vain that Bull was not in an offside position when the pass was made.

Forest Hall’s long serving manager insisted that the man of the match should be one of Brazil’s back four. The accolade went to Walker.

Other news:
On 20/01/2005, at a special meeting of the Tyneside Amateur league, Ryton AFC Reserves were finally expelled from the league. They lost their league status by 20 votes to eight. At the same meeting (and completely unconnected to Ryton’s expulsion), Black Bull Benton resigned from the league. As Brazil beat Black Bull in the first league match of the season, they will now have three points deducted as that match no longer counts.