The End Game

The End Game

Ever had to play Chess with one solitary pawn at the centre of the board left to defend your King while your opponent has all his pieces left intact?.

That’s when the best you can hope for is a stalemate and that in itself is nigh on impossible.

But that’s exactly how Merthyr Town Manager and ‘Grandmaster’ Paul Michael must have felt today against the ‘Chessmen’ of Chesham United.

Looking down at his injury list of missing ‘pawn stars’ it read as follows:

No Nick Rhodes in ‘Sicilian’defence.

No Kieran Evans ‘e’n passant’

No Matthew Harris- the ‘octopus’ who seems to have eight legs.

No Ismail Yakubu- the Dark ‘Knight’ of the Morlais ‘Castle’.

With only one recognised midfielder fit, the Maestro had to clear the board and start afresh.

Deciding to adopt a new opening formation from 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 to the first ever recorded 4-1-5 at Penydarren Park, now known as the Banzai Kamikaze Attack with four defenders- Alex John- and Five attackers running around like ‘bad bishops’ frantically in search of the ‘Mitre’.

And it almost worked too as Chesham United were ‘Generally’ shocked at the set-up, so much so that the Chesham Manager had ditched the Mourinho tactical on-field Notes to the players for the more technologically enhanced Hans Niemann approach*

*Boz Note for Ownes - Google it - it may come as a shock to anyone with the anagram name Alan.

The Buckinghamshire Town famous for the four B’s : Boots, Beer, Brushes & Baptists added a fifth B to their title, when just before half-time, the diminutive 7, pre-match player identified as ‘man who walk in trench’, slotted home the ball after yet another uncharacteristic defensive lapse.

Now the improvement in our team has been phenomenal since last season, as evidenced by our run in the FA Cup and so far this term we have competed on an even footing with every side that we have encountered (including Buxton) losing narrowly by the odd goal on most occasions and today was to be no exception.

Taking on a side from the top three of the division last season would have been a hard watch but to the absolute credit of the new management, we have witnessed them assemble a squad of players that can not only compete with the best our league has to offer but can do so with players in unfamiliar positions during a spell of fixture congestion too.

Certainly no ‘stalemate’.

It was good to see new recruits Alex Bonthron and battering ram, Craig Norman get some ‘game time’ on the ‘Chess clock’ , so they don’t become too ‘board’ on the sidelines and of course for Martyr fans to see if they will ultimately turn into ‘Fischers, Karpovs or complete Spasskys’.

Bonthron today showed some great ball control with both his chest and feet and Norman’s Conquest in the air was a joy to see- something we have been missing in missing seasons.

The equally follicle-challenged managed more flick-ons than Scottish comedian Gregor Fisher in a photo booth.

In an even game where both sides cancelled each other out and played in a good spirit, the Chessmen were lucky to have the ultimate chess player in their ‘ranks’.

Number 8, Omar ‘God’….who played the perfect chess game without flaw, controlling the pace, tempo and moves with aplomb.

For Merthyr Town too , Full back Noah had a ‘stormer’ and by hook or by ‘rook’ he managed several times to get to the byline and put in some dangerous crosses into the box but only to see the threat snuffed out by the imposing presence of the towering Away Keeper.

He caught everything in the air but unfortunately dropped it down to his feet.

I hope he doesn’t have a Christening this weekend.

Shame we didn’t have a fox in the box today to capitalise on them.

However, it must be hard to follow in the footsteps of a famous footballing father.

Especially being a Beasant Plucker’s Son.

It finished 1-0 to the Chessmen but mainly thanks to the cataracts of referee George Enever- he having the longest arms in football and the inspiration behind the Roger Hargreaves book character Mr Tickle.

The official missing a blatant handball in the closing stages of the match within clear sight of the offence.

No wonder he is known as Enever gives them.

And of course that woeful bearded near-sided linesman.

He was so bad he caught himself offside on three occasions

The result- a little unjust I believe- may have been our ‘End Game’ in terms of a play off place but the Fischer King’s Gambit nearly paid dividends.

Consolidation is the name of the game for the remainder of the season and building up a strong competitive squad for next year.

Boz

We mustn't  forget former Chesham manager Gerald Aplin who was later Merthyr manager.
The Welsh  links with Chesham go on when Treorchy Male Voice Choir have a concert  in the town.
Only on a Merthyr fans' forum could you expect Beckettian references re Endgame !!!