Redstar Redland 2-2 Real Wood

A really good turn out and lots of good performances. We looked pretty comfortable and went into a  2-0 lead thanks to goals from Jimmer and Carl. A scrappy, deflected goal gave Redstar renewed hope but it still looked more likely that we'd add another instead of conceding a last kick of the match equaliser following a pinball session in the box where we failed to take opportunities to clear. It felt like a defeat and we were all gutted. Still, an excellent game with an agreed shared Men-of-theMatch awarded to Matt Pat and Swifty.

Thanks to those guys who stepped aside and left it to us to blow it. Everything's on Tuesday's match against Banjo though it may not be enough depending on other results I think.

Rich

Banjo Munchenbadback 1 v 2 Real Wood

What goes around comes around so after last Sunday's heart-breaking goal by Redstar to snatch victory from us it seemed only fair that we should grab a goal with only minutes to go. A good first half goal put Real Wood behind but Jimmer's first half equaliser from an excellent corner by Jim made the scores level but I felt we seemed the more likely to score again and played some good football as well as competing well. It was pretty late on and we'd had to push extra men forward when Mark was definitely in the right place at the right time to poke home a Hernandez-style winner. Another great performance from Swifty earned him the Man-of-the-Match votes again. Well deserved and much joy at finally earning a victory.

Looking at the table things don't look great for our future in the division and we may pay the penalty for those draws we should have won and 3 defeats by the odd goal (noticeably when we played with a lack of players!). Let's wait and see and at least enjoy finishing the season with another excellent performance and a win.

Rich

Real Wood 0 -2 Avon Retreads

Disappointing result as we'd hoped to get something from the game and in the first half we matched Retreads. However in the second half the good rotation of their 4 subs kept us under pressure as we had only 12 players and unfortunately Andy's knee only held out for about 10 very effective minutes in the second half before giving out on him. We played well and Retreads had a good side out but we didn't really threaten their goal. Praise for Tom P's tireless work in midfield but lots of love for Swifty and Tom in the centre of the back four who shared the Man-of-the-Match award.

Real Wood 3 vs 5 Rapid Viagra

1^st Feb brought us the long-awaited return of Bill to the team. Looking slim and as tenacious as ever even he was unable to prevent Rapid Viagra taking a 0-3 lead into the interval. However after pulling back to 2-3 RV were looking anxious and showed it in their aggressive behaviour. Unfortunately we missed a penalty and they scored one and we eventually lost 3-5 with goals from Jimmer (2) and Felix.

Some very spirited performances throughout the team including a very poorly Les putting in a spirited and quality show at fullback and with Tom P getting special praise from many for another excellent game. Champagne moment for me was Jimmer running Aguero-like through the inside left position and indicating to Jim where he wanted the ball delivered. Jim in turn delivered a perfectly weighted pass for Jimmer to run on to and chip the keeper. Quality goal, much deserved.

Referee Andy was very unimpressed with the attitude of some of the Rapid Viagra players and spent some time saying so after the match whilst also praising our effort and control.

Real Wood 2 vs 3 Axbridge Saxons

Match Report: Real Wood 2 vs 3 Axbridge Saxons

10 men went to Frys

Following last week’s 18-man squad that failed to get a game, 10 of us turned up at Frys. 
1 of us didn’t. 
We had failed to provide a referee and had mistakenly relied on the opposition avoiding the colour clash. So a good start. 
However Axbridge with their subs were happy to provide all the officials and Corinthians' shirts came to the rescue.

We were possibly over cautious and Axbridge, 2^nd in the league, may have been a little complacent but nevertheless they went in 2 ahead at halftime.

Our good 1^st half performance got better and better once we’d conceded a third goal to an excellent 25 yard strike. Relieved of the guilt of wearing the fascist black shirts and determined to show partner, daughter and nephews his true worth, Batty put in a Man-of-the-Match performance to pull back 2 goals and leave the opposition pestering the referee to blow for time. Jimmer hit a great strike against the crossbar but we only ended up with massive amounts of pride, satisfaction and all-round back-slapping wondering what would it have been like with 11 men?

Absolutely brilliant performance! Great passing football even when under great pressure. Swifty was masterful in defence with some tremendous tackles and wise in his captaincy suggesting we change in the second half from 4-4-1 to 3-5-1. This gave us an in penetrable defensive wall of Jack, Swifty & Tom enabling Batty and Rich to give extra width and, in Batty’s case, goals.

Season so far & forthcoming fixtures

Real Wood Fixtures 2014-15

August

31/8/2014 Cup 1st Round SCS 6 vs 5 Real Wood FC (goals from Jim, Felix, Mark, Steve, Sam. Man-of the-match Rob)

September

7/9/2014 Farmhouse Nailsea 3 v 2 Real Wood FC  (re-scheduled from 9/14/2014) (Goals from new-signing Gaz, Felix)10:30 @ Clifton College

October

5/10/2014 Westbury Wanderers 4 v 6 Real Wood FC (goals from Jimmer (3), Jim, Les, Dan. Man-of-the match Jimmer) 10:30 @ Backwell School

19/10/2014 Cup 2nd Round

November

9/11/2014 Banjo Munchenbadback v Real Wood FC (re-scheduled from 2/11/2014)

16/11/2014 Real Wood FC v Axbridge Saxons – Frys booked

23/11/2014 Cup 3rd Round

30/11/2014 Real Wood FC v Rapid Viagra -   Frys booked

December

14/12/2014 Real Wood FC v Henleaze Corinthians - Frys booked - Curry Cup

2015

January

25/1/2015 Real Wood FC v Redland Ramblers - Frys booked

February

22/2/2015 Real Wood FC v Avon Retreads - Frys booked

March

8/3/2015 Redstar Redland v Real Wood FC

15/3/2015 Cup Semi Final

April

26/4/2015 Cup Final

Westbury Wanderers 4 vs 6 Real Wood

 Westbury Wanderers 4 vs 6 Real Wood 

15 of us made the trip to Backwell for our second 3^rd division fixture and the hope of getting some points on the board. Everyone looked the part in our new kit and we played an excellent game fully deserving our victory. In the absence of Felix to provide goals, Jimmer stepped up and netted 3 times and generally hassled the opposition defence earning the Man of the Match Award. 2 assists and a goal for new Jim plus having a kit that fits made him another happy bunny. Dan was terrific from the moment he came on and added a goal himself but surely the pick was Les’s angled shot into the roof of the net to finish off a move of probably 100(?) passes which worked triangles from the left back position to the opposition 6-yard box. This was the icing on a tremendous captain’s performance from Les. Special thanks too to Matt Pat who despite a genuine case of man-flu turned in another fabulous performance. There were excellent performances throughout but it’s also worth mentioning the 2^nd half marking job Tom did on the opposition’s danger man which greatly weakened their goal threat and when it came Louis was also on great form batting away everything and then terrifying us all with his penalty area antics. A great win. 

(Obviously the down side of having an ample squad means that sometimes some of us don’t get on the pitch as much as we’d like. We were better at rotating the substitutes this week but can improve especially by people saying when they are blowing a bit and feel we could use some fresh legs. The upside was we had more men than the opposition and looked strong and resilient at the end despite Westbury throwing everything at getting something from the game.)

Rich