Recap
Waterloo were all in attendance by 09:50 and set off for their pre match warm up.
Novos arrived in their usual Sunday drips and drabs. With brothers Young and Ryza getting the it’s ten mins to kick off phone call.
One enforced change from the midweek win saw the return of Captain C Young. Sinawi having injured his heel the night before the game no doubt wearing women’s shoes in a friendly.
Ryza seemed dazed and confused after a header straight from kick off. Or perhaps he was like that before kick off??
Despite going 1-0 down Novos dominated the first half with Haigh getting in behind with strong running from the right. Sadly he found a goalkeeper having a great day who was equal to the task. Even when Haigh took it round the keeper he managed to get back and make a great stop.
Following another Haigh run, Hansell blazed one over with a swing of his right boot.
Josh cloudy and Oli were knocking the ball around with ease in the middle. It all seemed to be a frustrating first half until Greg despatched a free kick into the top bin. Three goals in his last two outings against Waterloo, prompted their defence to ask if he does that a lot. “Of course” I replied.
The second half was much harder work as Waterloo closed down quicker, and swapped their left back. Greg went off to cricket with JRS taking the centre forward role. Oli dropped to right back to allow Ryza a chance to regroup.
Novos never really threatened as much but defended well.
It wasn’t until Oli returned to 10 with Carling going left forward and Hansell to right back. That we started to create chances.
Crosses went into the box but did not find a Novo. Oli broke behind but in two minds to shoot or cross the chance passed by.
Cloudy and Josh continued to clatter into players in the middle. Eventually one of the twins found the refs book. To which Dom remarked on the sideline when cloudy got booked “Fuck sake that man is costing me a fortune”
The match looked to be heading for a draw with Si playing calm and collected in the new look back four until Waterloo almost got through until a tactical foul on the edge of the box saw off their number 9. A Possible second yellow, prompted, I am Spartacus thoughts, from Josh and Charlie. The ref though took no further action.
Waterloo thought they had won in with some direct running and a one two, putting them in the lead with time running out.
Novos pressed forward with urgency and Haigh got the better of his man and was brought down for a clear penalty.
Cloudy stepped up to draw us level.
No time remained in a frantic finish, with both sides leaving thinking they could have won the game.
Having consistently been beaten by Waterloo in recent seasons. A win, a loss and a draw shows the improvement in the Novos team.