Off the back of their ‘Giant Killing’ against London Giants (if you don’t like crowbarred puns then stop reading now), The Crabs looked to make it two wins on the bounce for the first time this season away to their old adversaries Wig Army. Having struggled to cope with Wig’s physical presence and years of experience (an assumption but probably true) in the past, James Coventry was determined to show that The Crabs were no longer a pushover.
Things didn’t start well with James Cheetham dropping out due to injury joining key players Liam McIntyre and Ricardo Montejo in the treatment room. The Crabs were also without current players’ player Stu Wood who was away for the weekend. Ashmore continued in goal though with Gibson shifting to right back and Curtis taking over left back duties. Palmer and Akinde have made the centre back spots their own this season and they started another game together further building on their good cop/bad cop partnership. The midfield saw Pearson showing his versatility on the left wing with David Oladapo on the right. Player/manager Coventry partnered Dan Montejo with Steven Kennedy-Clarke playing off the big man Ian Armstrong.
The Crabs started on the front foot with Oladapo’s pace down the right causing early problems and the away side made their positive start count when Kennedy-Clarke curled in a lovely free kick from the edge of the box, something which is becoming a bit of a trademark for the teenager – this was his third goal directly from a free kick.
In classic Crabby fashion they were the architects of their own downfall as Wig Army finally woke up and it seemed the Crabs went back to bed. Having failed to clear the ball on a number of occasions the ball rolled to Big Dave Akinde who wound up one of his beastly clearances. Whilst normally reliable in this situation, Akinde’s clearance didn’t get the required power or height and found it’s way to the edge of the box where the Wigs playmaker finished well past a frustrated Ashmore.
After a bright first ten minutes, The Crabs found themselves back to square one but if there’s one thing they’ve improved this season it’s their character and it wasn’t long before they were back in front. The boys in green finally got the ball down and played some football which lead to Pearson just being beat to the ball by the opposing keeper. As the goalkeeper lay hurt from the collision, Steven Kennedy-Clarke ruthlessly picked up the ball and placed it calmly into an empty net. Whilst most teenagers are more likely to be getting a brace at the dentists, Kennedy-Clarke registered his first double of the season. Manager and mentor Coventry watched on with pride as his ‘baby boy’ made up in speed of thought what he lacked in sportsmanship.
It just wouldn’t be a Sporting Crabs game if there wasn’t a moment of awful set piece defending to be analysed in the pub post game and it was their downfall once again. Whilst Ashmore will argue (quite rightly) that he punched the ball off the strikers head and the corner should never have been awarded, he may have to take the blame for not claiming a fairly unchallenged in swinging corner moments later. Armstrong urged his teammates not to blame the ref and accept responsibility for gifting their opponents a way back in but it was hard to bare as The Crabs threw away the lead for a second time.
Perhaps it was the injustice that pushed The Crabs on late in the first half as they seemed determined not to go in level at the break. While Clarke stole show in the first half hour it was the tricky winger David Oladapo’s turn to save the day as he ghosted forward and picked the ball up after some good hustle from Ian Armstrong. Oladapo has been criticised for his refusal to pull the trigger in the past and his teammates watched on nervously as he calmly dribbled his way into the box and past the keeper. Having rounded the keeper though there was only ever going to be one outcome as the Nigerian tapped the ball over the line to put The Crabs in the lead for the third time. Although he may be somewhat mercurial, Oladapo is fast becoming one of the most important players in the team – when he arrives on time.
It hadn’t been a textbook performance from a team sat proudly second in the league but they were winning and you ask any Crab fan (take your pick between Pongy’s dad and John Martin’s daughter) and they’ll tell you they’d take winning ugly as opposed to drawing and playing well. There was a belief in the team that was perhaps lacking in previous seasons, even when playing poorly The Crabs were looking like they could take all three points.
The Crabs started the second half positively and looked to unleash Olidapo more regularly down the right wing where he was a constant threat. Armstrong and Kennedy-Clarke continued to lead the line through a combination of work rate and intelligence, making sure the Wig Army defence wasn’t going to have it easy.
Wig Army did start to step up the intensity though and as long as there was only one goal in it, the struggling home side would always believe they could nick something. As Wig Army improved, the game became more physical as The Crabs knuckled down to weather the storm. Coventry and Montejo typified this gritty side of their game but the latter perhaps took it too far with a late, late sliding challenge. It was late but not malicious although the Wig Army protestors made out like Montejo deserved life behind bars. The challenge clearly riled the Wig Army players as they put in an identical challenge only moments later as the game threatened to boil over.
Just as it looked like The Crabs looked more likely to add to their lead and put the game to bed, disaster struck. What looked like a routine piece of defending for Montejo led to his first Sporting Crabs red card as the ball bobbled off the uneven surface and hit his arm. Whilst this in itself wasn’t considered a bookable offence, Montejo had to take one for the team as Wig Army plotted a quickly taken free kick leading to a three on one situation. The young midfielder did his best to slow down the free kick by standing over the ball which ultimately led to a case of handbags around the half way line. Montejo himself seemed to only stand his ground but the referee deemed his obstruction to be worthy of a second yellow meaning the visitors would have to play the remaining 25 minutes with one less player – not for the first time this season.
Wig Army made a couple of substitutions (bringing on their fringe players you could say) – one a physical presence formerly of Westminster and the other looking like he’d stepped straight out of the Wig Army youth academy – bringing their average age from 45 down to 44. The big man was clearly given the job of unsettling Big Dave Akinde who was back to his dominant self after his earlier mis-hap. The Wig Army right back made the mistake of suggesting Akinde was ‘s**t’ which seemed to only spur the big man on as he split his time between smashing the ball clear and telling the ref he was taking the biscuit.
The Crabs used their only sub in bringing on Joe Hallsworth for Dom Curtis and switching Gibson back to left back. Only moments later however Gibson seemed to pull his groin which saw a further reshuffle as Sam Pearson dropped in to the back four with Gibson operating as a defensive left sided midfielder.
There was a few hairy moments as Wig Army went direct in search of an equaliser but for all their dominance they didn’t really test Ashmore who did have to rely on his woodwork on one occasion. The last twenty minutes saw The Crabs’ character tested but everyone stuck together and made sure they left Wimbledon with three points. Armstrong dropped back to plug the Montejo shaped gap in midfield leaving Kennedy-Clarke to lead the line on his own which he did with a maturity way beyond his years. Olidapo continued to be an outlet on the counter down the left while Coventry did his usual job of tidying around the edge of the box. The defence may have had had shown lapses of concentration in the first half but they were impervious late on as captain James Palmer and Dave Akinde cleared everything came near them thanks to improved communication from Ashmore behind them.
There was a jubilant mood in The Crabs camp as they emerged victorious from a game where it seemed they were destined to slip up. The win sees them remain second in the league behind London Giants and there is a sense that The Crabs are starting to believe they can achieve promotion if not win the title. James Coventry is still searching for that balance of attack and defence but in the past few weeks his side have showed they can do both as he has silenced the ‘critics’ who suggested they’ll struggled to score. Kennedy-Clarke and Montejo are both battling it out in the league top scorers table but Armstrong’s Giroudesque unselfish (Editor note: wanted to write unshellfish) contribution should also be recognised.
The Crabs host Kew Antigua next week looking to slay some demons from their defeat earlier in the season.
MOTM: Steven Kennedy-Clarke (honourable mention to Dave Akinde)
The Daily Crab 