*POLSKA CLASSIC* So - where do we start? This is Mark Whait's personal view of the day: "I knew we were going to get Willowbrook in the semis, and I told everyone back in January - but I also had this vision of us playing in a final - so that would mean we would be beating Willowbrook in the semi final to get there. I had given this game hundreds of hours of thought leading up to it, and although at times I found the thought of playing them in a semi very daunting, by the morning of the game I was strangely calm - I just couldn't get that vision out of my head. But there were some mountains to climb first. Firstly, poor John Garden, one of our key players, had of course broken his leg just 7 days earlier in a league game against Newbys, and Ash, our key striker, was also missing as his 30 day ban for his red card against the same club 2 months earlier ran out the day after the semi! No question some of the players were nervous, and I think the absence of 2 key players helped us in a funny way. It meant that the pressure was all on them, and also helped us bond and give that extra yard for John and Ash. Of course, we were the only team so far this year to beat them in the league, 2-1, as they then did to us in January. It was those 2 games that interested me. Firstly, both games should have ended in draws, we were lucky in our win, they were lucky in theirs. But the overriding factor was that in 180 minutes of football, we hadn't really been separated. They hadn't thrashed us, we hadn't bowed down to them. It occurred to me that we were probably the only team capable of 'stopping' them, and this became the way I approached the game tactically. I said to the lads that despite what some people may think, there was no point in getting 11 men behind the ball and challenging them to break us down. That would have been suicidal. What we had to do was STOP them playing. If we had put 11 men behind the ball and said 'Ok - try and play through us' it would have been fatal. We had to do the opposite - STOP them getting the ball. So I told the lads not to get clever - no fancy tricks or flicks, just play hard, honest football. Tackle when you have to, run that extra yard, get in their faces, and hound them down. Our Steve rang in the morning citing an ankle injury - but I knew that for a hard fella this was actually his way of showing his nerves. I told him he would be playing sweeper. When we got to Oadby Town's ground, I began looking for little 16-year-old Colt. There were a few raised eyebrows when I put him in the starting 11 - but I had no doubts. The lad had been playing out of his skin as sub in recent weeks, with no fear, 100% energy levels and just ran his bollocks off all the time. What better player than him to throw into a semi? He wouldn't be nervous and sometimes you have to give youngsters a chance to prove themselves. I have never heard such a roar from our players when we left the dressing room. There were a few orders as well. Firstly, Stu Matthews was asked to man mark Willowbrook's star striker Danny Dunkley, but if Dunkley played out wide Stu was to follow him there and we would push Tom Lane into the middle. Once the game started, Willowbrook came right at us, and hit the bar in the opening minute. We were on the backfoot for 10 minutes, but then we started to settle, and Paul O'Callaghan scared the life out of them - everytime he got the ball, he would draw 3 defenders into him - they were that worried. He even had a half chance that just floated over the bar. We went in 0-0 at half time, and, after weathering the early storm, it had been pretty even, and I was quite happy. I told the lads the plan was working - they had got into Willowbrook and chased down everything, but I also said Paul needed more support when he received the ball. In the 2nd half, again it was fairly even. You felt like the game had yet to come to life. I took a long look at Colt after an hour. He was, as predcited, running his heart out, but the ball was starting to pass him by in midfield - his inexperience meant his positional sense wasn't there yet, and he was in danger of just chasing shadows. I remember telling my number 2 Andy Vale that I was thinking of bringing him off in favour of Antoni Zarzycki. Lucky I didn't as 5 minutes later, a long throw from Sean O'Callaghan found Colt in space. He met it neatly with his head - couldn't have met it better, and it went looping towards the Willowbrook goal. The thing is, their keeper was way off his line, and Colt met it so sweetly, it was always going to drop over him into the back of the net. We couldn't beleive it! 1-0 up with 25 minutes to go with little Colt the hero! That changed the game though. Willowbrook bought on Chrissy Goodman - why he hadn't been on from the start I don't know or care - and he ran the park. Within 7 minutes of going 1-0 up, Goodman put Danny Dunkley in and it was 1-1 with 18 minutes to go. I remembered our tactics - STOP their best players getting a stranglehold on the game - so asked Colt to man mark Goodman. Goodman never got another kick, and the danger was seen off! We got to full time and it was 1-1 - extra time to go! I was actually really pleased as we had seen them off and done our jobs for 90 minutes, now we just had to go again for half an hour! By now, Willowbrook looked nervous. The thing is, I had seen it so many times over the years, an all-out attacking team doesn't score or isn't in front and they don't have a plan B. Because of that, the first period of extra time was very cagey, but when the second period started, they seemed to sense the tie slipping away so they came at us - a good 8 minute spell. You sensed it was their last throw of the dice. But we stood tall - by the time Stu Matthews went down with cramp - for the third time - on 114 minutes, that summed up our whole attitude - fantastic. The final whistle went, and I was even happier! There we are - 2 hours of football and we had matched them and gone toe to toe - some of them even said we had been the better side. I asked for 5 penalty takers. 5 hands went up. Great. There were some players virtually hiding though! I was quietly confident - we had some fantastic penalty takers like Antoni and Tom, and then there was the massive confidence players like the O'Callaghan brothers. Tom stepped up first and scored, they did likewise. Then Chris Lewis stepped up. His penalty is still in the air now - he missed by a country mile. A groan went up from our lads and Lewis actually made his way off the pitch - I'm not sure if he came back on! I quickly urged the lads to stay together - after all - they still had 4 to take and there was still a long way to go! They made it 2-1, then Paul O'Callaghan made it 2-2. They went 3-2 up, only for Sean to show his coolness and make it 3-3. Then they put one over the bar, and it was game on again! Antoni stepped up to take our 5th - in my opinion the greatest penalty taker Polska have ever had - and he made it 4-3. Then up stepped goal machine Danny Dunkley - and Dean managed to parry his shot to safety! We had done it! We were through! Dean was mobbed, and it was the greatest match I have been been involved in with Polska - because of the magnitude of what we did and the way we did it. It was also topped off by the late George Okuniewski watching us - George was by now very ill, and wouldn't be able to attend the final - but I'm glad he was able to share in our great day." |