Abbey United FC is a group of fans that play against other fans' teams around the country in friendly games, usually on Saturday mornings. Here is their latest match report:

West Ham 5 Abbey United 3 - 30th May 2009

Those of you who read the match reports may remember a game we played against Oxford when I complained loudly that it was colder than cold, and surely all records regarding temperatures would have to be checked over... I promise, never, ever to moan about the cold again.

On the last Saturday of May we travelled to East Ham, to play West Ham. Where North Ham and South Ham fit in, I don't know. On watching the cup final in the afternoon, the thermometer pitch side at Wembley read 41 Celsius and I think it was just as warm at our pitch.

Incidentally, professionals always say that Wembley is a huge pitch, and the pitch we played on was MASSIVE. You think this might mean that Abbey United could surely play their lovely, flowing passing game on a huge pitch in the glorious sunshine. Sadly, it meant that the gaps between our banks of 4, 4 and 2 were even bigger than usual, and the heat and lack of options on the bench meant we were even more tired than usual.

The starting line up was:
GK: Kyle Scott, RB: Pete Parnwell, LB: Gary Robinson, CB: Mark Case, CB: Will Horner, CM: Richard French, CM: Frankie Fry, RM: Chris Duck, LM: James Barringer, FW: Harry Weller and FW: George Blackwell.
Sub: CM: Tim Baxter.

At half time the game was 0-1, and we had actually been playing pretty well. George and Harry were working hard up top and the latter had missed a couple of good chances, and we could have easily been at least level. George missed a good chance at the start of the second half, and then they scored twice in five minutes; one on the break when their player was standing five yards offside and then from a free header at a corner. Mark's inspirational half time team talk had worked wonders again!

Only now did the realisation that Abbey United weren't playing to their potential have an effect on the team. We started to work the ball better and started to speed things up, using the wings more often, and birthday boy James down the left began to cause problems to the West Ham defence.

Debutant Gary pulled one back after a quick move following a poor goal kick by the West Ham keeper, before West Ham broke through a struggling, tiring, hot and injury plagued defence to make it 4-1. Gary then pulled another one back, curling a ball with his left foot into the bottom corner from around 8 yards out to make it 4-2. The comeback may have been on, but the Hammers scored a fifth, as they breezed through a struggling, tiring, hot and injury plagued defence (have I made enough of this as an excuse yet?).

Abbey United were awarded a late penalty after George tried to cross the ball from the touchline and according to the referee it was blocked by the Hammers' defender with his arm. Up stepped Gary on debut to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot, stroking the ball sweetly to the keeper's right and into the bottom corner.

Final Score 5-3

Abbey United were thoroughly outplayed in March when West Ham visited Cambridge, losing by 8 goals to nil, and the management realised what could be in store if a similar performance was produced this time out. However, despite never being in control for long periods, a far improved Abbey United performance meant a much closer scoreline, and one of which the team can certainly be proud against Premiership opposition. The workrate of the second half was much more impressive and the outcome could have been different on another day.

Abbey United are trying to get a couple more fixtures in the next few weeks, but if not the team can take a deserved break after a much improved season than the last few, having recorded two wins in total from eleven games, two more than the season before!

Mark Case and Richard French

Visit www.abbeyunited.co.uk to learn more about the team.

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