AFC Didsbury Vs Hulme (05/05/16 - Simon Field, Didsbury)

AFC Didsbury 1
Hulme 8

AFC DIDSBURY: Jaffray, L Darlington, Bishop, Battersby (C), Wallace (New), Lee, Kendrick, Harrison, M Darlington (Wedl), Kilgour (Corbett), Smith (Kennedy).

GOALS: Smith
ASSISTS: Kendrick
MAN OF THE MATCH: Smith

​The Unbeatable Beaten
 
On a glorious Manchester evening which could potentially be classed as the first day of summer, it was not to be a first for Didsbury as they again failed to overcome a solid Hulme side.

The match will probably be remembered most as the game where Mr confident, Gaz New, was finally on the losing side whilst wearing an AFC Didsbury shirt this season. The devastation was apparent as he would no longer be able to update his Tinder profile to compare himself to Henry, Bergkamp and Viera as his fellow invincibles.
 
Hulme were well up for the game, tied at the top with Moss Side, they were not only out here to win but to win by a big margin to improve their goal difference, which could be crucial come the end of the season. Unfortunately, Didsbury obliged by conceding several soft goals to give Hulme a flattering full time scoreline of 8-1.
 
Hulme dominated possession in the first half with Didsbury looking dangerous on the break, but it always looked like like Hulme were the most likely to break the deadlock and after 15 minutes they duly obliged. 1-0.
 
Didsbury continued to try and play their passing style the faithful fans are so used to enjoying and it almost resulted in a goal. Started in defence it was worked out wide where Matt Darlington was played in behind the defence, he got to the goal line where he cut it back for Matt Kendrick but he couldn't quite get his feet sorted and the ball bounced harmlessly wide.
 
For all their possession Hulme were unable to create many chances and were left to shooting from distance, until the second goal. A ball into the box kindly fell to the striker who was able to poke home from close range.
 
The half closed out with little else of note and Didsbury were certainly still in the game.
 
This was reiterated at half time with the team knowing that the next goal was important. However, whether the team was picturing the beer garden in an hours time Didsbury were caught out straight from the restart. Inside 2 minutes the Hulme striker was in on goal and making it 3-0.
 
This seemed to spark Didsbury into life and they started to put pressure on the Hulme goal. A weaving run from “Lionel” Kendri drew a foul in the area which the man mountain of Kieran Smith cooly dispatched. Didsbury had got themselves back in the game.
 
For a while it was finally poised but another mix up at the back allowed Hulme to extend their lead back to 3 goals. 4-1.
 
4 quickly became 5 as a shot weaker than Amir Khans chin somehow trickled through stand in keeper BJ’s hands and legs and over the line.
 
Hulme’s right midfielder who looked like he was desperate to fight anyone and anything all evening finally got the opportunity after he miscontrolled a pass which allowed Wallace to do what is known as a “Musson tackle” and dive in on him, twice. The only difference from an original Musson tackle was that the ball was actually near the guy and may have been collected during the tackle.

Hulme's answer to Gordon Ramsey was not happy with this and thought a bit of argy bargy would rectify the situation. Players started to surround the referee and the handbags came out only for the ref to award a throw in to Didbsury as it turns out the tackle was a good 2 meters off the pitch.
 
Didsbury seemed deflated and conceded several more poor goals, with the only potential responses coming from a wonderfully struck shot from outside the area by Rick "Skinny P" Peat, which came crashing back off the bar and a glaring miss from the charismatic Mike Corbett.
 
Not a good day for Didsbury and needed to be put down to one of those days as the scoreline didn’t really reflect the game, although Hulme were by far the better side. Either way this needs to be forgotten quickly with the huge semi final at the weekend.
 
As for Gaz? A small victory on the way home by using an old return ticket to fare dodge no doubt lifted his spirits. Genius.

Words by Jack Wallace

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