About a week or so ago I wrote here about a medical condition seemingly unique to football fans, no doubt there is probably a scientific name for the ailment brought to public attention by Sir Alex Ferguson but I'm buggered, (excuse the phraseology), if I know what it is. Once in a while, nowhere near often enough to be honest, you watch a football match and from early on you have a good feeling. So far this season, it's only happened twice in twenty fixtures involving Santa Pola. Game twenty one added another to that total and left me beaming for the rest of the weekend.
Hercules B were the visitors and for ninety and a bit minutes they found themselves being slapped around by a Santa Pola side who were quite simply excellent from the opening whistle. When the two teams met for the first time back in September last year, Herc B were a little unlucky to lose by a single goal, a trademark hammer blow by left midfielder German. That result was one of six defeats in Herc B's first eight games, since then they've improved considerably and began to make steady, if not spectacular, progress up the table. Today though, just as then, German was different class and played like a man possessed. So good were so many Santa Pola performances a man of the match award wouldn't have been easy.
Maybe it didn't help Hercules' cause that coach Angel Linares was banished to the stand following a red card the previous week at home to Mutxamel, by the looks of things his team quite missed him pitchside, they certainly didn't seem capable of responding to temporary boss Salvador Javaloyes. In spite of a major pounding though they actually managed almost forty minutes before conceding and sloped off at half time a single goal down and with no inkling of what was about to engulf them.
For a brief few second half minutes Hercules B responded to the ferocious bollocking they had plainly just received and looked like they might actually make a game of it. But, by the third of three corners they forced in quick succession they must have exhausted themselves, physically and mentally, as they conceded an outrageous goal to the oldest man on the pitch. Defender Juan easily dealt with that third corner and released Chema deep inside his own half who proceeded to run at the startled opposition. Ignoring colleagues left and right in decent positions, he continued to charge forward leaving a trail of devastation behind him, eventually the final two opposition players held up their hands in surrender and allowed the thirty five year to slot an incredible goal. Had his team-mates not stopped him to have a bit of a celebration he would have continued on and on I reckon, just like Forrest Gump. Run, Chema! Run!
More by luck than judgement Hercules pulled a goal back, in large part to a rare defensive lack of concentration, it was a decent goal too, Rubi picked a spot from the edge of the 'Pola box and sent a delicious curling shot beyond Julio for 2-1. Elsewhere I described their goal as a stay of execution, actually it was more like pulling a tiger's tail, today that tiger was Santa Pola and their retribution was swift. Scruffy goals or tasty goals, they're all the same to Paloma, his first was stuffed over the line amidst a pile of bodies, his second and 'Pola's third was altogether much better. German laid a decent ball off, and, on the run the home number ten swept the ball home before Herc' 'keeper Cristian had a chance to move. Not long after the same Hercules B player kept the score from being a massacre, twice pulling off decent stops as Santa Pola moved forward with an arrogant swagger.
As good as he had been, Cristian had no answer to the fourth and final Santa Pola goal, and, fittingly the brilliant German capped his best display of the season by scoring it. 4-1 then and the "German-ator" left
the field shortly after to huge applause and headed off for a well deserved soak. I might have chosen the wrong football song lyric as the title for this piece, maybe I should have picked "you're so bad it's unbelievable" I think they're the correct words! You probably get the picture, Hercules B really weren't very good at all.
PHOTOS:
Top - German is prevented this time
Middle - Santa Pola are like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get
Bottom - That man again, this time delegado Rafa Fuentes Dols helps with the goal celebration.
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