Thursday 12th May

Action from todays games available on youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-txsHFQg2eo

Colins Column

Thursday brought an enjoyable 6 aside match for game 1 with 2 well balanced sides.

Referee Sean had wound up his watch and was synchronised with everyone but only brought his reading glasses given some of the long distant decisions he was making 😅

Reds got things underway with a goal from Dave Owl that was replied to with a good goal from Bambi who’d packed his scoring boots again.

A moment of controversy followed when a perfectly good goal for reds was ruled out for 3 touches that were counted as 4!

Taking the injustice on the chin, reds chalked up another Dave Owl goal to lead 2-1

With a quickfire brace from Dave Fox, despite the keeper being out of his goal returning the ball to the other pitch for one of them gave blacks a short lived lead.

More controversy when a black defender entered the box and instead of an immediate penalty the ref blew for a waterbreak.

Ref Sean decided the game should resume with said penalty.

Despite blacks being able to consult their notes on potential penalty takers, Fred declined, to maintain his record of never missing one so Dave Owl stepped up to score his hat trick.

A 4th goal from Dave and a 5th from Trevor took us into the final phase with reds leading 5-3.

Following “Gooner Fred’s” Jennings like acrobatics in goal on Monday, not to be outdone, North London rival Trevor was equally unpenetrable and the game ended on time 5-3 to the reds.

Post game Adam from Euro Weekly News sat with Keith and Colin to learn what it is that makes us tick. Drinking beer mostly seemed to be the answer.

Rorys Ramblings

Did I mention it was very hot?

Thursday’s game really was a game of two halves or should I say three sixths’ as there were plenty of water breaks to rehydrate the aged athletes.

Dave the Fox had pulled together an unbalanced game of 7 blacks against 6 reds. The reds had the advantage of steel fingered Eddie in goal and carried a serious goal threat through the energetic presence of top goal scorer the Fezmeister, who could dribble around you if you were both in a phone box.

On paper they looked strong, but as all walking footballers know, the game isn’t played on paper. Kevo played libero using his amazing distributive passing skills to make the most of Dazza’s flamboyant shouts and runs down the right flank.

Dave the Cab and Jim were playing box to box in midfield, keeping the game tight until the blacks figured out that they had a man extra and could pass it around them.

Our Keef was back to his shouting best, barking instructions to his beleaguered teammates and explaining what it meant to mark a member of the opposition. Rory donned the disgustingly smelly goalkeeping gloves for the blacks which had formerly been used as a home for a pair of cockroaches living off human excrement.

With Dave and our Keef starting the attacks from the back. Glynn was the lone striker (no, don’t laugh, but he is better than the current Man Utd strike force).

John was in the hole supported by marauding great Dane Henning on the right and cultured Dutch total football exponent Gert making maximum use of the wand-like left foot. Both teams threatened the opposition goalkeeper, although John the ref politely pointed out it wasn’t in the spirit of the game to be quite so threatening to Eddy and Rory.

The reds surprisingly had the better of the early skirmishes and managed to force Rory into a couple of unnecessarily acrobatic saves. As the game progressed the oppressive heat and humidity began to take its toll on the reds. The first goal was a screamer, highlighting the virtues of quality one-touch tika taka footie.

Rory to our Keef, who drills it to Gert who cushion’s off to the giant Henning to smash it past the startled Eddie. Blacks 1-0 Reds

The blacks second was not quite so pretty, but was the product of some persistent pressure forcing some excellent saves from Eddie who had decided to wear a helmet given the regularity of the shots raining in on him.

The blacks finally worked an opening for the Dutch wizard, and once it was on his left peg, it was destined to nestle in the back of the net. Blacks 2-0 Reds.

The reds kept at it with Fez remaining energetic up front and Dave driving the team forward from midfield. They weren’t out of it yet…until they were. Another fine flowing move from the blacks set up Glynn on the edge of the box.

This time the six foot twelve front man disentangled his legs and feet just in time to fire it through the legs of the rapidly advancing Eddie, who deserved better. Blacks 3-0 Reds.

At half time, our Keef was reluctantly persuaded to allow the reds to have the extra man thus giving Rory the chance to take his red shirt out of its polythene wrapper after spending the previous eight games in black.

The blacks were proving hard to break down however, with our Keef organising the defensive shape and John and Henning putting a hard midfield shift.

What’s more the blacks were still creating some chances and looked increasingly confident.

What was worse for the reds, was that Fez was having a bit of a mare up front. He was the major culprit in the reds missing a hatful of easy chances. He was further embarrassed when our Keef pulled of an amazing penalty save (ok, it was straight at him) when Fez’s cheap new boots had clearly started to melt in the sun.

The reds’ luck finally changed when Dazza, clutching a four leafed clover overlapped down the wing and to the amazement of his teammates struck a brilliant shot across the keeper into the bottom corner. Blacks 3-1 Reds.

Meanwhile Fez threw Dave in goal a brilliant dummy (which he proceeded to stick in his gob) and put him on the ground. However, as the star striker tried to dink the ball over the prone keeper, somehow Dave managed to put his massive right mitt in the air and block the shot. What a save!! Or was it just a crap shot. I’ll leave you, the readers to decide. At this point Dave the cab’s frustration was reaching its boiling point, and the top of his head blew about 60 metres in the air as yet another chance went begging.

It was a great game, but not if you’re losing.

The reds finally got the goal their approach play deserved when Jim crept in at the back post and fired a great shot past Dave’s despairing dive to set up squeaky bum time for both teams. Blacks 3-2 Reds

The blacks continued to defend resolutely and looked like they would hold out for the last few minutes of the game. Just as they thought they were going to get to the final whistle disaster struck. Jim broke free again on the left flank and bore down on goal.

The capacity crowd had a collective intake of breath as Dave at first pulled of a brilliant save before inadvertently pawing it off a post and into his own goal. Blacks 3-3 Reds

Sadly, for the otherwise exceptional Dave, the dubious goals committee had no option but to record it as an own goal. Both teams were settling for a draw when John the ref put everyone out of their misery.

Final score Blacks 3-3 Reds as they left the pitch the top of Dave’s head slowly floated down from its lofty position and re-attached itself perfectly to his head. All was well with the Universe again.

Hot off the press …Update on the WFS San Juan festivities now posted on the website. Please make sure that if you have put your name down, that you have paid the 10e per person to Geoff BEFORE the event!