16th May

Match 1 report by Geoff and Dave M

Yet again two games at a sunny and hot Polideportivo on Thursday morning.

This report has been drafted with assistance from Foxes fan, Dave M. As a Leeds fan of more than 60 years, it chokes me in having to thank him for helping me with this report.

By doing so, this allowed me to referee the match in an attempt to police the notorious villain of the Polideportivo, playing  under the pseudonym of Bambi.

Laurence gave the Reds an early lead with his trusty left foot shot to make it 1-0 to Reds.

Both keepers, Rick (Reds) and Bambi (Blacks) made good saves, preventing  any further score in the first session.

The second session began with Olaf for the Blacks equalising following good play by Ken.

1-1.

The latter and goal poacher  supreme, now an octogenarian then  scored to put the Blacks in front, leaving the score at 2-1 to Blacks.

Jonny as ever was most impressive between the sticks for the Blacks, making some good saves and superb ball distribution.

As is his want, on occasions Bambi was trying to influence the referee, such as claiming the ball was in play when it was clearly out and that the opposition were always running.

Funnily enough, never him or his teammates!

On one occasion he offered the referee his glasses, the fact he wasn’t wearing any being totally  lost on him. Such claims fell on deaf ears from the referee.

In a pretty even game, there was nevertheless some good 3 touch football by both teams.

Olaf for the Blacks went close with a thunderbolt of a shot, the referee having to take evasive action, to get out of the way.

Bambi refuted the fact that he had bribed Olaf to take a potshot your correspondent., The former, then made a sarcastic comment about there being more running going on in the match than in the London Marathon.

This comment went straight over the referees head, who was trying to allow the game to flow by playing the advantage rule.

By now, Frank, oldest ball boy in town decided to take a well deserved rest,  taking on some water whilst play continued in both matches.

Like a whippet, he sees a ball go wide flying towards the main road and off he goes again.

What a legend, supporting the club in the true spirit of the game.

Ken then threw a strop, thinking he had put the Blacks further in front with a great shot, only for VAR to concur with the referee he had taken five touches, thereby disallowing the goal.

Laurence then put the Reds level with another terrific low shot with his trusty left foot leaving the score at 2-2 at  the break.

The last session begins with both teams being penalised for running, much to the displeasure of the baying crowd, never mind Bambi!

Ken from a deeper position nearly scored to put Blacks in front, however Ian in goal stuck out a leg and saves with his big toe.

Johnny in the Blacks goal, thwarts several  Reds attacks with good saves to prevent them scoring.

There was a flurry of goals in the final minutes making for an exciting finale. Firstly, Ken scored to put the Blacks in front, no strop on this occasion, followed by  Laurence equalising to get his hat-trickmaking it 3 apiece.

With almost the last kick of the game, man of the match Laurence hit the winner for the Reds with another well taken individual goal.

FT: 4-3 to Reds.

Match 2  report by Rory

The groundsman had put in a double shift to ensure the pitch at the Poli was in pristine condition for the sort of football that would make Pep purr. The Commander had conjured up a couple of well-matched teams on the far pitch. Surprisingly, he’d picked reds against blacks but the old boys enjoy the continued mental stimulation of guessing who’s going to be playing who. Oh, who do you think it’s going to be next week….reds vs blacks?

With no officialdom to hamper the flow of play or create some headlines not focussed on the game itself, there was confidence among the aged knee replacements that it would be a clean game, and any blatant running would be called out under the Marquis of Queensbury rules. The boys were surprisingly upbeat with El Buhos managing to stay up and (we all hate) Leeds, scraping into the playoffs. For the rest of the football enthusiasts on the pitch, mid-table mediocrity was the best that could be hoped for.

The reds started off well with our Keef starting as “rush” goalie and prompting his skilful team of ball jugglers forward. Fred gave his usual rock steady Martin Keown impersonation at the heart of the reds’ defence giving them a solid base from which they could unleash their fearsome attack, spearheaded by Dave the Bee and supported by Alex (the Octopus) in the hole. With cultured fullback Boris marauding down the wing Steve Mc had his usual fluid passing and moving game in midfield, which was slightly inhibited by his determination not to start off some major debates about running or whether the ball was over head height during the course of the game.

The blacks had will ‘o the wisp Al starting out on the right, gliding in Foden-like to threaten the opposition goal. Hokey-cokey Kevo (I’m in, I’m out….) started in goal for the blacks leaving them some confidence that they wouldn’t go behind to an early goal. No-nonsense defender Klaus played deep with “running not walking” Dave orchestrating the blacks attacking moves. El buho Dave started up front with your correspondent playing sweeper a la Glen Hoddle in his Swindon era.

The start of the game put the cage in cagey as the reds knocked the ball about nicely but spent most of the time moving crab-like across the pitch and back. The boys were starting to feel that life was indeed too short when El Buho dredged up a schoolboy error and for some reason started channelling the Owls mid-season train wreck and sent a pass across the face of his goal and into the path of the predatory Alex, who wasted no time in dispatching it past the startled Kevo. Reds 1-0 Blacks.

After giving El Buho a good kicking , the blacks restored their morale and actually started playing some nice footie with Dave and Rory linking up well and Klaus keeping the door firmly closed at the back. The blacks started to build up their shot count but unfortunately, they weren’t able to beat our Keef, Steve Mc, or any other inanimate object that happened to be between the posts. That was until Al ghosted in more ghostly than Casper the friendly ghost before popping the ball past the static reds’ keeper. Reds 1-1 Blacks.

The blacks were soon in the ascendancy by sticking to the basics and going for the easy passes instead of a 30 yard ball through a mass of legs. This confident play soon paid off with deadly Al hitting a rich vein of form and bagging a brace to give the blacks the lead their confident biff ball play deserved. The blacks continued their domination with Dave and El Buho linking up well to create a chance for Kevo to score a lovely goal past Fred, who’s full-length dive left a sizeable dent in the Poli turf. Reds 1-3 Blacks.

The blacks were looking comfortable but somehow contrived to make the game more exciting than it warranted. Our Keef was leading the press for the reds and keeping the pressure on the blacks despite what looked what an unassailable deficit. Sure enough the pressure paid off and some nice play from Steve and our Keef put Alex through on goal and he made no mistake by threading the ball through Rory’s legs. Reds 2-3 Blacks.

Matters got worse for the blacks when Dave the Bee who’d made a number of good runs, finally got the ball he deserved and fired it in brilliantly from an acute angle to bring the scores level. Reds 3-3 Blacks.

The blacks were starting to unravel like the narrative in an Agatha Christie Poirot novel and were struggling to maintain their composure when cabman Dave sent a short back pass to Rory in goal, who unfortunately had just started his siesta. Alex pounced on the short ball and poked it passed the keeper to give the reds a surprise lead and secure a deserved hat-trick. Reds 4-3 Blacks

However, all ended happily for the blacks when mercurial Al bagged his hat-trick by brilliantly volleying the equaliser past the reds’ keeper. Despite the reds shaving the paint of the opposition goal, and Klaus somehow keeping out a shower of shots, the match ended in a draw which was probably a fair outcome given the balance of play. How often have two players in opposing teams got a hat-trick? One for the WFS Archivist.