A better turn out this week, with seventeen players up for selection, following some last minute in and outery and general jiggle it all aboutery. Your two teams:
Yellows: Johannes; Patrick Chen; Paul Gas; Parminder; Tom G; Pete; Andrei; Yev (and me)
Blues: Joe; Morgan; Mick; Shez; Steve; James / Siebs; Alan; Simon Gas (and me)
We had a characteristically late message from Yev to say he was running (sauntering?) fifteen minutes late, so in an ultimately futile effort to salvage an even game I started on the Yellow team while we waited for him. In what might not be an unrelated turn of events the Blue team took a two goal lead, although both efforts were a bit soft; the first came after Paul Gas in goals called loudly for a high cross, caught it, then dropped it and saw it dribble almost apologetically over the line. The second Blue goal was a decent effort from someone – possibly James – that was struck into the bottom left hand corner, and although Paul went down in instalments it was always going in.
Cue: Yev. In a misguided attempt to make the game fair, Simon Gas then decided to allow the Yellows to keep Yev and me, giving them a one man advantage with an arguably stronger line-up. JoJo promptly ran riot, alternately hugging the touchline and surging through midfield, pinging passes and scoring goals. The score had reached 7-3 before common sense insisted on a late tweak as I finally joined the Blue team, but despite a late goal from Morgan and a decent final 10 minutes the Yellows added one more via Tom (?) to cap off a gala evening for the Yellows and a chastening night for Simon Gas’ Blues. That said, there was one goal that was up for debate, as the Yellows capitalised on one of the many multi-ball situations to take advantage of a distracted Mick in goal. It did feel unsporting to let it stand.
I should also mention that despite Simon Gas’ meddling, Alan demonstrated zen-like calm at what were palpably unfair sides and put himself in goal to ponder what it all meant, (it meant Simon made a blunder).
Despite the glut of goals, perhaps the two most memorable moments were ones that saw the woodwork struck. Mick swept a delightful shot up and over the Yellows’ defence only to see it kiss the bar, while Pete worked up a real head of steam before unleashing a horribly violent effort that smacked off the crossbar at the other end. Also in masonry rattling dispatches was Joe, who nailed a low effort from the edge of the area only to see the ball cannon back off the post.
Final score: Yellows (at least) 8 – Blues 4
Al fresco drinking at the pub on Friday, with a rare synchronous ending as all eight or so remaining drinkers left at the same time. Topics under discussion included blood groups and the take over of Newcastle United by the 14th Century Group, but the final word goes to a bravura performance of an old classic by Mick, the finer points of which would probably fall foul of the apparatchiks in HR. Country and Preston indeed.
Stick that in yer blog! 