Apologies for the recent radio silence; I thought I’d try and write up a round-up of the past few weeks’ action, albeit not necessarily chronologically.
The recent development of having not one but two specialist goalkeepers – Marco and Rustam – has been manna from heaven for those of us that loathe going in goal, but has meant that players coming back from injury or who just fancy a little breather have not been able to take a turn in nets. Suffice to say that with the number of Friday nights available there should be plenty of opportunity for everyone to play who wants to, whether that be in goal for sixty minutes or sixty seconds. Although I think we all agree that the Go Pro footage is a great development, at least if you’re not a victim of the red circle of shame…
Last Friday’s game saw the return of the prodigal Johannes from Brooklyn for one night only, along with a rare appearance from Coram Fields legend Ian. Your two teams looked like this:
Yellows: me, Paul, Joe, Bradley, Anatolii, Nick F, Remy, Klaus and Yev
Blues: Ian, Steve, Kanat, Parminder, David, Johannes, Morgan, Hector and Nick L
Something of a night to forget for the Yellow defence, I’m afraid, as Paul scored an own goal and let in a daisy-cutter, while I managed to let in three during my turn in nets – come back Marco, Rustam (!) – with David (who spotted me caught in two minds as to whether to stay on the line or come out to close down the angle), Morgan and Nick being the beneficiaries. I believe that the usually indefatigable Kanat also put through his own net, with Nick F and Yev getting on the scoresheet for the Yellow team. Ultimately, the Yellows poor start and my disastrous spell in goal gave the Yellow team too much work to do, so despite a late rally featuring goals from Klaus and Anatolii they were always trailing. But it’s always a pleasure to see Johannes on the pitch; hopefully it won’t be too long before we see him again.
Honourable mentions to Bradley for a solid display at the back for the Yellows, Klaus for keeping the Yellows ticking over and also for David who bagged a brace for the Blues. (And a dishonourable mention for Morgan, who appears to have become a Manchester City fan).
Final score: Yellows 5 – Blues 6
With Johannes in town for the weekend there was a good turnout at the pub, with conversations about the plight of the looming US Presidential election and the cost of living in America versus the UK featuring earlier in the evening, before the older cohort moved inside and covered some of the usual topics (war, famine, pestilence, beer, women).
Rustam’s Go Pro footage from two weeks ago featured the “highlights” of a 3-0 win for the Yellow team, who in addition to the proud Manchester United supporting goalkeeper also starred: me, Steve, Kanat, Simon Gas, Johnnie, Simon Ink (forming the rarely seen three-Simon conjunction), Morgan and Gio, who – unsurprisingly – did all the damage up front.
Their opponents were Marco, Paul, Joe, Anatolii, Andy Flannerty, Will, Alan – who seemed to be the fulcrum of the Blues attack, if the Go Pro footage is anything to go by – Nick L and Yev. We will see if the feedback relayed via WhatsApp translates into any discernible improvement in our defending… (don’t hold your breath).
Finally, I wanted to crowbar in a reference to a goal David scored the other week, which opened the scoring for the Blues – the sprite-like West Midlands scamp absolutely creamed one into the top left corner with his left foot to set his team on the way to what my memory has a rampant victory for the Blue team.
Until Friday!
Stick that in yer blog! 