Even with Hannahs long awaited return to the fold another reasonably low turnout meant a four vs four game with no goalies.This may sound easy but here's the crucial bit, you could only shoot when INSIDE the area. Lunacy I know but we did it none the less. This was supposed to lead to a little more passing, which it did for the first few minutes until team red reverted to the 'Hoof it all the way up field to Colin' route. A tactic which remained for most of the match.
The arrival of a thunderstorm was some shortlived excitement but only one man on the pitch was worried as play had previously stopped for around five minutes through Alex discovering the cola bottles. Everybody knows how conductive they are to electicity and anyway his head is closer to the clouds than the rest of ours.
The thunderstorm passed and we continued un-frazzled, with even more passes going awry due to the now wet and skiddy astroturf. This along with team reds arsenal like inability in front of goal led to their gaining a stream of around 10 throws and corners with no final product.
The lack of goalkeepers meant Adam got to spend a little more time outfield, some good defending and half pitch run and goal showed us thet maybe he was a little wasted between the sticks. Chris G also showed some excellent defending skills with some perfectly timed sneaky defensive pushes certainly denying the reds at least two goals.
After halftime, as J.K. and Rob G had arrived previously to make it 5 vs 5, goalkeepers were installed and the more normal only shooting outside the area was reinstated. By this time two soggy cheerleaders had turned up , one with an umbrella, so I decided to knock it up a gear. Clear on goal I saw my chance to impress only to accidentally nudge the ball with my right foot just before swinging at it with my left. This resulted in no connection with the ball but a rather large connection with the ground as I bounced into an embarrassed heap.
The early departure of Hannah opened the doors for another debutant, Hannah, who slotted between the sticks like a frog into a pond. She made some good saves and with the right framework around her could be a regular player.
A hat trick for 'super Luke' should also get a mention aswell as Debbie providing us with water, chewy bars and cola bottles, so thank you for that.
extra curricular activities.After a hard fought match, with exceptional skill on both sides, team Heppell managed to scrape a draw against the Burrow boys on the Nellies pool table. However this means the Burrow boys take the WMpS FC pool doubles crown on alphabetical order. Tough luck Heppells.
Finances:Match fees:10 attendees and £2 each covers the £20 pitch fee, so we stay in the black.
Fines:Matt, as usual, stumped up his non attendance fine to maintain his place at the top of the fines leaderboard. When questioned he stated 'I've never been top of anything to do with Soccer, so I'm not going to throw this one away', fine words from a fine anti-sportsman.
Chris Harley, whos measly excuse for non-attendance was 'we're having a baby', (who was having this baby eh?) did show up in the pub to 'pay his fine'. So cheers for that Chris and congratulations on Seth, get him a shirt and bring him along next week.
Tom McKenzies excuse of 'I played yesterday' was even more pitiful and I reckon we should duff him up behind the bike sheds at lunchtime.
Will
Web Marketplace Solutions Football Club (WMpS FC)
