The Richard Piper Testimonial
Red: Richard P, Kevin, James, Richard N, Oz, Gerald + Jack for the second half
Yellow: Colin, Steve, Tufan, Daniel, Naz, Jamie
King for a day! Yes, he picked the teams. 6-a-side on a sunny day, old-skool vs new-skool. And you can’t get newer than Jamie who turned up for his first game. He made an immediate impact too, stealing the limelight by being involved in the first Yellow attack. After a number of passes being pinged around the box he calmly slotted in a low cross. The Red reply was immediate but Yellow were definitely in control and Jamie got on the end of a trademark cross from Steve. Tufan and Naz were making themselves useful up front in a very attacking line-up for Yellow. Richard P made a good save against two-on-one but a dodgy pass by Kevin across his box was pounced on by Colin and Yellow eventually romped to a 5-1 lead at half time. Red were puzzled and asked permission to have Jack (who’d sauntered over late after a night in the pub) join their team – would he be their saviour? Like the teams though, Red were still at sixes and sevens and couldn’t quite make things work. Richard P was given free reign to attack and attack he did, shooting on many occasions. Sadly, he managed to miss more chances than had fallen at his feet for the last two months! He was about to explode with frustration when he finally got one in. And then another one! If you look up the term “bulldozer” in an online dictionary, you’ll find a video of Richard P with the ball at his feet powering through a tangle of legs and bodies without changing course and eventually pushing it over the line. The only part of his body not to be involved were his hands. A roar from the partisan crowd! Would it be a hatrick? Would it inspire his team to dig deep? No. Jamie continued to read the wrong script and fired in two powerful daisy cutters and after some quick passing around the left channel, Daniel curled a shot in off the post to bring up double figures for Yellow. I think Oz, James and Richard N all hit the post but it wasn’t their day. With the clock ticking down Jack decided to play keepy-uppy.
Final score: Yellow 11 – 4 Red
Thank you Gerald for a great memento of top trump cards. Some good portraits, a few action shots and Paul smoking a fag.