Part 1: Utter shambles. The first person to show up is Oz, who was a definite No. Then Richard P and Daniel followed by Eliseu and Bruno. Five, and with two others confirmed still to come – Game on!
“Build it and they will come” has been our unfailing mantra. So we did, and then we kicked the ball around. For a long time. Eventually, just when were deciding on teams for 2 vs 3 or 2 vs 2 and a keepr or call it off, out of the distance (it’s way past 11am by this point) Richard N appears!
Three-a-side. Colin clearly had a problem with the concept of changing a clock. And just as we’d donned bibs and about to press the clocks, a Hairdresser rep invited us to join their poorly attended game. 45 minutes of farce.
Part 2:
Hairdressers (them, Yellow): Chris, Mani, Tom, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?
Estate Agents (us, Red): Eliseu, Bruno, Richard P, Richard N, Daniel, Oz, Phil*, ?*
*loaned from hairdressers
Eight-a-side. Kick off must have been at 11.30am. 35 minutes each way. Oz promptly lasted five minutes again and settled in goal. Eliseu got the first goal after some promising signs early on. Bruno added a second shortly after. Eliseu fed the ball down the inside of the defender. It looked too fast but Bruno bounded down the wing outside of the defender and fired low across the goal and in. Great through ball, great shot. It was looking good and it wasn’t just a Brazilian masterclass. Richard N leaped to meet a perfect Ellis cross with his head and the returned the favour shortly after for Ellis to nod down and in. It was like the River Spay at spawning time.
4-0 up at half time.
The Hairdressers changed a few positions in the second half. It stopped the rot but Red still had chances. The only goal came from an aerial flick on from ?. Daniel (who’s going to milk this move as things like this never work out for him) flicked it over his marker with his first touch, perfectly laid off with his second (this Brazilian thing is catching) to Bruno, whose shot was saved but Richard P was on on hand to stroke in the loose ball. A very nice move.
Sadly they did get a goal, Bruno nodding in his own goal while trying to head clear a dangerous aerial cross. A big shame as he’d put in a good shift with an unbelievable amount of tackles.
Oz was good in goal, Richard N was solid in defence (backed up by everyone who covered back and got their share of blocks or tackles in) Phil worked hard down the left even with a groin injury, Daniel and ? joined well down the right as did Bruno and Eliseu up front. Good teamwork. However, they were rubbish. The number of their passes that found one of us was like a blatant case of match fixing. And they didn’t communicate at all.
Final score: Hairdressers 1 – 5 Estate Agents