Yellow (5): JP, Richard N, Jeremy, Kevin, Daniel
Red (6): Darren, Colin, Richard P, Steve, Jim N, Matt
Hot. Really hot. Firm.
Welcome back Matt. A one man advantage to Red who were stronger from the off and were two goals to the good without reply. They looked good too, Colin in a red cap, Jim in his fishermans hat and Richard P in his Rayban Wayfarers. The second (I think) came from a save with the ball ending up in front of an empty goal and both Colin and Darren took a swipe – 1/2 a goal each. I don’t recall much else – hot, fast. Daniel had the ball literally knicked off him by Darren just as he was swinging to shoot. Yellow did manage to get off some shots but struggling to find space. Then just before half time JP fired in to save their bacon and give Yellow belief.
Second half kick off was rather too prompt in this heat and a rather innocuous pass was inadvertently knocked back by Matt into the path of the onrushing Kevin who made no mistake – game on! However the reply was immediate with Colin (a regular threat running in behind defenders) connecting with a cross to nod in a tasty header, the lead restored. And then they got another. Yellow replied to give belief but again the Red response was immediate, always keeping a step ahead, teasing the Yellow team. JP then crossed for Daniel who took an unnecessary touch and seemed to have missed the chance but calmly rolled it across the line. Game back on. Richard N ended up with ball at the near post with the goal mouth gaping but Jim N did just enough to put him off and the shot scuffed the outside of the post – calamatous. Not to be outdone Kevin fluffed an easy chance and then Daniel completely missed a perfectly weighted low cross from JP two yards out. Triple calamity. Red seemed to become complacent after this and that’s when JP took advantage and became rapant. Every pass went to him and he seemed to score at every time, a definite turnaround of fortunes in the last 10 minutes when they got in to the lead for the first time and indeed pulled to two away when Richard P was the unfortunate person to get in the way of a ricochet and the ball rolled in for an own goal. Matt fired a low rocket past Daniel to pull Yellow back to a one goal advantage and then Darren looked to have gained parity when he fired a shot from the left to the far post but Daniel just managed to dive and get his fingertips out to turn it round the post, phew!
Hot and hectic stuff. Lots of interceptions/poor passing. And for Red, that’s got to hurt. Two weeks in a row the team with fewer players has stolen the win at the end without being in front for the previous 70 minutes. Elated? Demoralised? What are you?
Final score: Yellow 7 – 6 Red