Match reports

Estate Agents (7): Ahmet, Oz, Matt, Julius, Jim + 1 of them.
Hairdressers (8): ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

Sorry Dan, this won’t be much of a match report. We had two no shows, Kevin and James, although Kevin did email us in the morning about it [So did James but I was in France with phone off]. But to compensate we had two no-replies appear, Ahmet and Matt. We didn’t have enough for a game amongst ourselves, so we played the other lot who gave us one of their players. They had the extra man.

Red: Chris, Karim, Danny, Daniel, Oz, Julius
Yellow: Kevin, Ahmet, Jim, Prit, David, Richard

Seven of us and five nice hairdressing representatives makes a pleasant 6-a-side.

Daniel started in goal and his first clearance landed straight at their first man who chipped it back over the keeper….predictably bad. Richard Norman doubled the lead with a tight shot from the left just going inside the top of the far post. Lovely. Danny began the fightback with a belter from the right wing half way up the pitch – that bloke can’t half hit it! Karim went in goal after about fifteen minutes with what looked like a hamstring problem. Oz fired at the Yellow goal and just when it looked like Kevin had it covered, Daniel, running in from the side, managed to a. unsight the keeper and b. stretch his leg out and just touch the ball with a stud to add the slightest deflection to divert it in. He almost got another shortly after with a lovely throughball, the keeper arrived at the same time and the ball rolled out of the collision towards the goal but Kevin heroicly slid in to clear off the line. Jim went on a run. It wasn’t mazey, quite straight in fact – his knock-the-ball-on-and-run-past-the-man manouevre. I’ve mocked it in the past but he pulled it off this time…against three consecutive members of the opposition!! And then scored!!!!! A great solo effort. But that was Yellow’s problem – they all seemed to playing their own game against a fluid Red team. But there was a man of the match in there for sure who made sure Red didn’t have to worry….Karim!!!! Despite barely being unable to run/move with any rapidity he pulled off the most amazing number of saves, a lot of which were individually impressive but also collectively astounding.

Final score: Red 13 – 5 Yellow

Red: James, Oz, Daniel
Yellow: Julius, Jim, Colin

Red (5): Ahmet, Gerald, Daniel, Tufan, Colin
Yellow (6): Oz, Kevin, John, Richard, Julius, Jim

11! Our squad list is only 15 but that includes Matt and Jack! Great attendance.

Go! Oh hang on, nope. My clock hasn’t worked. Stop! Yup, this one hasn’t worked either. Amusing incompetence from the keepers. Promptly followed by more farcical comedy from Daniel in goal as a first clearance didn’t even get beyond the feet of the first man – Oz. He passed to John who slotted in. The next clearance got slightly higher – Oz’s head, but the shot ended in Daniel’s hands. Howls of laughter and thumbs up from Yellow – they were loving this. In embarrassed frustration and to ensure safety he hoofed it high and long. The safety didn’t last long though. He flapped at a corner and eventually smothered the loose ball and just about managed to catch a high ball despite the sun. Hardly reassuring for his defence. He then warned that John was unmarked, a few yards beyond the last defender. No one did anything about it and Red promptly went 2-0 down. John then got his foot to a long ball just before Daniel to touch it in. A tad high some argued but to disallow it would have been harsh. He then gratefully handed over the gloves – Yellow really should have been four or five up up.
The change was immediate. Red scored! But sadly just a blip and Yellow took advantage of more calamitous keeping, Ahmet’s clearance ricocheted in off a hassling attacker and another loose ball trickled over the line after more farse. Yellow eventually pulled away to 7-1 by half time.
Change the teams? No siree – Red took the game by the scruff of the neck and were much more involved. But promptly let in a few including a high looping shot that Gerald caught but let slip though his fingers. Tufan and Daniel both skied generous lay-offs in front of goal, Colin took a clearance right in the goolies – you’ve never heard a more perfect contact. Daniel took two in the goolies, neither as good as the Colin poleaxe. John was the man though, a double hatrick and he forced an own goal through a deflection. His link up play up front with Julius regularly opened up the yellow defense who were more accomodating than yo mamma. And Julius contributed with a goal or two of his own. Kevin almost got on the score sheet too after going up front to take advantage of the windfall but could only deflect a lovely through ball just wide of the target. Tufan angrily hoofed a ball in from about a yard out, such was the frustrated aggression. He got another just after his family had arrived to watch. Luckily they hadn’t seen the rest of the show or they’d have carried on walking.

Final score: Red 7 – 12 Yellow

19 goals – The highest scoring game of the year? Don’t be daft – that was a 35 goal haul on January 2nd. An another seven games this year have combined totals of 20 or over. A lowly ninth – positively mediocre.

Man of the match – John. Step aside Zlatan.
Antithesis of John – Anyone in the Red goal.

Match abandoned. Only two people (Daniel & Jim) signed up.

Red (7): Daniel, James, Pete, Liam, Prit, Chris, ? (Spurs fan)
Yellow (8): Oz, Kevin, Gerald, Keith, Steve, Ahmet, Jim, Steve

So, a hard fought draw. Ahmet and Steve return for their first games since the middle of August, John has man flu so doesn’t bother, and the animosity continues with Keith getting stuck in! However, on a happy note – congratulations to him on the recent birth of his son Oliver – Huzzah!

A night of rain made for a sloppy pitch. 7-a-side. Strange sides after a general agreement to mix it up. Red attacked solidly for the first five minutes only for Yellow to break and although Daniel came out to reduce the angle, Keith slotted past him. Totally against the run of play. Red continued to dominate but they couldn’t make it pay dividends. In the second half, Yellow were much more coherent.
Keith bore the brunt of the stroppy Spurs fan aggression. That’s the first time on the Rye I’ve ever seen anyone shove someone. Not nice, not nice at all. Like a remedial dwarf, it’s not big and it’s not clever. We’ll have no more of that thank you very much. Red looked to have one it 10 minutes before the end but Yellow fired goalward a couple of minutes later and although Prit took the sting out of it, the spinning momentum meant it just crept over the line. A fair result to dissipate the undercurrent of animosity.

Final score: Red 3 – 3 Yellow

Match abandoned: Only two people (Daniel, Richard) signed up.

Match abandoned: only two people (James, Oz) signed up.

Red (5): James, Keith, Tufan, Daniel, John
Yellow (6): Gerald, Richard, Colin, Oz, Matt, Jim

What a cracker! The highest attendance since Mr Piper departed us in mid-August. Sunny – a little warm even. A good sized pitch but a bit bobbley and Matt returns from cricket exile.
Red didn’t start like they were the man down. Keith curled a peach of a cross for Daniel to head back across goal and over the keeper, just a shade high of the top corner – an impressive start from Red and it stayed relentless for the next five minutes. They peppered the Yellow goal with several headers and shots and own goals were there for the taking too. But nothing went in and Yellow finally got into the game. It was fast stuff, breaks-a-plenty and end-to-end running around. The first goal came after about 15 minutes, James taking a short corner to Tufan who dribbled around the defender, along to the goal line and crossed for Keith to side-foot in. Red got up to 2-0 after easily dominating the first half half but Yellow somehow pulled two back, the second going in just before half-time.
They settled after the break – a much more even-sided affair. Red got the first but Yellow replied and went ahead too! Sadly its all a bit of  blur so all I can recall is Jim scooping a chance over the bar from a metre out, Keith impersonating Bruce Lee and a succession of consistently placed misses from Matt all going just wide and low of the right post. Oz fired off a handful of rockets which caused problems. John took the sting out of one but Matt was on hand to fire in the lose ball. John got on the scoresheet though in revenge, calmly poking in when the ball seem to have awkwardly aluded him. And then five minutes before the end, Red equalised.
Hardly an engaging report (apologies for gaps of individual greatness) but a very impressive counter-attacking style from both teams who both wanted the win. Just like Mr Piper, you couldn’t question the passion.
It may have been just a draw but something won out there – football!

Final score: Yellow 4 – 4 Red