Match reports

We had eight, they had six so Ahmet, on his first game back after a month (a month!) of holiday, kindly swapped to even the sides – thank you sir. It’s over a week since the game and my notes, although no doubt good for prompting my memory at the time, don’t mean much to me now. Oz started us off with a tight-angled goal from the right. This was after about ten minutes and not much happened for a while but Red did have the upper hand and finally made a break through to settle the game with Martin taking possession down the left channel and after what seemed an age of looking at the ball, looking at the goal, pondering the idea, lining up and preparing to shoot and looking at both again, he eventually fired in a corker across the goal and inside the far post. Goal of the game. Tufan added a third and we looked good.

3-0 to Red at half time.

However, Sunny and Isaac, who’d turned up after 11.00am and loitered then joined Yellow and we got Ahmet back. Two pairs of fresh substitute legs, particularly good ones at that. We kept them quiet for the first ten minutes of the restart but these additions paid dividends, a hatrick for Sunny and another with no reply meant the turnaround was complete. And all the more galling for Ahmet who’d effectively lost 7-0.

Final score: Red 3 – 4  Yellow

A huge game! Welcome back Jim and Keith. And most of the other team. A feeble summer, let it be said. We were three-a-side and they had 14. So as we wandered near to their pitch they insisted on joining us. So we agreed. And then watched them as they put up their own goals and left them to their own devices as they marked out the pitch.

And so a game for midfielders got underway. Lots of action in the middle of the pitch and when it did break at either end, both defences had to be on their toes. Yellow were initially the most active defence with Oz regularly feeding Tufan or Junior who were proving troublesome up front. Oz even had a chance to curl a lovely shot around the keeper who got in a good save. At the other end Yellow were warned about the tall chap and the kept him quiet for the first 15 minutes or so. However after getting off a couple of markers, two good through balls split the Red defence and one-on-one with keeper he came out trumps. Junior sadly ambled off around this point with a leg injury but was spotted a short time later warming up for another game on the other side of the Rye. Boooo…Hissss.

Yellow 2-0 up at half time.

More of the same in the second half. Good midfield distribution from both teams was met with resilient defences at both ends. Yellow got a corner and somehow Femi had the time to poke in the low ball. 3-0 to Yellow. Femi had also contributed to another goal scored from a tap-in after his throw, only he’d been a good three metres onto the pitch when he launched it so it was disallowed. And the same tall chap who’d got the other two also saw a header hit the post. Disappointing for Red, it shouldn’t have been this one-sided.

But then, with about 10 minutes left, Daniel tentatively progressed out of defence down the left. He saw Brian run past down the wing in support but chose to cut inside his marker just inside their half after hearing a call from Chris at the far post, and let fly. The keeper (that tall chap who’d got a brace in the first half) anticipated this deft curling cross and stepped out to intercept it. Only the curl was more than he predicted so exclaimed “Oh Shit” as the ball soared into the empty net he’d left behind. Clean sheet obliterated, accolades from both teams and a little bit of fairness restored to the scoreline.

A very enjoyable game. Pretty passing, dependable defences, tasty tackles, and a couple of sumptuous saves. And what a goal for the man who’d celebrated his birthday just a few days earlier!

Final score: Yellow 3 – 1 Red