Boys of Summer

To the penultimate Friday of the season, and a fairly a high scoring game – 8-6 – as I picked two teams that both grew in numbers following kick-off.

Lining up for the Bibs were (initially) Simon Gas, Dan, the tall bloke with grey hair from the 7.40 crew, Joe, Andy, Geoff and Steve A 

Lining up for the Colours were Yev, Matt, me, Danny, Paul, Ian West Brom and Mick

Ergo, the game started as a seven aside, but an unannounced appearance from mercurial new wave legend Spizz, ostensibly to play a game of football but quite possibly to promote his gig on Sunday which coincided with the England v Italy game, meant that the Colours had a man advantage which duly resulted in their lead stretching to 7-3. To offset this imbalance Hugh joined the Bibs and the scores went from 7-3 to 7-6, before Matt made sure of victory for the Colours with a fine late goal that fatally punctured the hopes of the Bibs, who’d come within a goal of parity courtesy of a poacher’s finish from Andy.

With so many goals it is difficult to assign every one, but Yev returned from his sojourn in his homeland with at least three goals, seemingly spurred on by the injustice of his nation’s exit to England via the ghost goal of Donetsk. He formed a potent partnership with Matt, both six footers and reminiscent of the Shevchenko / Voronin forward line for the Ukraine, but with better hair cuts. Danny also scored at least one; I took a shot almost straight from the restart after the Bibs had scored and although my initial shot was charged down, Danny was on hand to win the loose ball and finishing unerringly into the corner. 

Other than Andy’s late goal Dan also got onto the scoresheet for the Bibs; their opener was a result of Dan not being closed down properly and passing the ball low into the bottom corner from about 15 yards.

Talking of the man himself, Spizz also managed to bag a brace; first a penalty, which this week he elected to take using the conventional method, i.e. kicking the ball rather than hopping over it (see last week’s blog) and secondly a fine run followed by a curling shot which the keeper really ought to have done better with. 

By the end the Colours were slightly grateful to hear the final rattle, which is testament to the tenacity of the Bibs, (as well as the impact that Hugh made). That said, we went from a situation where Simon Gas wasn’t sure that we’d have more than four aside at around twenty to seven to a game with sixteen people on the pitch, with predictable implications for the quality of the game.

I eschewed the delights of the White Lion (and Germany v Greece) this week, owing to the fact I had to work on Saturday. However, a full report on the final game of the season and the end of year dinner in the Red Dog Saloon awaits. Until next time....