Reverend Gas

Back to the action then, after a two week break from either playing or writing about football and during which I recovered from the shock of the General Election result by going to see the Super Furry Animals. Speaking of recoveries, Simon Gas failed to make one from his rib injury and as such my mantle as team-selector continued. The Bristolian soccer supremo elected to watch Friday’s game from the sidelines, rather like a kindly vicar watching the local urchins play on the local village green. Or possibly a FIFA mandarin on a Champions League jolly. (I prefer the former). 

And let the record show that the two teams were as thus:

Blues – Mario, Dan, Danny, Alan, Nick, Patrick, me, Bristol Paul, Ross

Yellows – Yev, Liam, Steve, Michele, James, David, Mick, Mark, Peter

Nine aside, as you can see. Shame that I didn’t, mind – we played the first five minutes with Nick on the wrong team, which meant that the Yellows had a two man advantage and they duly capitalised on their accidental numerical advantage, with James passing the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the ball with the outside if his right boot, for the first of a brace of goals. One nil to the Yellows. 

Once Alan had cottoned to the fact the teams were skew-whiff order was duly restored to the galaxy with Nick donning the correct attire (a Blue bib) and a close game ensued. The Yellows took a two nil lead through either Peter or Michele (making his Coram Fields debut), before the Blues started to get back in the game courtesy of some excellent link-up play between Mario, Patrick and Ross. I believe that Mario and Ross both got in amongst the goals, although I was stationed at the back for virtually all of the game, so I am reliant on the testimony of others here (thanks, Alan). I’m reliably informed that Alan himself was on the scoresheet, while Patrick may have grabbed a brace. I’m sure that Mick will be only too happy to confirm next week. 

Yev could have scored a hat-trick but had to settle for two – having managed to push a fierce shot onto the post I was powerless to prevent him from capitalising on an excellent centre from James whereupon he fizzed a shot just inside the post. James’ second goal came after a pinball-like passage of play that eventually saw him shoot just inside the post after the Blues’ defence had failed to clear. The final and winning goal came after the Blues were left horribly exposed at the back – I tried in vain to close down Liam (I was feeling slightly tender at the time, having taken a sharp knee in my Arris, which left me less mobile than usual), but the jinky forward slammed the ball square to Yev who couldn’t miss.

Final score: Blues 5 – Yellows 6

And so to the pub, where we drank al fresco while it remained light and then repaired to the interior having heard tales of Mick’s younger son’s Cup Final ticket being put in jeopardy by an unscrupulous imposter. The evening ended with a discussion surrounding the Skinners’ landlord’s recruitment policy as it pertained to his bar staff. Particularly the female members. 

Final thoughts of the weekend go to Simon and Paul, as they celebrate what I can only imagine was the most nerve shredding of play-off finals and look forward to seeing Bristol Rovers once more being a Football League side in 2015-16.