Welcome back, one and all, to episode four of the 2017/18
Spizzenergi football blog.
A double report this week, the second half of which comes
thanks to Paul’s extremely detailed dispatch over the weekend just gone. But
first, news of Friday 29th September’s game, which featured two
teams that lined up thusly:
Yellows: me, Ian Gooner, Simon, Danny, Liam, Patrick, Nick
(Joe’s mate), Ross, Adolpho, Paul (Guvnor)
Blues: Geoff, David, Mick, Michele, Yev, Joe, Peter,
Alessandro and Alan
A nice, tight game this one, with the Yellow team prevailing
by the odd goal in eleven. Alessandro got things underway for the Blues with a
deft shoe-shuffle followed by a rasping effort which slammed into the top
corner on the near post and promptly lead to Danny ending his sojourn in goal
with immediate effect. Also on target for the Blues were Yev, who grabbed a
brace, while Alan toiled in vain for a goal and uncharacteristically fluffed
his lines on a couple of occasions when well placed.
On the mark for the Yellows was Nick, who got at least one
goal, including a typically elegant finish for what proved to be the winner, Liam,
who continues to belie Gordon Strachan’s dismissal of his fellow countrymen as
being “genetically
behind” by both being under six foot and
consistently deadly in front of goal, and none other than myself. (My goal was a real
thing of beauty, capitalising on Alessandro dropping the ball in front of me
whereupon I threw my ‘burly’ frame into the ‘keeper and backheeled home from
all of two yards).
On the subject of the Italians, of whom we seemingly have
more and more each week, some of our players need to be aware that they have
different names, some of which start with the letter ‘A’, but some do not. Last
week we had calls for ‘Alessandro’, ‘Alphonso’, ‘Adolpho’ and ‘Alberto’: there
were two people playing called ‘Alessandro’ and ‘Adolpho’ and sometimes the
people calling their name were directing their shouts at the players with that
name, but at other times they weren’t. And last word on this game goes to
Adolpho, who I have just remembered opened the scoring for the Yellow with a
tremendous goal that saw the midfield maestro juggle the ball off his chest and
volley home from the halfway line. He then had the unbelievable good grace to
apologise for shooting, as he (correctly) surmised that there wasn’t too much else
on.
Final score: Yellows 6 – Blues 5
And onto the Skinners where the evening’s stand-out event
was Ian celebrating his freedom from the tyranny of home loans by standing a
round of Laphroaig to toast being mortgage free at fifty-three. Chapeau, big
man.
I missed last Friday’s match as I was out with work
colleagues trying to foster some esprit de
corps. But Paul messaged over a comprehensive round up of the action, on
and off the field, which I’ll endeavour to convey now.
I am reliably informed that Friday’s match was another
relatively evenly contested affair, with Michele getting a great goal for the
Yellow team. (It would seem that his compatriots have had enough of being
wrongly identified, as he was the only Italian playing).
Also on the scoresheet was Mick, who apparently caught Simon
Gas unawares by clipping home into the Chief Executive’s near post; his son
Stan also had a good game by all accounts, with Paul likening his passing to Spanish
legend Xabi Alonso.
However, the Blue team ran out 4-3 winners thanks to what
Paul labelled a ‘goal blitz’ (in true tabloid style) from Patrick, as well as a
great performance from Yev, no doubt aided by the fact he turned up on time.
Also mentioned in dispatches were Charlie, doing some sterling
defensive work for the Blues, and the Caledonian triumvirate of Liam, Mark and
Steve for the Yellows, who could not quite do enough to force the draw despite
a strong final ten minutes.
With the average age being younger than usual it sounds like
a good game to have missed and it would seem I was not the only one, with Bristol
Paul being absent – somewhat implausibly – playing golf in Northampton ahead of
Rovers’ game there on Saturday.
And it would appear that congratulations are in order as
Ross has accepted a proposal of marriage – Paul didn’t say otherwise, so one
can only assume this is from his long-term partner and the mother of his
daughter, as opposed, say, to his long-term bandmate Simon Ink. We wish them
well.
In other off the field news I am told that no fewer than
three people have attempted to coax Tony back to the fray, but presumably he’s
busy helping David Davis with the Brexit negotiations.
I’ll end this week’s post with a verbatim quote from Paul’s
report:
Danny
had a strong performance and suggest[ed] a comedy evening for the Xmas bash,
but don't we see comedy every Friday.
