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From the moment the Dads team took to the pitch, you could see
that the commitment to carbohydrate-loading in the run up to the
fixture had been carefully observed. There was no doubt that the team
was in 'peaked' condition. The need to rest during the warm-up by
several of the team can be put down to clever psychology. |
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The match kicked off slightly late to make sure the pitch was full.
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Early doors, Jesse wreaked havoc weaving in and out of the Dad's
defence as if they weren't there, using a cunning plan of changing
direction quickly with the ball still at his feet. The referee deemed
this fair and soon the lads, backed up with a 40 mile an hour downhill
breeze, took an early lead with more sharp play from Jesse. Then, a
creatively crafted Caleb corner went in for a wonder goal
and, soon, after about 20 minutes, the lads had opened up a 3-1 lead. |
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The Dad's though had built up a detailed and intimate knowledge of the
contours of the pitch, lead by several members (who it can only be
imagined were taking lead from professional golfers), choosing as they
did to lie flat on their faces just before the ball needed to be
kicked. Using this information, the Dads team kept running up the hill
and despite the faraway goals being miles in the distance eventually
got there and made it back to 3-3 by half-time. |
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The beginning of the second half caught the lads still recovering from
the excellent array of half-time sausage rolls and in the early
minutes, the wind assisted Dad's team dominated with two players in
particular catching the eye.
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Andy's excellent hat-trick to
open up a quick 6-3 advantage was one point worth noting,
however David's perseverance in trying to score with his second
shot having played the ball back off the woodwork with his first shot
was what really caught the imagination. He never quite made it but
clearly this was a highly skilled and well rehearsed move. |
Then, Neil chipped in a top corner goal worthy of a replay on the tele,
to open out a further gap but soon the lads led by the big lads Caleb,
Jesse and Lewis and Scott, found the spirit to launch a comeback. Good
work from small lads Leo, Andy and Phil saw the overall lads find
the net three times to bring it back to within a goal at 7-6, the
Dad's goal being peppered many times during this period, with
some mainly excellent but occasionally hammed-up goalkeeping from
Charlie.
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This was a worrying time for the Dad's who were moving rapidly
from being fit ... to being fit to drop. Nonetheless,
the down hill slope came to the rescue and the Dad's army managed
to scrape a couple of goal-hangers goals to move to 9-6. In
one of these your reporter was involved, it must be said aided by
his positional play, which in turn was aided by the fact that Caleb
had stepped on his foot two minutes earlier meaning he was unable to
move any other position. |
From a personal point of view, your reporter would also like to point
out that the occasion when he was out-skilled by Nathan near the touch
line (unfairly cheered on by most of the partisan crowd it must
be added), was only due to Nathan's superior skill and balance. I hope
Nathan doesn't expect to be chosen for the next Mavericks match!
There was probably another goal for the lads in there
somewhere, before the match was finished with a fine headed goal from
Dan, making the score to approximately 10-7 and surprisingly
little or no injuries.
For information - stiffness is worse the second day after the event,
so it's downhill till Tuesday morning.
Happy New Year.
AH
From memory, apologies to names of any star players not appearing
here:
Lads: Caleb R, Jesse R, Scott M, Lewis M, James S, Phil M, Andy H, Leo
P, Edward L., Hannah L., Ben P, David G, Nathan M, Liam, Daniel F,
Rory D,
Dads; David R, John B, Andy , Alistair H, Derek L, Neil G, Dan, Neil
D, Charlie M, Matt G, Roger P, Robin P and Alan W
