Charlie George decreed it: summer is here lads, summer is here. Sauntering in wearing jeans, t-shirt, a leather jacket and shades, the coolest cat in town was turning up the heat. Just a shame every day since then has been blisteringly cold, but surely summer is coming. Surely??
Hoof in goal (Tys still injured), backline of Sheedy, Zamora, Zondervan, Charlie George. Midfield of Tommy Dazzler's mate Mike, Doggie Dundee, Jordan, Tommy Dazzler. Front two of Latch and Illy (4-4-2, obvs), with Neal "Late Arrival" Chettle slightly increasing the jiggling of the aluminium atoms in the dugout.
We started in fine form, a few minutes in Sheeds and Mike combined well down the right, before Big M crossed from the byline for Tommy Dazzler about a yard out the wrong side of the post, but his left-foot volley just scraped the wrong side of the post.
We continued to dominate the rest of the half, pinning the oppo back, Hoof having little to do. I even recall some imperious Charlie George headers setting up wave after wave of attack. Latch hit the bar, a defensive scramble saw them hit their own bar with Zondervan lurking menacingly but the ball bounced just over his head, Latch was put through one one one beautifully from Illy, but rolled it just wide. How we did not score in that first half I do not know.
Cue the second half, and cue the second half turnaround. Glovers upped their work rate, closed us down, harassed and harried and we couldn't cope. Whenever BoC got the ball, there seemed to be 3 of them closing us down, and wayward passing and decision making didn't help our cause either (although their kit of white and green does clash a bit, and some of them even wear shirts that are completely white on the back. I find that terrifically annoying). They finally opened the scoring, some sort of flick on putting their striker in on goal, although it was clearly offside.
We huffed and puffed for an equaliser, but it just wouldn't happen, until magic man Boyband stepped up, and volleyed home from outside the box. Terrific stuff from the former squash pro. When he lived in Balham he used to play every Sunday morning you know. Nothing would stop him from going to his squash game, even if a lady was warming his bed, she would be unceremoniously turfed out. "Must dash! Off to squash!"
So we secured a probably-undeserved draw, but it was nice to be part of a more standard 1-1 affair, rather than these ridiculous goalfests of late.
However, to put my non-existent coach hat on for minute, I wonder if the source of our ills is that everyone wants to have too many touches on the ball? I can't recall anyone playing a first-time pass, and even the simple one-touch and pass is a rarely seen beast. I wonder what would happen if we instigated one of those training ground jobbies: "max three touches". Might shake things up a bit.
A few contenders for Man of the Match: Boyband for his terrific strike perhaps, or Tommy Dazzler for his typically dazzling ways, but a sterling display at CB gets Zondervan the nod.
Pub squad divided into two camps. Tommy Dazzler and Big M dragged Latch and Boyband to the Latchmere to watch Liverpool's stupendous comeback against Dortmund, while Hoof, Sheeds, Dan and Doggie propped up the surely-soon-to-go-bust DoC with a cheeky bevvie before the Switcheroo to join the others.
The evening's theme was pub quiz:
Which three English teams are not named after the location they are based in?
Which four British cities can claim more than one club in the semi-finals of Europe's premier competition?
Which grounds have hosted an Ashes test match, an FA Cup final, and an England international?
And here's an extra, just for good measure - which ten countries have only four letters in their name?
Answers on a postcard please.
