Always Remember Us This Way*

Remembrance weekend was marked at Monday Morning’s SHWFC group with a respectful minute’s silence before play got underway at Ruskin Sports Village We are happy to include a photo of our 1st Lady Anita Ashcroft, in her role as Head of Eccleston Parish Council, presenting a wreath at the local cenotaph on Sunday As we’ve regularly observed our Monday morning hour escaped the worst of the day’s rain squalls, a blessing given the deluge that began just as we entered the Slipper Salon for post-match cakeless celebrations

Prior to that the return of our World Nations Cup winner, Jill Thomas was warmly applauded by players, officials and spectators

The teams selected for action were;

Old Gold - Barry Wizz, Triallist, Steve Harding, John Hill, McSpeed & Thatto Dave

Red - Honeyman, Lefty Bridge, Ashy, Steve Eccles on debut, Aldo and Jill Tomo

Black - Phil the Cat, Wickie, Haggis, Enoch and Monday Michelle

Blue - Andy Man, Rick, Lord Rainford, Mike Bates, Beachboy and Mark NR

Purple - Big Tony, Chris Gilmore, Margaret, Mike Thomo, Amazon and Glen

Green - Phil the Power, Phil the Moss, Donal, Little John, Citeh Geoff and Snakehips

Purple set down an early marker with a hard earned win against Old Gold McSpeed lashed the opener whilst Old Gold were finding their rhythm A penalty awarded following a goalkeeping excursion was converted by Mike Thomo but Purple sealed victory with a fine shot by Margaret carrying too much venom for the Old Gold keeper 2-1 the margin after some eye catching play In the second round of games Purple were pushed throughout by Red On another day the score might have ended 5 goals apiece but with a combination of near misses and good saves the game ended locked at nil - nil

Elsewhere Black and Red produced a hat full of goals seven in total with Red claiming the win by the odd goal The Honeyman claimed the matchball (good luck getting his hands on it) with debutant Steve Eccles rounding off the Red score line Haggis, Phil the Cat and Aldo all found their rhythm A net in reply but a crucial penalty save by Ash from Haggis proved the decisive moment 4-3 Red holding out to claim the victory

The bruise derby with Black and Blue going at it full tilt ended up as an anything but boring nil all draw Full marks for effort Honours even however in a game described by Ref Jeff Betty as ‘an evenly fought game with good football and teamwork from both sides’ All in all two great games a pleasure to be part of! El Presidente ajudicated the remaining games with Green and Blue first in action The game was an absolute classic with passages of terrific football The quality of passing and teamwork meant the result was in the balance throughout Hard graft by Phil Moss created the opening goal working as a target man he wriggled free to fire home Some great probing passing allowed Mark Davies (No Relation) to steer in at the front post Mike Bates put Blue 2-1 ahead after some more great passing Green patiently worked an opening for Phil the Power to hit an equaliser 2-2 Lots of end to play with great sweeping passing but no further goals 2-2 the final score Green recovered from a typical McSpeed goal for Old Gold in match two with Phil Moss again finding the net to tie the game up at 1-1 Old Gold swiftly settled the game with two very fine goals by Barry Wizz 3-1 the final score after yet another cliff hanging game

The absence of Tom Stretch merely underlined the serious lack of cake for the second Monday in succession Thursday night’s Executive Committee cake crisis meeting promised that the matter would be investigated in due process

TV pundit and former (alleged) footballer Carragher J appeared in front of a heat map that showed no signs of explaining this sudden phenomenon We can only hope prayers are answered by next Monday

The midweek meander at Sutton SoccerDome was again a casualty of dwindling numbers The arrival of heavy rain during the afternoon meant that the outside games would be challenging The MUGA (sand based) surface, has been deteriorating over the course of the past 12 months The heavy rain pooled in places adding an unpredictable aspect to the evenings matches As usual the indoor soft shoe shuffle was untouched, with just heat stroke a possibility

The Outward Bounders teams for the evening were;

Green - Helen, Mark Dav, Ian Hilton, Mike Thomo and Ian Harding

Red - Sully, Marie Wilson (debut on possibly the most difficult night imaginable) John Cousins, Les H and Andy Man

Yellow - Steve Smith, Little John, Haggis, Chris 4G and Gonzalo

Blue - Ref Jeff, Deano, Lord Rainford, Joe Bellamy on debut & knees mostly and Chris 10P

Yellow faced Blue in the opening match and raced into a commanding lead thanks to two goals from Gonzalo, Haggis latched onto a through ball fed by Gonzalo to slot home 3-0 Yellow cruising Blue did mount a strong finish with a brace of Chris 10P goals to make a nervy ending Yellow held out to win 3-2

In game two Yellow had too much fire power for Red romping to a comfortable 8-4 victory Gonzalo 4 and Steve Smith 3 were the main threats Little John added a fine solo effort to conclude the scoring

In the night’s other action El Presidente kept his usual scrupulous note of the game’s scorers Sadly because of the unrelenting rain, his notes stuck together making the task so much more difficult Days later with the scrolls finally dried out the action can be reported as follows

Game one featured Red and Green who had too much big match experience for their opponents Marie making her first appearance struggled to make the impact she hoped for in difficult conditions Ian Hilton 2, Mark Dav, Mike Thomo and Helen were the scorers in an emphatic 5-0 win Green did play a more expansive game as the night went on but were stretched when facing Blue in the final fixture The final 5-4 score line was the closest finish of the night Dav, Helen, Ian Harding and Thomo all scoring for Green but goals by Chris 10P 3, plus strikes by Deano and Joe Bellamy shaded the result in Blue’s favour Joe had a testing night marking both knees in claret but finishing with a good goal to soften the damage

No news of the indoor game was available as we go to press There was, however, a photograph supplied at 19:47 during our session’s proceedings of Eamon O’Hooligan’s new grandchild Congratulations to all the Family Thoughtless timing apology graciously accepted

The Pools Panel met in the Turks Head Boot Room, ready to decide the potential scores over a pint or two of Old Farters Zero (if the games had been called off) In the event the night’s games went ahead so our heroes were content to reminisce past exploits

One day perhaps they’ll be called into action but thankfully not this week

A reminder that Volunteers are required every Monday to take shirts for washing in readiness for the following week A discussion on this subject will explain everything before Monday’s session begins Spread the love around folks

Always Remember Us This Way* Lady Gaga