Down to earth*

Wednesday night’s session at Sutton Leisure followed a familiar pattern with more injury woes and cry-offs affecting the nature of the entire evening A cast of thousands was whittled down to a hard core of elite athletes all determined to enjoy their opportunity to play

Gaz provided the pre-match gymnastics that teased the muscles and warmed participants without over loading old limbs Coach Davies employed all his know how and cunning plans to fire up Moneyball with 13 players plus his own efforts 3 teams were chosen to showcase their prowess

The teams were;

Sky - Grav, Gaz, Speedo and El Presidente (plus Coach himself as honorary keeper for the night)

Reds - Disco Deggs, Jeff Betty, Les, Derby and Phil

Blues - Chopper, Lord Rainford, Citeh Geoff and Nigel

The opening game pitted Sky against Reds As already mentioned, Coach took up his position between the sticks as Sky keeper In celebration of this daring plan, Coach sported a new pair of goal keeping gloves and natty 1930’s cap Some wag claimed it was possibly the first time that Coach had played as keeper in colour rather than normal black and white This writer couldn’t possibly comment on that other than to thank Coach for his efforts all night More on that a little later

As the game got underway it was evident that Sky had the upper hand with a better balanced side than their rivals (defenders and attackers rather than all defenders) Sky passing and movement set the pattern for the evening before too long their efforts produced the opening goal Speedo latched on to ball delivered after some neat teamwork to fire home from close in on the Reds keeper 1-0 and Sky now ripping their opponents apart with swift movement and decisive passing

Minutes later there was an alarming incident when Speedo fell backwards close to the touch line The fall under no real pressure brought an immediate halt to proceedings His head hit the floor quite hard and the resultant graze and concussion concerns meant a premature end to the first game Gaz delivered first aid whilst team mates watched on clearly shocked by the incident Happily there was minimum claret and Speedo was able to pass an elementary concussion test and eventually walk off after a recovery period We did have the failed comedy attempt to bandage the head, with Disco Deggs advising Gaz before both eventually gave up the idea

As Speedo Mick rested his weary head the Blues took on the Reds in an effort to revert to football Blues started well and had a couple of good chances before Lord Rainford swept in from the left to stun Reds with a good finish inside the near post Citeh Geoff was at the heart of Blues forward momentum but had to take up his more usual defensive duties to keep Reds at bay as they sought a leveller Chopper played his part as Blues other cool head While Les steadied the boat for the Reds mopping up sporadic attacks to deliver a chance for the Disco man to level the scores at 1-1 Reds took a firmer hand on possession with Phil Jeff and Derby all contributing But as time ran down the chances for a winner diminished and a draw was a fair final result

Sky then produced the definitive period of the night with a double 2-nil sequence of wins Blues dispatched with 2 goals by Speedo and then Reds on the wrong end of goals by Speedo and Grav‘ Both matches showcased the passing and movement required to overcome stubborn opposition

Blues and Reds produced another thriller with Nigel crashing the opening goal for Blues only for Reds to strike back with Les again feeding Deggs for the opener (having smartly intercepted a Blues raid) A loose back pass let Huyton’s hot shot finish off the match with a deft finish into the corner of the net In another unrelated incident Deggs had tried to decapitate Coach with a fierce rising volley Coach momentarily lost his cap but stood tall to stem the effort, using his face to save the bother of soiling his new gloves High entertainment value right there!

Sky and Blues ended the evening’s entertainment with another dominant Sky show that lacked the goals their performance deserved The only goal was crashed home by El Presidente, who seized a loose ball to place his effort firmly into the corner of the net His Marco Tardelli-like celebration was about as understated as the Beloved Leader himself

1-0 and Sky wrapping up play in fine style Speedo Mick came through his head’s episode with gravity much to everyone’s relief Sportsmanship the other winner on another enjoyable night for Walking Football There was a potentially debatable decision avoided when Deggs juggled a shot along his goal line M’Lord (for it was he) as Referee initially thought that the ball might have crossed the line but was advised by the attacking side (Sky) that the ball hasn’t fully crossed the line Great sportsmanship on display and full marks to all involved

Down to Earth* - Curiosity killed the Cat