Have you Ever Seen The Rain?*

After weeks of dry weather for the first time in ages SHWFC’s players got a bit of a soaking on Monday at Ruskin. 33 players all voted in the Poll and then turned up to delight Andy Manager as he set up the following teams:-

Black: Michelle Monday, Steve the Honeyman, Phil the cat, Citeh Geoff, Ian ’lefty’ Bridge, Ashy

Green: The Prout twins (Geoff & Smoke Bomba) , Les H, Mark ‘no relation’ Davies, Snakehips, Little John

Blue: Grav, Haggis, Tommo, Enoch, Mike McSpeed

Red: Andy Manager, Barry Whizz, Paul F, Phil Moss, Mike T

Purple: Brian, Colin the late’ Williams, Les Meldrew, Steve J, Phil the Power, Cockney Rebel (not on pic)

Old Gold:- Lord Rainford, Chris K, MikeA, Geoff Poole, Eamonn

Charlie took charge of matches on pitch 1 with first Reds taking on Blues. For Blues two goals from Mike McS and 1 from Grav were countered by scores from Andy Manager, 2 from Phil and one from Barry giving Reds a narrow 4-3 win.

Reds stayed on pitch 1 to take on purples and got 3 on the scoresheet with 2 from Phil Moss and 1 from Mike T. But they were comprehensively outscored by Blues with a Brian hat trick, 2 for Steve and one from Les Meldrew, final score 6-3

Pitch 2 saw the first successful use of the new ‘½ ref ½ play’ system as, at Andy managers request, Phil the power and Cockney Rebels shared reffing duties. Match 1 saw Phil reffing Golds against Purples. Purple went two in front early doors, with the ref’s score sheet saying Geoff o.g. for their 1^st goal; but eyewitnesses (err....me) say it was an unlucky deflection. Brian stretched the lead to 2-0 before an old Gold fight back with Geoff scoring a proper goal from a long-range daisy cutter and then MikeA levelling the game up, finishing 2-2.

Cockney rebel then took over reffing duties on pitch2 and oversaw Old Gold take on Blues. Gold suffered again from wicked deflections as first, early in the game, a pass from the back from MikeA was blocked by Mike McS, the ball flying past a stranded Lord R in nets. A goalkeeping error from Haggis gave Eamon the chance to equalise then Tomo put Blues back in front. The lead changed hands again as Chris K and Eamonn put Old Gold 3-2 up before Loki (or Alakshmi – other deities of bad luck are available) again looked unfavourably on Old Gold as Blues evened things up at 3-3. This bizarrely deflected goal was from Tomo which went in off Chris K. Two goals from Chris and then Geoff put OG in front again, but they then wilted and only some desperate defending, some near misses and Lord R finding row z (or rather tree z) with a clearance meant the Wolves look-alikes finally clung on to win an exciting match 5-3.

Last but not least, on pitch 3 Jeff Bettye reffed an hour long 6v6 match which, by all accounts, was an epic struggle between Blacks and Greens. Blacks charged into a 5-1 lead, but Greens fought back to 5 all before Blacks got another 3. Les H then got Green’s 6 but there was no 2^nd comeback, sadly. Blacks’ scorers were cause of some dispute on WhatsApp including a claim from one member who wasn’t even at Ruskin, cheeky blighter. As ever the ref’s decision is final, and Jeff Bettye has told your trusting blogger that Black’s scorers were  2 for Michelle, 3 for lefty Bridge, 2 for Steve H, and a screamer from Phil the cat. The goals that meant Greens fought back to 5-5 before Les H’s final effort were from Smokie the bandit bomber 3, Little John and Mark (no relation).

On Wednesday the rain had passed by the time 28 players met for two games of 7 a side at Sutton, with Messrs Jeff Bettye and Lord Rainford taking on ref duties. Teams were:-

: Pink Jason, PJ, Andy Manager, Roy F, Jo, Enoch, Grav (not in picture)

Orange: Steve S, Graham K, Les Meldrew, St Benno, Steve C, Subbuteo Dave, Louise

Yellow: Tom, Steve the Honeyman, Mike T, Joe the Ghost, Ian H, Michelle Wednesday, Little John

Black: Phil the Power, James, Citeh Geoff, Cockney Rebel, Helen, Simon , Les H

Lord R took charge on pitch one for Yellows v Orange and almost his first duty was to award a penalty against Orange for encroachment into the area. If you are going to try and do this best not when the ref is only about 2 feet away! Mike T duly despatched the shot and before long added a second before Joe added two very impressive finishes to put yellows 4-0 up. Orange then rallied when both the Steves got on the score sheet and could have evened the game up but for an uncharacteristic Steve C miss and Subbuteo D not emulating the Undertones’ perfect cousin. Mike added 2 more to take his tally up to 4 as Yellows won 6-2 in a game which should have been more evenly matched.

On pitch 2 Jeff B oversaw a much more even game with Pink and Blacks finishing 1-1. James on target for Blacks, Jason for pinks.

For the 2^nd game Pinks moved over to pitch one to take on Orange, who once again gave themselves a mountain to climb. After Steve C cancelled out Jason’s opener Pinks then raced into a 5-1 lead with goals from PJ and a Grav hat trick. There were some requests to swap players around, but in truth the teams weren’t that unevenly matched, Oranges were way too open at the back and too fond to go it alone at the front. But for the second game in a row, they started to pull back with first Steve and then Steve C making it 5-3. Sadly, defensive discipline then disappeared completely with Jason left in acres of space with no Orange shirt anywhere near him as he added two goals, before Roy provided the final coup de grace: 8-3.

The over-the-top goal fest on pitch 1 (19 goals in two games, is this a record ?) then spread to pitch 2 as Yellows – surprisingly after their good result v Orange - fell to a dramatic 6-1 defeat. Tom Stretch was their only scorer as Helen(2) Simon(2) Martin and Les H filled their boots. You can tell how desperate it was for Yellows, apparently that fearless goal scorer Steve the Honeyman ended up playing in defence in a desperate attempt to stem the tide!   

(* Creedance Clearwater Revival)

Have you ever seen the rain