Hey Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand?

A perfect night for Walking Football, we had an assembled crew of players, a referee, pitch and ball. Let’s face it Walking Footballers are a hardy bunch, given any excuse they’ll break into a game and rolling back the years to relive their inglorious past. Tonight the weather was decent with zero wind to create excuses for any wayward play. 18 players were put through their paces by the ever eager John Davies, with some noticeable absentees depleting the ranks mostly with minor injuries. The Sky Team; Steve, Tom, Martin W, Geoff, Colin and Michaylo faced the Dark Blues in the opening encounter. The Chairman deputised for regular referee Steve Pitt, and had a reasonable evening, with little controversy (well that makes a change) One player described the officiating as “a light touch” something rarely levelled at Peter. Dark Blues; Ian B, Ian H, Gareth, Deggs, Martin B and John H had the best of the first match up with both sides moving the ball around with great skill Fewer numbers and a large pitch left lots of space and both sides used the luxury of time and space really well. For the record the Dark Blues won the match against their much-fancied opponents with goals by Hawkins J, a rasping drive and smart shot by Deggs. 2-0, perhaps a little surprising our resident pundit Alain McKie affirmed, my money would have been on Sky. Looking down from his throne on the gantry, Rupert Murdoch smiled at the thought. The Reds; Dave, Lee, Paul (debutant) Andy, Phil and Maverick Joe were next up facing Dark Blues in a titanic struggle that matched the first game in intensity throughout. The evening‘s first wayward ‘overhead‘ effort from Lee was swiftly followed by the opening goal. Gareth dispatching a long range effort that zipped by his Dad Dave to nestle in the corner of the net. Reds were less fluid than Dark Blues, understandable with new boy Paul in his first game. But he and they grew into the game and worked an opening for Joe to blaze wide from his wing. John H wriggled free to fire a shot that Ian B couldn’t hold and Lee pounced on the rebound to fire home a deserved equaliser with some aplomb. The Blues employed a much simpler approach with Gareth, Deggs, Ian H and Ian B electing to shoot on sight. But all to no avail, without too much concern the Reds were able to hold on for a deserved draw 1-1

The following matches produced some excellent passing, plenty of shots on goal and lots of near squeaks too. We had the night’s most blatant attempt of time wasting with Dave spending 30 seconds trying to get the ball back onto the pitch from his sideline restart. At least 3 attempts failed to cross the sideline. The final game featured a rather one sided contest as Sky inflicted a heavy defeat on the Reds. The final goal by Colin featured a swift break from halfway, so swift was it that Joe in his goalkeeping role, was missing behind his net as the play unfolded. Our Pundit encouraged the missing keeper with the shout “Hey Joe, where are you going? And so thoughts of Jimi Hendrix crossed some elderly brows as the ball rolled into the unguarded net. Joe missing in action (again) But at least this time he was technically quite near to the correct pitch and not secretly playing a stint for Sidac on the adjacent pitch.

It was so good we all agreed we should do it again next week!

3 Touch it’s the Future