Hourglass*

May Bank Holiday week has been an epic week in SHWFC land Our now usual 24 hour delayed session played at Ruskin Sports Village on Tuesday featured 36 players determined to shake off long weekend apathy for a brisk walk out in decent weather conditions Just a day later the regular Sutton session reached feverish heights with 38 players available for selection There were some epic games too

We had the great news that the Club has been given a £500 grant by Rainhill Rotary Club for new kit Our thanks to that organisation for their generosity

In slightly delayed other news some of our members stretched their minds (instead of hamstrings) by joining the Quiz Night at the Cricketers In fiercely contested circumstances A team comprising of Big Tony, Steve Carine and Les Hewitt defeated an Andy Man All Stars line up that included Les Meldrew and Robin as well as our esteemed Football Manager 2-0 We are assured that the night was “a bit long and a bit cold” as well as being a “Good night”

But what of Ruskin? There was a distinct lack of Executive bodies in attendance for a variety of reasons But undaunted the well-oiled machine was still able to extract subs, select competitive teams and dish out team kits to the following members

Purple - Grazer, Colin, Les Meldrew, Jenko, Tom Stretch and Dave Robbo

Blue - Ref Charlie nonchalantly eying up their prospects - Enoch, Citeh Geoff, Mike Thomo, Triallist, Monday Michelle (24 hours later) & Snakehips

Black - Honeyman, GRAV, Lefty Bridge, Les H, Ashy & Sheila

Green - McSpeed, Little John, Ian Connor, Anita, Fozz & Steve Jones

Old Gold - Roger, Amazon, Rick, Mike Bates, Cornelius & Glen

Red - Donal, Andy Man, Wickie, Mika, Geoff P & Phil the Cat

We are indebted to Head Ref and wannabe Cub Reporter for his thoughts on the morning’s action

“A good turn-out after the Bank holiday with 6 teams of 6 and 3 referees Charlie, Phil the Power and myself

Pitch A controlled by Charlie two close games very entertaining with no controversy

1st game Green v Purple final score 3 all

Scorers Mike (1) Steve (2) for Green

Purple goals scored by Tom (2) Colin (1)

Game 2 Green v Black

Final score 4-3 to Green with goals from

Mike (2) John (2)

Black replying with goals by Steve (3) Shiela (1)

On Pitch C with Phil refereeing before being replaced by Mica who offered to take over the refereeing duties after sustaining an ankle injury The game finished Red  0 v 0 Blue

A boring nil- nil draw was Phil’s description! Sorry

The other game was a 3- nil trouncing (as the score seems to suggest) by Blue all over Old Gold

The Blue scorers were Andy, Mike and Michelle

Pitch B provided two slightly controversial games with a few refereeing decisions by myself being contested (fruitlessly as usual) When will players ever learn?

Game 1

Old Gold 0 v 3 Black

This looked like Black were well in control but only due to numerous Old Gold attempts being kept out by some great goalkeeping

Scorers were

Ian Lefty Bridge with 2 and Steve Honeyman to wrap up the win

Game 2 provided even more controversy with a couple of goals being disallowed after consultation with the “Betty VAR” The first effort from Wickie was adjudged to be no goal as Phil the Cat had leaned into Les Meldrew to gain an unfair advantage The final score and honours went to Purple with a 2-1 victory Colin and Tom for Purple and Donal for Red

So an incident packed morning to start the week

Wednesday night proved to be a busy night with our normal meeting point a casualty of Thursday’s Polling shenanigans Nevertheless we were swiftly underway with a deluge of goals, plenty of excellent football to admire and an hour flying by as a result

The teams were;

Pink - Meldrew, Carine, Gaz, Midweek Michelle, Ian Harding, Honeyman Snr & Jnr (Lewis returning as he’s back in UK)

Neon - Deggs, Chris 4G, Citeh Geoff, Heather (back in great effect) Steve Smith & Les H

Yellow - Deano, Neil Stretch, Tom Stretch (no relation) Haggis, Doug & Little John

White - Nigel, Chris 10P, Roger, Subbuteo Dave, GRAV, Ian Hilton & Chris Sully

Red - PJ, Dav, Eileen, Lord Rainford Jason & Joe the Ghost

Orange - Paul Cott, Mike Thomo, Andy Man, Kirsty, Gonzalo & Phil the Power

Once again our Cub Reporter takes up the story

“ Game 1

Orange 3 v 0 Yellow

Orange played some lovely passing movements involving all their players and were a constant threat. Where as Yellow (who worked really hard) couldn’t impose themselves on the game. Haggis and Deano went close and were unlucky not to score but with goals from Kirsty (1) and

Gonzalo (2) Orange took the spoils

The second game was a much closer contest with Orange taking an early 2 nil lead only for Neon to turn tables on them and take a 3-2 lead Orange soon pulled the score level at 3-3 but then went 4-3 up only for Neon to draw level again 4 all with everything to play for

Orange scored to make it 5-4 Back came Neon for 5 x5 It was 6-5 Orange before finally 6 a piece A great game evenly fought and everyone going away happy Hand shakes all round

Scorers

Gonzalo (5) Mike (1) Orange

Steve (3) Chris G (2) Deggs (1) for Neon

In the parallel game Neon’s first match pitted them against a Red team self described as ‘unfancied’ Neon started brightly passing and moving with some style However a lack of cutting edge meant Red settled and took the initiative Goals by PJ and a brace by Jason propelled a 3-0 advantage before Deggs found some space to fire a Neon consolation Red god value for a 3-1 win that didn’t seem possible at the start of play

Next up Red exploited Yellow’s leaky rearguard to romp into a 5 goal lead Dav opened the floodgates Lord Rainford took huge delight in wrong-footing Tom Stretch with a classy turn before cooly beating the keeper Eileen joined the fun to fire home unmarked at the back post Jason extended the advantage before Dav added his second (Red’s 5th)

Haggis scored in some style to reward some better form from Yellow Doug claimed a second Yellow goal but Dav had the last word with his third Red’s finishing just too clinical 6-2 the final score

Pink and White produced an eventful match played without a qualified Referee Thesecduties were shared between the teams but there was plants of contentious non-decisions and compromises Overall not a hugely satisfactory outcome The final score 6-4 or 6-6 depending on who shouted loudest reflecting the difficulty There was evidence of good football too just in case the negativity taints memories

Time ran (surely not) out with most happy with the chance to enjoy the craic with friends

Hourglass* - Squeeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpc8uZtKn7A