It’s Not Over*

Time to roll out all those football cliches. The game lasts 90 minutes, it only takes a minute to score a goal (© Brian Clough) etc, etc. I know too that a Walking Football game doesn’t last 90 minutes; don’t be such a pedant, you at the back. (Pot and Kettle?)

Anyway, we had a some good examples of these old adages at St Helens WFC’s sessions last week, as, if you can stay awake, you will find out

39 players arrived on Monday morning at a Ruskin; thankfully this week rain free. We welcomed Mick Corkery to his his first outing and a reassurance to him that Andy Manager’s punishing warm up schedule was not part of some fiendish initiation ritual Yes, we do this every week!

Numbers meant 14 players were sent to Siberia (aka pitch 3) for 60 minutes of a 7 a side game under the watchful eye of El Presidente in Refereeing mode, ably assisted by his Granddaughter soccer starlet Betsy. That left 3 teams of 6 with 1 of 7 including Mick on his debut to ease him in gently (or so he thought

The line ups for the 6 a side games was

Sky - Andy Manager, Donal, Monday Michelle, Little John, Wickie and Haggis

Red (7)- Chris & Geoff Prout, Triallist, Eamon, Mike, Eileen and debutant Mick Corkery

Orange - Amazon Prime, Roy, Lee J, Cockney Rebel, Kirsty, and Ashy

Yellow - Chris K, Grav, Les H, Phil the Power, Lord Rainford and Willo

In the first two games Sky took on Yellow with honours even in a 2-2 draw with Andy Manager and Little John scoring for Sky, Phil the Power and Chris K for Yellow

Red v Orange also finished 2-2  which meant the usual ‘winner stays on, losers move’ tactic for deciding opponents for the 2nd games went down in flames.

Andy Manager pulled rank and insisted his Sky team stayed where they were to host Orange and his justification was a 2-1 victory, Monday Michelle and Donal’s goals enough to overcome a Jenko effort for Orange.

As for Red and Yellow, this was another tight game with Yellow’s defending bravely against an opponent with a numerical advantage. Our debutant Mick looked at home on his first session although I think the level of energy expended was quite a shock to him!

That Yellow defending mostly came after they’d taken the lead and then added two more (Chris K x2 & Grav); and although Chris 10P and Eamon goals lifted Reds back into the game, Yellows did just enough to hang on for a win

Over in Siberia I am glad to report that, unlike some of his more absent-minded colleagues, El Presidente did remember to take some pictures of both Blacks and Purples, who lined up as follows:-

Black - Brian, Phil the Cat, Barry Whizz, McSpeed, Mark (NR) Davies, Tom Derby and Snakehips

Purple - Mike T, Tony W, Steve Jones, Tom ‘Stretch’ , Roger, Les Meldrew and Phil the Cat

This was a game of end to end stuff with Black going from 0-1 down (Meldrew) to 3-1 ahead (McSpeed 2 and Tom Derby). Phil the Cat then pulled the score back to make it 3-2 before McSpeed claimed the match ball (we can spare one of those flat ones Andy!) with his hattrick as Black restored their two goal advantage’ 4-2.

Perhaps unsurprisingly (look at the nicknames!) Black then gave away a penalty for 4 ‘not walking’ offences which Steve Jones duly netted to make it 4-3 before Mc Speed got his 4th

 Phil the Cat (again) and Mike Thompson levelled the game up at 5-5.

Into the last 3 minutes now and with both teams going for it Barry Wizz slowed just enough to put Black in front again 6-5 The celebrations perhaps a little premature?

Was this to be the decider? NO!! Tom Stretch restored parity for Purple once again with only 30 seconds left.

6-6 was a fair result on the play, although I am told both sides were guilty of poor passing (too ambitious) giving up possession in dangerous situations. However and more importantly the game was played in good spirit with some excellent finishing

On to Wednesday now; and glory be! A full set of photos, a welcome back to Darron after a long lay off through injury, and thanks to Benny for making the sides even meaning we had 3 generations of Fitzpatrick at the same session!

Blue - Grav, Lord Rainford, Eamon, Ian H, Chris 10P, Haggis, Neil Stretch

Orange - Little John, Gonzalo, Phil the Power, Gaz, Les Meldrew, Roger and Subbuteo Dave

Red - Les H, Steve S, Cockney Rebel, Andy Man, Eileen, El Benito and Simon K

Yellow - Joe the Ghost. Chris 4G, Andy H, Steve C, Midweek Michelle, Darron and Phil the Cat

And it’s here that, once again, we have a situation where you should never assume you’ve got the game won!.

In their first match Blue were 3-0 up against Orange with 2 goals from Chris 10P and Eamon. At this point the entire Blue team seemed to mentally switch off - Orange completely filleted Blue by scoring 6 without reply. There were 4 goals from Gonzalo and 2 from a very in-form Subbuteo Dave. Definitely a Tortoise v Hare match!

But in their 2nd match, Blue experienced the other side of this up and down game against Reds. Having recovered from early Steve Smith goal to lead 2-1 with an Ian Hilton brace (the 2nd of which featured the bulk of Lord Rainford easing a Red off the ball and feeding Ian) Blue again had a bit of a wobble with Steve Smith equalising then setting up Simon to give Reds a 3-2 lead. But unlike thrir first game Blue heads didn’t go down and there was no panicking. They kept working and were finally rewarded late in the game when a great finish from Grav got the scores back to 3-3, and the last minute or so was handled without any further mishaps, Phew!

Sadly we’ve no report of the games Red v Yellow or Orange v Yellow games due to a satellite outage over the equator Even holding on until the last minute failed to restore the service

It’s Not Over* - First Choice (also known as ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’)

Check out the Shep Pettibone remix -says a man with a hat

It’s been quite some week for our be-hatted hero Lord Rainford

Monday saw the handover of the keys to the stationery cupboard as he retired from his Club Secretarial Service at the AGM New boy Chris 4G, missed the presentation of a Life Membership Certificate and case of Harvey’s Sussex Best beer, due to illness These awards marked the remarkable achievements of John Lord Rainford Hawkins during his spell at the helm El Presidents led the tributes all present demonstrated their appreciation in vociferous fashion

Following M’Lord’s muscular intervention in Wednesday’s final match he made a cunning change of uniform to prepare for a appearance at a glittering ceremony at the Totally Wicked (I know) Stadium on Friday night The occasion was St Helens Volunteer Community Awards, where he received another certificate in recognition of his service to the Club and local Community

We place on record our thanks for John’s contribution to SHWFC