On a Day When It’s Raining (*)

24 SHWFC members arrived at Ruskin gazing anxiously at the sky, fearing the worst and mostly wearing their club logo’s training tops. What started out as a light drizzle soon became something rather more....err....wet and the rain plus the usual absent mindedness from some (OK I was one) meant no photos.

But in the Slipper Room afterwards we were able to piece together from our collective memories who had been there, who was on what side and wearing what colour bib. So here goes:-

Black: Steve J, Tracy, Les Meldrew, Mark (no relation) Davies, Ashy, Barry Whizz

Sky Blue: Lord Rainford, Phil the Power, Haggis, Les H, Michelle Monday, Tom Parr

Pink: Cockney Rebel, Eamon, Amazon Prime, Little John, Geoff P, Colin ‘the late’ Williams

Purple: Mike T, Mike McSpeed, Andy Manager, Paul F, Glenn, MikeA

Sky started off with a 3-1 defeat against Purple in an even match where Lord Rainford equalised MikeA’s opener with in-off-the-post-er, only for Mike McSpeed and Glenn to add two more for Purple. But the woodwork came to Purple’s rescue at least twice with Haggis and Lord R (him again) being particularly unlucky not to make the result even closer.

Over in the other game Blacks drew 1-1 with Pinks rare Les Meldrew goal being cancelled out by one from Little John.

Blacks then stayed on the same pitch to take on Purple in a high scoring thriller which they finally edged 4-3. Barry Whizz scoring twice with Steve J and Tracy adding the other two. Two Mikes again scored for Purple with Andy Manager (another rare-ish scorer) adding the third.

In the final game on pitch 1 Sky looked at the make-up of their opponents (I mean who they were, not their cosmetic regimes...), took a deep breath and settled down for a long siege. But it was not to be. Some brave defending and good saves from those not too injured to go in goal meant they ended up with a very creditable 2-2 draw. The deluge has washed the names of scorers from your correspondent’s memory, although he does remember a cheeky bit of gamesmanship from Cockney Rebel. Sky were able, for once, to spring from their defensive straitjacket and had a 3 against 1 breakaway with Michelle bearing down on goal and flaring her nostrils in anticipation of a bulging net. Suddenly CR yells ‘STOP’. So, we all did, thinking that, at the very least, someone had suffered a traumatic medical mishap. ‘There’s a cone upside down and someone might trip over it’ CR then says as he proceeds to very precisely turn over a small light plastic bright red 1” high cone and move it at least 6 inches to the left. Such devotion to health and safety deserves a medal. Well, it deserves something; anyway.........

On to a Wednesday at Sutton when we had both the reappearance of El Presidente after visits to Wales, family events and numerous medical appointments and the re-emergence of someone remembering to take team photos. Yes these two events are very much related.

Red: Jason, Chris P, Rog, Les Meldrew, Chris 4G, Phil the cat, Grav

Blue: , Ian H, Phil the power, Michelle Wednesday, Robin, Tom Derby, Little John. Andy Holland

Yellow: Steve S, Steve c, Andy Manager, wor Eileen, Jeff Bettye, Lord Rainford, Cockney rebel

Orange: Les H, Dav, Haggis, Kirsty, Benno, Peter T, Joe the Ghost.

The first games saw Yellow narrowly beat Orange 2-1. Both the Steve’s got yellow’s goals , the winner from Steve C coming after a typical Peter T blockbuster has equalised Steve S’s early opener.

In the other game there was also another narrow 2-1 win with Blues the winners over Red with goals from another pair, this time the 2 Chris’s with Phil the power scoring for Blues.

Yellows then continued their winning evening with another 2-1 win, over Blues. They went behind when Ian opened the scoring, but a tightening up at the back with Andy Manager pulling the strings meant that, in the end, the double act of the two Steves did the business.

In the 2nd match on the other pitch Reds inflicted oranges second defeat of the night with a 3-0 win with goals from Chris, Grav and Phil. There was, my spies tell me, some debate over not walking in this game, but with El Presidente giving Jen some 1:1 coaching we were 1 ref down. In those situations we need everyone to be honest – not easy I know. Personally I think I am always walking but a succession of referees have told me this isn’t necessarily the case and I guess they can’t all be wrong! But, in general, we do believe that this is becoming less of a problem; and it is notable that this evening there were no team penalties were given away for running Long may it continue!

(* The Superbs. A rather obscure bit of Northern Soul!)