On Orbison night Deggsy leaves defenders 'Crying'*

Another cracking night's entertainment was served up for members at Sutton Leisure last night with quip of the night going to one of our neighbouring chums from Sidac FC sealing that honour when trying to attract Michaylo's attention to return their ball. Dismayed that our Secretary had failed to oblige he shouted 'Hey Roy Orbison chuck the ball back' Michaylo complete with dark glasses to ward off the very bright sunlight eventually complied with the request but whether he was 'In dreams*' or not we can only guess.

A decent turnout of members meant we started with 3 teams of 7 a side and after a vigorous warm up John Davies employed Moneyball to sort out 3 fairly even sides. Referee Pitt signaled the first match of 9 minutes.

The teams were:

Orange; Lee, Peter, Gareth, Andy, Steve, Ian B and Martin W

Red; Chris, Deggsy, Geoff, Jeff, Dave (Grazer), Ian H and Dave B

Blue; Phil, Tom, John H, Nigel (Wednesday debut), Tony, Joe and Alan

The opening match pitted Blues and Orange, with some very positive football on display. Orange had the edge defensively as might be reasonably expected, Peter, Andy and Gareth very solid at the back. In contrast Blues were good going forward but left holes in their rearguard that eventually Ian B punished in style with a fine strike. Other chances for the Oranges were not converted so a 1- nil win that did not emphasize their overall grip on the game.

It is not easy to form the information to write a Blog when you're engaged in ball drills after finishing your most recent game. Well that's my excuse. So I especially happy that score keeping was offered by our Secretary to save any distraction.

Blues against Reds was potentially the night's most goal laden feast. Being presented with the scorers in a 3-1 win for the Reds I assumed that Blues had paid the price for their generous defensive nature. However when later talking to those playing in that match it became evident that the true score was a thumping 4-nil win for the Reds. Goals by Chris, Ian H and Deggsy (with a brace) underlining the expected comfortable victory whilst compounding the result for those in Blue who were a tad embarrassed to learn that they had been 'gifted' a goal scored in reality by Ian H.

The correction was noted and a mental note was taken to seek total clarification before Michaylo volunteers more reporting duties. In his defence it should be acknowledged that it is also a waste of time asking Steve Pitt for the score in his matches, as he usually doesn't know either!

The following sequence of matches failed to register a goal or winner in any of the 3 match ups. There was an outstanding save by Gareth guesting in goals for the Blues (Tony had left earlier to attend to a sick televised football match) swooping down to his right to turn a goal bound effort from Chris away to safety. Adding injury to that insult Gareth had popped 2 fingers in his flight.

Steve Pitt applauded the brilliant save, the strike having been deftly set up by Chris was a certain goal but for the fine save!

So with time rapidly running out the last match pitted the 2 unbeaten outfits Reds v Orange for the night's title. Orange stared brightly but ran into trouble with the Chairman having to take a further stint between the posts. With the Orange defensive authority now compromised he soon faced a rain of shots from Chris and Deggsy. Inevitably Deggsy drilled one shot in at the near post before repeating the outcome when one on one with the less than impressed Chairman. Happily the game had to end early to invalidate the score* (I'm allowed that claim as I was 'Running scared*) In the manner of last seasons Premier League* in the real world it never happened. '

A great night's play with Deggsy enhancing his growing reputation for goal scoring. 4 Goals plus a successful spell as goalkeeper, we grabbed a quick interview with Huyton's hero after his warm down. "I've changed my playing style in the last month, he claimed. I've passed the ball twice. My big toe is now deadly accurate and I support fair play and Everton too. But I'm just taking it one pint a time (for each hand). If I'm called up for the Euros well so be it". Only the lonely, know the way I feel* He didn't add before his Sky interview.

Monday morning at Ruskin Drive can't come quickly enough for this reporter

All songs* courtesy of Roy Orbison