Shimmy, Shimmy, Walk*

Wednesday night’s Sutton SoccerDome session was an almost scouse-free zone this week The willingness to give up a chance to rub shoulders with members with other footballing affinities was most apparent Thankfully Disco Deggs more than made up for those missing by being at the heart of the night’s action And for that we thank him

Fourteen players plus Coach Davies and Herr Jeff Betty of Düsseldorf braved the near tropical white heat of the indoor SoccerDome There was the return of the father & son combination of Gaz Clark and 13 year old William to boost numbers After a vigorous shakedown Coach primed Moneyball and Herr Betty handed out bibs with reckless abandon

Two teams of 5 and one of 4 (as usual augmented by a guest player) donned Pink, Yellow and White bibs as follows;

Pink - Grav, Gaz, El Presidente, Chopper and Joe the Ghost

Yellow - Speedo Mick, Cockney Rebel, Citeh Geoff, Gary and Lord Rainford

White - William, Goldie, Lefty and Disco Deggs

The opening match featured the Pink & Yellow teams Somewhat representative of the night the proceedings were stop-start with lots of interruptions to the flow of the game with minor infringements for tackles from the side, occasionally from behind and running too Neither team could find a rhythm passing was fractious, inaccurate or simply not read by the intended team mate Pink surrendered possession too often to pose a real threat whilst Yellow were more comfortable to smother opposition attacks Real chances were few and far between Speedo Mick illuminated the game with the only goal to hand Yellow a narrow 1-0 victory

Game Two featured Pink and White and followed the pattern of the previous game with neither side able to create clear chances When Pink did string passes together they looked dangerous but that simply didn’t happen often enough

Grav did find the net for Pink but Goldie was able to reply in kind for White so the game ended in a dull 1-1 draw Too many interruptions again disrupting the flow of the game

Game Three with White and Yellow locking horns Yet again lots of wasted energy undone by inaccurate passing and wayward shooting Clark Junior did produce a smart finish to put Whites into an unexpected lead but Yellow showing bags of composure in their defensive quality did hit back with the Cockney Rebel dispatching a chance to level up the score line Despite some good approach work neither side could find a deciding goal 1-1 the final score that was a tad disappointing given the chances created Gaz guesting for White produced some saves, even those he was megged for the Rebel’s equaliser

Pink and Yellow in Game 4 was another tight affair with a rare chance for glory from the penalty spot presented to Joe the Ghost His first effort found the bottom left corner but was quickly ruled out by Herr Betty for breaching the ‘One Step’ limit This denial was swiftly remedied with Joe offered the chance to retake his effort His second effort was saved by Gary and the game remained scoreless On Monday El Presidente explained that WFA had requested its affiliated Clubs to vote on a new Penalty rule Focus would switch away from the Referee enforcing one step by the kicker to focus instead on ensuring the keeper stayed on his line The kicker could take as many steps as could be taken in a continuous movement within a one metre zone As a Club we welcomed the attempt to clean up the whole penalty issue and agreed to adopt the new idea with immediate affect On Monday the second step was penalised and free kick clearance awarded to the defending team Last night the second step indiscretion was rewarded with a retake Natural justice was possibly restored but it was messy No criticism of Herr Betty Just need consistency

The final game was a special end of session affair with 2 six a side sides pitted against each other to round the night off A White/Yellow combination (fried eggs?) sealed a narrow victory with Speedo grabbing the headlines despite the attentions of the Pink defence

1-0 Another stop-start performance on a night of few chances and fewer goals Plenty for our pundits to mull over in the Boot Room after the game

There was plenty of support for introducing Blue Cards to punish the persistent runners and wayward tacklers Perhaps spells on the sidelines might refocus technique and eradicate this aspect of our games There was some discussion of the introduction of a modified offside rule too Rather like Ice Hockey it might be necessary to stop route one goals by the insistence that ball must be passed within attacking zone The Red Zone indoors has stopped the long range Billy Big Toe goals that same zone could serve the both purposes effectively A further testing could be looked at to improve overall games

Plenty to think about before our next sessions

We can only hope that our February weather takes a turn for the better as March approaches Onwards and upwards or “Have it!“ as demonstrated by Lord Rainford

Shimmy, Shimmy Walk* - The Megatons Checker Records 1962