Two many Refs, too hot to handle

Sutton Leisure AstroTurf was bathed in molten lava for the midweek session of Death Under the Sun enacted out by SHWFC last night The Club Executive met in Holy Conclave to discuss options for midweek sessions from September and our much delayed AGM (blame Bozo not us Chaps)

As players assembled ready to cross to the arid plains of our pitch, the Meeting convened with an agreed way forward, which we hope to reveal in full in the near future

Some of our Executive were feeling the heat, Coach Davies with mild sunstroke, Alex with a bad back from carrying his money box around and Michaylo with work to do with the Leisure Centre management So it fell to the Chairman to prepare players for the eventual game 10 a side teams were selected too numerous to mention individually In addition to Referee Herr Pitt of Stuttgart we were blessed with the appearance of WFA Referees Supremo Les Burgess who watched the action & engaged the Chairman so intensely that the afore mentioned 10 a side names were somehow over looked in writing up the Blog notes

However, there is a Blog recorded including some notable stuff that could so easily have slipped the net

We had a goal scoring debut for Mark Davies (no relation to Coach) who cooly slotted home what was a mere consolation for the Blues We had the return of John Bone (One More return?) He quickly reminded us all of his tenacity by falling foul of Herr Pitt on a number of occasions before finally settling into the game (probably in the final stamina burning 10 minute segment) He and there were others too, will need to come to terms with the strict safety first WFA rules No tackling from behind or from the side Face to Face tackling is the only fully compliant way to take the ball off an opponent It’s always best to allow them too many touches or too heavy touches than to clatter But I’m giving the plot away

Reds scored through Mark Gravener in the opening 10 minute segment Herr Pitt rightly allowed rehydration at 10 minute intervals, all agreed that was a mercy in the 30 degree heat Chris had fine effort ruled out for a little run, but was able to wrong foot defenders and keeper with a legitimate effort shortly after 2-0 to Reds despite good work by Blues to fight back level

Mark Gravener added his 2nd with a show of determined persistence 3-0 to Reds with new boy Davies striking a fine effort for Blues when Reds had failed to clear a corner

Finally Ian Bridge tested Tom in the Blues nets with a trademark rasping drive, inexplicably Tom was unable to deal with the power and Reds had the 4-1 advantage they never surrendered

There were moments of drama but ultimately no further goals

As players cooled down to a mere 27 degrees before departing we were reminded that it won’t be long until the ice is with us

An update from Michaylo’s discussions with Sutton Management

From Wednesday 11th August we will have a 10 week outdoor session starting at 7:00 each week In addition we will be able to also play indoors from Wednesday 22nd September at 7:00 each week until 24th November inclusive

Wednesday session numbers are regularly in excess of 20 which would be too many to accommodate indoors and still have fair games within the confides of the hall By offering both indoors and outdoors we hope that we can operate 2 workable options for players to enjoy their Wednesday sessions We will review progress and numbers as we go along There is the probability that we may have to charge more for Wednesday but at this stage we are still examining the impacts

A final reminder that we played outdoors in the depths of last November & December glad we could still have the chance to play our sessions

We will keep you posted on everything in reasonable time as things unfurl

Well played everyone last night In the words of our Pundit Alain McKie it was ‘hot in the city all right‘