Two under Parr

Thursday was an extraordinary day in the history of our Club

Bryan Clark’s Funeral at Wigan Crematorium was attended by 5 of members, a mark of respect which was much appreciated by the Family

Later we held our first session at Parr Sports the change of venue brought about by the non-availability/availability of our usual Sutton SoccerDome Whether out of curiosity or the rare chance to take part in a round robin tourney 20 players reported for duty

Coach Davies put his charges through the warm up routines in preparation for the games on the new 3G pitches Two pitches side by side sounded like a perfect recipe for ghostly wandering but Joe hadn’t reckoned on the fencing that curtailed his normal game Instead the challenge was to clear the fencing and who would take the dubious honour of out of bounds

The round robin tourney was accommodated by the Moneyball selection of the following teams;

Orange- Disco Deggs, Tom, Lord Rainford, Goldie and Gonzalo

Blue - Coach, Andy Capt, Gary, El Presidente and Cockney Rebel

Yellow - Phil, Nigel, Chopper, Speedo Mick and Alain

Sky - Joe, Thatto Dave, Les, Tony and Grav

With no Jack Booted officials in sight the games soon descended in to frantically paced slugfests In truth the players policed their own games with little disagreement or difficulty

Blues played Sky on what became their own pitch The game was fast with some fabulous passing and movement Prompted by Andy Capt Blues were very effectively organised and roared into a lead from a fine effort by Cockney Rebel who claimed the Club’s opening goal at the new venue Blues twin goal threat Gary and Cockney Rebel ran riot with some great finishing Blues as winners of the opening game elected to stay on their home pitch, and set about Orange in their next game Coach Davies explained that winners retained the right to stay on their home pitch much to the annoyance of Gonzalo who took out frustration with a savage rant at El Presidente Unmoved the Blues dismissed the protest and then their opponents with another spectacular performance The Blues strangle hold on possession ensured another victory goals by Cockney Rebel and Gary sealed the win Andy Capt found the net when set up with more great passing Tom Parr blocked a fierce drive and felt the full force of a point blank football to his nether regions A high pitched gasp heard on the adjoining pitch

Meanwhile Orange were a little too strong for the Sky and so the scene was set for the final round of games Tom still gingerly nursing more than just his pride

Blues faced Yellows with the advantage of home turf in the last match up whilst Orange and Sky battled in the second place Plate final Once again Blues were too strong for their opponents and claimed a routine victory to leave them unbeaten 14 goals for and just 6 against with Cockney Rebel and Gary grabbing 11 between them Home field advantage and the dubious use of the imaginary dead ball line at one end of the pitch helped perhaps

After an hour that seemed to fly by the players trooped off to recover The usual Boot Room inquest more concerned with Mr Parr’s crown jewell than their normal forensic examination of the evening‘s games The experiment produced mixed results and views (apart from the acknowledgment of Blues superiority of course - checks notes might not include that in final draft)

We return to Sutton on Wednesday for next midweek 2 games to sort the men from the er other men