With storm Darragh sending all other team scurrying inside for a warm cosy lazy Saturday, the 4s were the only team to brave the wind and rain and travelled to Ely.
Another change in formation (I like to keep the team on their toes) this time a 3-1-4-2 and another new 4s player, we unfortunately had to downgrade on our Hawkins front as Sam couldn’t play so Mark stepped in as a poor substitute!. (player number 27 for the 4s so far this season – seriously thanks Mark it helped to have the extra sub particularly given what happened)
With the wind in our hair and rain in our eyes (although to be fair not very heavy just horizontal) the match started. A pretty even affair with a couple of chances either end, with Nate out quickly to snuff out a couple of early Ely chances. We could have been a couple of goals up at half time with a couple of goal bound shot from Jack and Aman being defected/intercepted by our own players, with Aman’s shot resulting in the Tom A putting the ball in the back of the net but was deemed a back stick.
One of the things we as a team wanted to work on was the transition out of the back from our 16s or free hit and it was good to see this working well. 0:0 at half time.
About 6 mins into the second half and an Ely break down the left saw a shot from a tight angle beat Nate on his near post. (Unfortunately my keeper reactions took over and I volleyed the ball out of the goal (it was a great volley!)– the umpire deemed the ball had crossed the line (the correct call to be fair by about a foot) and the goal was given and luckily I received no more than a stern word from the umpire for my blatant and delibrate kick, and note to self -use stick next time!)
As always with this team our heads didn’t go down and it wasn’t long before a nice combination between Kethan and Aman saw Aman add to his season’s goal tally. 1:1 game on.
A clash in midfield saw an Ely player go down heavily and although the umpires allowed play to go on and Jack was in a good attacking position, the ball was rightly put out of play by Jack. The player hobbled off and to be fair to Ely they immediately gave the ball back (pretty much where Jack had it rather than lumping it down field as far as possible as most team would do).
Another break by Ely saw Richard clear off the goal line, luckily using his stick not his foot! But not long after, the injury tables were turned. A bit of a scramble in the D saw Richard go down, with the defence and attack focused on the ball and not the prostrate Richard lying across the goal, play continued until eventually Martin got the umpire to stop the game. Richard was beginning to get himself up gingerly, and a there were a bit of mutterings of play acting until they saw the angle of his finger. It really shouldn’t be at a 90o sidewards angle definitely not play acting. The ever fatherly figure of Martin took Richard off the pitch to get sorted. (just as well someone on the team does first aid – although Captain I for one am useless at that sort of stuff)
There was still 20 mins to play, and the umpires immediately restarted the game with two players off (our only subs) we needed a bit of a re-jig. Luckily and again credit to Ely (and their Captain) they gave the ball straight back to us, as the umpire had wrongly given them the ball just outside the D at the restart, although we had possession when he blew up.
We managed to get our subs on and Oliver went into Richard’s position at right back. And what a revelation that was, normally playing much higher up the pitch as an attacking winger, his positioning, strength in the tackle and composure was immense…food for thought for after Christmas. Particularly with Richard’s lack of commitment and only play 60% of the game!
The last 15mins saw a lot of Ely pressure, but the back 3 and keeper (whose average age was 23.8 which seems Ok until I realised that my age is more than the combined age of the other three (17,14,14) did really well at keeping Ely shut out. Nate again smothered most of the balls coming into the D, and TRoc and Oliver solid as rocks. A flurry of shorts at the end of time, gave a few nervous moments, but our blitz short corner defence again worked well until the final whistle blew.
Final score was 1:1 back for teas. Surprisingly Richard got through the A&E really quickly and even managed to get back for the end of the Teas, he obviously remembers how good they are!! Luckily just a dislocation. Obviously the pun came out at teas “Pull your finger out Richard and show commitment” “so exactly which way were you pointing for me to go” and “ shall we get a KFC on the way back it’s finger licking good!”
Richard even managed to get to the Cheese and Wine (medicinal of course) to regal all with stories of his injury.
First half of the season done, with only one loss so far which is great result for a team that has used 27players, including 9 debutants, 9 U15, never conceded more than 2 goals in a game, and have goals from all over the pitch (9 different scorers so far.)

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Captain’s thoughts – Obviously would have preferred to win, but actually games played in this manor i.e competitive, fair and with sportsmanship and enjoyment, good umpiring, cracking teas you don’t mind the draw (particularly the last game before Christmas) as both teams deserved to come away with something. A real credit to Ely.
Player of the Match – TROc (Tom Rochester) - Despite a lot of sympathy votes going to Richard, and Oliver’s performance as a stand in defender (in a back 3) TRoc gave a solid performance in the centre of the back 3 coping with their big, fast and skillful striker and controlling the defence.
Champagne moment – Teas – a lovely early Christmas dinner (including mull wine braised red cabbage!)
Captain’s mention – Michael (Jack’s Dad) kindly took Richard to the Urgent Care centre, stayed with him and brought him back and still managed to get to the teas!! Really appreciated thank you.