On Friday I was looking forward to a bruising physical soccer match with old foes Guidos, but they forfeited the game. Instead the guys running the competition had lined us up for a practice match against a new team, the Untouchables. By the obscure rules of the league, we were awarded bonus points for Guidos forfeiting to us - more than we would have got for beating them in a real match.
We only had three players ourselves, so I press-ganged a stranger who had just played a match to keep goal for us. Untouchables are going to go a long way, they were certainly a class above us, and we are easily on top of the ladder in our league.
Brett scored first, against the run of play. They soon hit back and pretty quickly we went about 5-1 down. We got back to 6-2 by half time - I had pounced on a defensive mistake and toed it under the keeper.
The second half was scoreless for about 8 or 9 minutes, and I thought we had a vague chance of getting close to them. I was in goal and made about five good saves in that time, probably my best goalkeeping effort yet.
Eventually the floodgates opened, and they rattled on four more. They were slicing us up with diagonal passes and we were too tired and flat-footed to reach them. We got a couple of consolation goals, one to Ben the guest star, and one more to me. I had my back to goal and surprised a defender by turning onto my left foot and finding the corner of the net. It was very satisfying and I have re-enacted that one a few times in quiet moments when I think no-one is watching.
We were reasonably pleased with our night's work, against a class side. It was enjoyable as they were very fair and actually complimentary about our efforts considering age and fitness level.
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