Monday, July 21, 2008

Indoor Astroturf Glory!!!

I have stopped writing much about Knackered's exploits, as I understand it can get boring. We are back in the lower league now, and not having quite as many tough matches worth writing about. Anyway, we made it to the finals, where we met the only team who had beaten us, in a knockout semi-final. We beat them 8-4 and went through to the final against a team just called Head, who we had luckily and narrowly beaten once before. They have an excellent keeper.

We were 0-1 down about twenty seconds in, after a bit of slack defending from Brett. I pulled one back but they got another from a penalty. Brett made a lovely solo run to score an equaliser just before half time. The second half was very tight, with no score for about ten minutes. Paul was in goals at this stage and he stopped a fusillade of shots. We finally broke the deadlock when Paul rolled it out to me, I found Brett in a bit of space and put on a burst of something like speed to get the pass back. it was perfectly weighted for me to toe into the net, giving the keeper no chance to do anything. It was possibly our best team goal ever, so easy did it seem.

I got the sealer a few minutes later. Some goals are a bit like waking up in a burning building and getting out no matter what. I started out boxed in a corner, 1 against 3 with no help in sight, and the next thing the ball was in the net. I try to recreate in my mind what happened in between but I have no idea.

We rode out the last deperate minutes and pretty soon it was over. I felt massive relief and I know Paul did too - we both suffer a lot from pre-match nerves. I had been very edgy and snappy all day, and even the day before. I enjoyed the feeling of calm all weekend, more than the elation of winning.

The indoor centre invested in a shiny silver cup this season, which was nice of them. We have won the league twice before and each received large, ugly individual trophies. This time we all got weighty medallions, but to have an elegant team prize is much better.

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