Upon everyone arriving on time and with enough players to make a good contest, Mr. Blaylock and I were named captains for the match ahead of us. As newcomers to the club, we immediately both agreed it would be a challenging prospect due to not fully remembering everyone’s names or physical attributes on the pitch, to the full extent we’d hoped for yet. From winning the coin toss I earned the reward of either having first pick or the extra man. I opted for the first pick giving the extra legs to Phil. I decided to go with the voice of reason in previous games and picked Brian as my first pick to the great amusement of Richie.

My team was wearing yellow shirts and Phil’s in the white. Whilst warming up before the match my team players politely enlightened me to opposing sides' physical presence and potential onslaught ahead whilst also assisting with each player's position. After swiftly shaping from a rabble of middle-aged men into two football teams the match kicked off.

Initially, the match had some good phases of football, the ball zipped up both sides of the pitch with each centre-back marshalling the players around them to stay alert and in position but, clearing up when necessary. This led to some exciting football from both sides on the ground and in the air. As the match went on Greenall Junior & Munro began piling on the pressure, probing the channels down both wings. The yellows were quite solid at the back thanks to Mike “The Tank” living up to his name quashing any clear opportunities for the time being. After 20 minutes or so against the run of play, a calculated bit of distribution from Brian in goal and some sublime footwork from Richie gave the yellows a surprising lead.

At some point during the match, I heard Richie howling at Brian for randomly falling over, possibly trying to take the Weeble-wobble status from Nutter Senior.

The lead wasn’t to last very long though as the whites quickly dusted themselves off and got back to their job of penetrating the yellows defence from all angles. A couple of wild attempts from distance from the whites were fruitless so the attention was more on crossing or cutting in to take advantage of the extra man. This is when a mid-ranged cross did eventually get behind of the yellows defence before anyone could react a crazed goalkeeper threw himself bravely in front of the ball to what should have been a relatively routine clearance, only for my narrow shaped head to meet the ball and knock it backwards for own goal 1-1 it was now our turn to dust ourselves off.

There was some more scrappy play in midfield as the yellows really stepped up play for the next 10 mins having a couple of wild attempts at goal from distance. The whites contained most of the yellows attacks with some good defending from Neil at centre-back but, were struggling to handle Jay Parkinson’s pace down the wing which led to the yellow's next goal with a good couple of passes he connected with Richie out of the blue we were 2-1 up.

As the match continued the extra man became ever more apparent in the midfield as the whites persisted on attacking as the yellows once again were defending a slim lead from all angles. A hard-driven cross from Greenall junior unfortunately ricocheted off Mike's body as it came across him sending it the wrong side of the goalie 2-2. With 20 minutes left it was all square but there was still a lot of football left in the match to be played. At this point I remember cursing myself for not picking the extra man as I was knackered chasing the white’s strong midfield, my team probably unsure if to call a doctor or a vet as I looked like a dying giraffe.

As the match continued both sides now going for the win it was clear to see all cylinders were firing for the whites with some neat play, effective passing and probing in the centre of the pitch which led to the whites next goal 3-2 with some silky footwork from Sylvain. A quite devasting goal for the yellows to come back from. The flood gates opened for the whites after that as Dave O got on the scoresheet making it 4-2. Sylvain would go on to find the back of the net again in quick succession to take it to 5-2, at which point there was no coming back from and the yellows needed the final whistle for damage control. Final whistle, excellent team performance from both sides. Game points to Blaylock and the whites.

MOM for me would have to be Sylvain Husson as the midfield maestro became increasingly harder to handle throughout the match with his trickery of quick feet and eye for goal getting on the scoresheet twice, plus being the provider with an assist.