The long wait was finally over, start of a new season, full complement of players and the Captains Cup Final

Before a ball was even kicked, the age discrimination card was thrown in by Paul, sticking up for his old mate Laurie! Richie broke down on his travels back from London having checked in, but alas he was also on the stand down list so it didn’t matter! The picking board went missing, so an organised start to the new season! It was important we started on time so Jay didn’t bully me again, so we picked digitally, with Tom having first pick.

Tom was going for the league and cup double, whilst I was looking to secure only a second captains cup title.

Teams looked fairly even on paper, with a number of new faces making Captains cup debuts. Unfortunately (for me) there were no goalkeepers to pick from, so a big risk for my team as I started in goal. Whites started off in fine fashion, with much of the initial play down in Toms Goal. 

The shout before the game from Blake of "plenty of shots, the goalie is shite" would have rang true but for his gift in defence gave the whites a quick 1-0 lead thanks to a Chris Stewart strike. This did wake the yellows up to a degree with Jonny having a rasping shot tipped over the bar by the boss keeper (me). Soon we were 2-0 up, with a well taken goal by Gary W.

Yellows were in disarray at the back, Gary P controlling the middle, and Neil solid at the back was giving me confidence in nets, but the yellows soon found a breakthrough…a loose ball picked up by Dave O, who scuffed his shot under my legs, having anticipated he would go far corner. 2-1 and it was game on. 

20 minutes in, the game was fairly even at this stage, with the midfield battles giving the game plenty of bite in the middle. A few more opportunities came and went, Jonny got cramp after 25 mins, so took a stint in goal, and the yellows did start to make some progress with 

Tom now up front, causing some problems for the defence. 

I came out of goal for the final 25 mins, with Brian ‘the cat’ Moses going in goal. A neat finish from Tom from a tight angle gave the yellows an equaliser soon after, and was probably a fair reflection of the game 2-2.

Neither side really offered any further clear cut chances until the final 5 mins, with some tired legs opening the game up. Whites continued with some neat football, but it was the yellows who then created the best chance of the game, with Brian bulling off a fantastic save with his left nipple to deny the yellows the lead. Almost straight after, a long ball from Matt caught the yellows defence asleep, Jay watching the ball loop over his head, managed to get a deft touch to score the winner with around 3 minutes left to play. A sickener for the yellows for sure, as a draw would have had no complaints from either side. In the end a 3-2 win for me.

Well played from the yellows, difficult to pick MOM here, a winning goal, nipple save, tireless running, but it goes to Neil, solid at the back, even when Tom was giving him problems, roped his brother in to ‘double up’ so great spirit.