Our regular ranks boosted by the comforting presence of Rajan, Paul M and Dev, we fancied our chances - until we saw Jiji had arrived and was able to run. Worse still, Gordon had that glint of merciless reverse stick in his eye (if you see what I mean) and Matt looked sharp and, dammit, this wasn't going to be so easy after all. But wait! Hey, that's not a bad start is it, and we haven't conceded yet, have we, and - go on Rajan, bury it! He did, and we were 1-0 up. Yoopeedoopeedoo!
Then, once again, we proved that everything goes wrong when we score first. Except when the opposition score first: then everything usually goes wrong too, just a bit quicker. And in the time it took me to type that, they scored, had a goal disallowed, but kept on scoring silly, soft goals and suddenly we weren't playing badly but - hang on, guys, isn't that 5-1 to them already?
It most assuredly was and, scarcely had Rajan had a rasping short corner goal disallowed for... for something or other (ask Oliver), then the half time whistle blew.
HALF TIME: 'Dogs 1 Desperados 5
A half time team talk cunningly disguised as collective puffing and wheezing (told you it had been 4 weeks since our last game) sort of did the trick. Spurred on by Neil A - a natural born 'Dog in guest Desperado clothing if ever I've seen one (Oooooh, controversial! Ed) - we had much the better of most of the second half and even gave them the runaround for long periods of it. And then, a bit of history, as our beloved stopper's 12 year old progeny became the first member of his family ever to be responsible for a goal at the right end of the field. A clinical finish at the far post, and Richard S had brought us back, most deservedly, to 5-2. And it didn't stop there. Still we pressed and, damn me if the same little fellow, somehow shrugged off the laws of physics to find a way through when faced by the significant obstacle of Ricky and, yes, Richard S scored again. Somewhere about now, Desperados stopped mucking about up front and popped in a 6th, too, just to make sure, probably while our goalkeeper was distracted as he tried to remember if he'd brought enough money with him to buy the 'my sons's 1st ever goals' jug. We continued to press, but Desperados held firm, thanks in no small part to our own slightly worried goalkeeper's cries to his son of 'if you get a 3rd, you're walking home!!'
So it ended:
FULL TIME: 'Dogs 3 Desperados 6
Ok, so they did us again: bravo to Jiji, Matt and Gordon, who scored a brace each. There's always next time, and a similar result, but ... but...
Winston of the Week: ...maybe tomorrow belongs to our joint Winstons of the Week: Richard S (now barely 998 goals behind Guy Jillings and closing fast) and Richard C. Both of them showed, in their toughest physical test yet, that they may already have what it takes to flourish at this level before, surely, their future paths take them to who knows what level.
