Knobs 4 Royston 4

A lucky draw yet should and could have been a massacre in our favour- 4-0 up after a half hour.
Two players failed to show, two players drop out with injuries at last moment, I spend a good hour on Sunday morning trying to find a ref so I could play then at the ground two players turn up unexpectedly, I ref and all ends well- sort of.
Trevor excellent in goal, Steve a good game, some terrific 'clear the lines' hoofs away, midfield purring with Martin, Phil, John Boyle and in the first half Mark Mills and Matt scoring at will up front. Steve' s a lovely player of one touch, up front, but faded when Matt went (to watch friggin Arsenal would yi believe- we could hev done with him in the second half but there'll be plenty second halfs to come)- you need to play it somewhere near him( Steve that is) play to his strengths! Second half our passing became ragged, no use hitting long balls for Steve and Carl. I knew they wouldn't give up, we gave them sniffs (big ones) and they grew in confidence. Fair enough we came back well in the last 15 minutes but it was 4-4 by then. Oh yes Rob, another youth policy addition, came on to contribute well. Note he has an aggressive long throw, something to take more advantage of in future games.
The weather was balmy late summer, no doubt there was some physical suffering in our ranks, but I hope participants enjoyed the run out- not enough in the Station hospitality suite afterwards though, where the sandwiches were again plentiful but fucking freezing.
Matt scored two- first a neat glancing header from a simple passing build up, our first attack, his second robbing their centre half for a pleasant free shot into the corner. A loose ball out to John Boyle who from twenty five, six or seven yards floated it back into their net, our second attack and a nice rifled drive from Phil should have set us on the way to a handsome record victory over a Royston, who have played before, but we let them off the hook!
The match was played in splendid spirit except for that cunt Carlos or Shitlos or Braincellloss or just cunt who seemed to be in sort of disagreement with the honest - give what I see- referee. I did receive apologies and condolences from many of their lads and to be honest I didn't really need them. Yi try yer best and if peeple divvint like it they cin hevva go but fuck em, divvint werry life gans on. The fucker caaled me a cunt 3 times but a didn't hev me dichtionary so a pretended a didnt knaa worree meant. 30 years ago ad a ntted him so a must o grown up a bit- just a bit!
Vets football !
If its worth gettin up on Sunday morning to play at our advanced ages its worth tryin to get things right. Attack breaks down- get back behind the ball divvint rest. Adapt to our ages, none of us can run like we used to - except perhaps Matt- so play to what strengths we have left, in other words pass the ball roughly in the direction of a team mate's feet for the most part. A mean who can really run like a whippet anymore? At the back yi still hev the liberty to just clear yer lines under pressure- and a mean clear yer lines, try a 50 yard hoof then regroup. Vets football is still football, like we played when we were younger- maximise our strengths and minimise our weaknesses- this we will learn as the season progresses and we get to know each other and our foibles that little bit better.

This week , with 32 games left, the league begins, and we are AT HOME to St Helens. We beat them at home last season and then lost to their side, packed as it was with twenty year olds in the return, in a somewhat cantankerous game. We will be at full strength in terms of being vets, so we play with what we are and what we've got. We should win, even if they play bairns wi nappies on but we need to go out and do it. Win and enjoy me bonny lads.

Ron