TWFC

We thank Ed for picking teams this week. We used the match video shared by Fabiocc17. Many thanks Fabio. We are not allowed to publish the video link for business sensitivity reasons.

In TWFC tradition the person picking the teams will also allocate the kit, or in our case the bibs. Some might say this allows players to visualise the game as part of their pre-match routine. Just before kick off Fabiocc17 walked on to the pitch in a seasonal red coat and identified that this would clash with his opponents who had been allocated the Orange Bibs. In an unprecedented next step he requested that the Orange Bibs remove their bibs and give them to his team and thereby avoid the colour clash. To help explain how momentous this was in the rules of the game imagine the following:

Arsenal against Man Utd at the Emirates.
Just before kick off Bruno Fernandes walks on to the pitch in red and asks the Arsenal team to take off their tops and let Man U play in red so as not to clash with his top.

Astounded the Orange Bibs gave their tops to Fabiocc17's team, who then had an extra layer of clothing in the cold.

Attempting to recover from this, the nascent Dark Tops went into a team huddle to discuss match strategy. Andyhibbert explained a Two-Two-One formation, with the keeper advised to punt the ball up front in either channel whenever there was no option to play the ball out from the back. As the Dark Tops finalised their roles they suddenly noticed a jolly red coated and orange bib wearing third party beaming and listening intently in their midst. Had they been owned again?

Two-Two-One formation held up well and only sensible keeping by Ed for the Orange Bibs kept the tally at 0 - 0 until Fabiocc17 opportunistically pounced on a loose ball and scored for the Orange Bibs. He was placed in the perfect position to undo the opponent's formation. It was as if he had prior knowledge of their game plan ...

Elvis immediately restored parity in a simple route one team goal. A minute later Ellislewis123 edged the Dark Tops ahead before JonF levelled the score again. The Dark Tops' Two-Two-One formation proved difficult to break down and paid dividends when Ellislewis123 was set free to edge the Dark Tops ahead on 20 minutes.

What was there not to like in the Two-Two-One formation? The only weak link seemed to be the Dark Tops' keeper who was still getting used to the one task that he had to do of booting the ball up pitch.

The scores were levelled again when everybody, keeper included, left a routine pass from Ed which just rolled into the net. Credit can be given to Jumhal who sold a great dummy by feinting to take the pass then leaving it. No one can legislate for that type of equaliser.

Orange Bibs 3 - 3 Dark Tops.

Eventually Shaun, whom we suspect knows a thing or two about football formations, broke the Two-Two-One apart by threading the ball through the eye of a needle past attackers, defenders and keeper alike to nestle the ball just inside of the Dark Tops' near post.

By the second half of the game the Orange Bibs seemed to have learnt how to unpick the Dark Top's formation. A move straight down the middle resulted in Fabiocc17 nonchalantly helping the ball on for Jumhal to open his account. And that was it really, a flurry of goals in three minutes by the Orange Bibs took the match to Orange Bibs 8 - 3 Dark Tops.

It would later be said that it was one sided match but watching it back it clearly wasn't in the first half.

Fabiocc17 put paid to any hopes of a Dark Tops revival when he scored his hat-trick goal with a well placed shot from the halfway line. JonF joined the hat-trick club a minute later by simply breaking up an attack outside his own penalty area and running with the ball before scoring with a speculative shot. The Dark Tops keeper was totally at fault, but if you are early career and reading this, the moral of the story is

'if you shoot on target there is more chance of scoring than not shooting at all'.

Orange Bibs 10 - 3 Dark Tops.

Quite a few fine saves from VIIGeorgeVII propelled him into the league of All Rounders who can play anywhere on the pitch. When he got there he found that he was already in the league having been a founder member along with Austin, JakeFlowers, JonF and MarkA years before. This may have been quite a surreal experience. At the other end the Fabiocc17 Show almost won itself an award with a cheeky back flick that, thankfully for the Dark Tops, Niyi was just about able to bundle away. There is making a keeper miserable and being down right humiliating. If that had gone in then Niyi might have found himself in an alternate reality waxing players' cars for a living.

In chasing the match, all plans of a formation needed to go out of the window and the Dark Tops alternated between two and three upfront. JonF and Ed exploited this for Ed to bring the score to Orange Bibs 11 - 3 Dark Tops. Ed later did the same to allow Jumhal to score his second.

The night was virtually over so the Dark Tops were finally instructed to not sit back at all and just pile on the pressure and score goals to show the Orange Bibs what they were made of. The 0-3-2 and 0-2-3 formations did eventually yield two goals for the Dark Tops. Elvis finally got the better of VIIGeorgeVII. Then later BILZ96 and Elvis combined to create all of the time in the world for BILZ96 to tap the ball past Fabiocc17.

Orange Bibs 12 - 5 Dark Tops

In the absence of MarkA officiating Fabiocc17 would later seek to have BILZ96's goal ruled out, due to Elvis having at one point run through the edge of the Orange Bibs' area to get to the ball before a defender. This continued into the next day and sparked some philosophical debate.

We have checked Fabiocc17's position on the matter, the FA Laws for Small Sided Football includes the following:

Access to penalty areas being restricted only to goalkeepers. Entry into the penalty area by a defender results in a direct free kick from the penalty mark; entry into the penalty area by an attacker results in the goalkeeper being given possession of the ball to re-start the game.

Fabiocc17 would seem to be correct in his assertion. However, closer inspection shows that the above is in a set of permissible modifications. At TWFC, for the last 10 years of recording, the practice has been that outfield players simply cannot play the ball in the area or interfere with play in the area, nor should two defending players dwell in the box at the same during a phase of active attack. No one has ever been penalised for simply running across the edge of the area. Three days later Elvis was able to produce footage of an Orange Bibs player running through the Dark Tops' area. This was not penalised or even questioned when it happened.

After days of deliberating the rules, the decision is TWFC custom and practice stands. Fabiocc17's attempt at in game modification is set aside. BILZ96's goal stands.

We would secretly like to believe that the Dark Tops are now thinking:

'Aye they may take our bibs, but they can never take our goals'.

Final Score

Orange Bibs 12 - 5 Dark Tops

Match awarded to the Orange Bibs

Match ball shared between Fabiocc17 and JonF who each scored a hat-trick.

Things to Note

Coach Hagenius has been very quiet. We have not been able to interview him, but it is it possible that he has seen what we have seen? Is it conceivable that Coach Hagenius suspects, from the first half, that Andyhibbert's Two-Two-One formation, coupled with his own keeper going long advice, might be a game changer? Watch this space.

Let's do it all again next match at Tottenham Wednesday FC.