TWFC

This evening heralded possibly the largest and longest fixture of recent years as 16 players turned up and the match was so intense that it continued until 9.40pm before anyone realised.

We welcomed Toby to his first match and he marked his debut with a solid, commanding, attacking midfield performance.

16 players meant a slightly different dynamic to match play as sheer weight of bodies led to only the briefest of chances for attackers. Early on one such shot at the garden end led to the ball nestling high in a tree, thanks to Tim's climbing skills the ball was eventually retrieved. Goals were swapped until the Bibs drew ahead 4 - 3 following the award of a penalty for an area infringement. Tim blasted it past Danny and maintained the current statistic of no one having missed a penalty in the last two years.

Johnny equalled Tim's less illustrious 2013 record of clearing the ball over the adjoining gym with only a single bounce on the roof.

Attackers demonstrated prowess at touches to gain space then scoring with sweet, low, rasping strikes from 8-12 yards. Hugely memorable examples of this art on the night came from Johnny, Jon, Tim, Charles, Adrian and Milo. Danny remained unable to accept defenders as impediments and continued to demonstrate his locksmith like ability to unpick defences and score for fun. The formerly unstoppable 2013 partnership of Jon F and Tim was tonight rivalled by an emerging dynamic duo of Danny and Adrian.

Players conducted a hard fought midfield duel mainly in the Muftis half in between creating/scoring goals.

Scores stayed relatively even with neither side able to dominate. The Bibs drew ahead 9 - 8. During this phase of play attention was drawn to a Bibs player playing in a dark top and holding his orange bib in his hand. Mufti players felt uncomfortable with this practice and politely asked for clarification: There would seem to be only two possible ways to deal with an outfield player in a wilful state of undress:

FA Law 12 deems it a cautionary offence to remove ones shirt after scoring a goal so the same must apply for just doing this during the course of regular play.

Interestingly - going a step further the archives also show that full undress at a match can ultimately result in police intervention

The player concerned was gently asked to reconsider his position, he relented and replaced his orange bib; the normal order of things was restored.

The Muftis then received a very kind let off as a missed Bibs shot came back in to play off the fence and rebounded off of the keeper into the net. The Bibs did not claim the goal and the Muftis did not offer it. Goals were swapped to bring the score to 10 - 9 to the Bibs. It felt late but the game had become such a compelling contest that no one wanted to take their mind off it long enough to check the time. For the Bibs the next goal would probably be unassailable and the Muftis deserved something from the night.

The Bibs goalkeeper suddenly announced it was nearly 9:45, almost on the stroke of this announcement the ball fell to Adrian just inside the Bibs half; he took a positional step forward to set his sights and, cometh the hour cometh the man, he lashed a shot into the net from about 10 yards out. Both sides agreed it was a fitting goal to end any fixture.

For the first time in ages a match ended in a draw.

Bibs 10 - Muftis 10