TWFC

We welcomed Anthony back after a hiatus of three months. The trick tonight was to balance speed, midfield dynamism, tenacity and scoring prowess across the teams.

The long awaited full head to head between Arik and Koonal was like a Flash v Quick Silver battle out of comic books as we were treated to the definitive test of who was fastest. Who would win the 50 - 50 ball or nip in and intercept out of nowhere?

Through the middle of the pitch and up front Anthony, Milo and Nathan were geared up to run at the Bibs and then ideally score at will. This seemed a reasonable synopsis of how the game could go. Imagine it true believers one of the hardest shots coupled with midfield wizardry and goal scoring tenacity pounding away relentlessly at the Orange Bibs. And so it started but the goals did not come for the Muftis; Arik, Johnny and Jon F were having none of it. Swinging the ball around the opposition Jon and Johnny worked with Arik to take turns at scoring. 1 - 0 to the Bibs, then 2 - 0 and 3 - 0 all the way to a majestic score of Bibs 6 - Muftis 0.

Yes it was 6 - 0 to the Bibs before the Muftis were able to hit back and it was 7 - 1 before they got into their stride. Deft flicks from Koonal and Anthony threading the ball through the eye of the needle were shockingly beautiful in their precision ('shockingly beautiful' to describe goals in football, hmmmm reprogramming need I). Anyway it was almost an air of resignation that accompanied the fourth goal to make it 8 - 4 to the Bibs. 9 - 5 saw the Bibs get back into their own stride and by 12 - 6 a six goal margin had been restored. Milo then turned on his guile and crafted a goal for himself to counter Johnny's box to box escapades that had seen him bag those individual goals that you just have to be there to fully enjoy. Nathan began to find his range and use the ball to continue his personal crusade to rid the world of goal keepers.

At 9pm with the score standing at 15 - 8 Arik had to leave in triumph. The match continued with the Muftis accepting that the three remaining Bibs would play rush keeper.

The Bibs attack resumed where they had left off and continued to set up those goals between them that they had crafted throughout the match. During the World Cup 2014 rumours abounded that Tiki-Taka might be in seriously ill health. Well tonight we learned that those rumours were grossly mistaken. Tiki-Taka is alive and well and living in Tottenham. Even Jorge would have been proud of Jon and Johnny as their flowing passing movements opened up the four Muftis again and again. During this period of play Anthony struck the ball from just outside his own penalty area into the Bib's open goal. Mufti players were immediately reminded of the ancient, seldom invoked, rule of 'inconcessus shot non liceret' (that shot which must not be encouraged - i.e shooting from inside one's own half particularly against a team without a keeper) and the goal was unceremoniously disallowed.

At c.9.15pm it was 20 - 10 to the Bibs and the Muftis were asked if they had had enough? It was agreed that a final goal would be played for, in essence the match was won already by the Bibs but a bonus point would go to the team scoring the final goal.

The final goal was yet another Jon - Johnny flourish.

Match awarded to the Bibs 21 -10

Last Goal Wins (bonus point) 1 - 0 to the Bibs.

Things to Note

The possibility of a long awaited Christmas night out is being looked into by Anthony, Koonal, Milo and Nathan.

We now have the first iteration of an online website for players to trial. This will give the following functionality:

live and ongoing details of subscriptions paid and account balances since the last reconciliation at the start of March 2014,
all match reports and scores since the start of 2013,
the facility to indicate match availability up to 8 weeks in advance,
a space to promote details of events that players might want to let the team know about and
finally the option for people to follow the club as non playing members.

If the site works for players it can be augmented as we go along.

I will send each player on this list an email containing their user name and password during the course of today. If anyone has not received their details by Friday morning please drop me a line. We have gone back to the club's original name and the web site link is http://cbdatabases.com/twfc . Either Johnny or I can be contacted in the event of any accounts questions.