After some good performances in the past few weeks, there were great expectations for the match against Crostyx 1, one of the best in the class. On the eve, Alastair demonstrated his skills as a recruiter to fix the problem of only 11 players available by recovering three players at the very last minute (and really thanks Brian, Scott and Tony for making yourself available!).

But the 4s had to quickly come to terms with the reality as they found themselves down 2-0 after 5 minutes only; the first was an off-season Christmas present from the referee who didn’t see a colossal foot stop in the area by Crostyx’s forward after an Alisson style kick by our goalkeeper (who will deserve the title of DoD for this performance ).

Our players then tried to reset, and while continuing to leave the possession of the ball to the opponents, they began to defend with more order, managing to contain the attacks and restarting on counterattack.

But the danger is around the corner, and Crostyx manages to take a 3-0 lead 10 minutes from the end of the first half.

The second half is a different story: Crostyx indeed slowed down the game a bit, but the 4s were also more disciplined. They raised their centre of gravity and became more dangerous in attack. The 3-1 goal was a fine combination of Scott “Gazza” Brown spreading danger into the opposition box and Richard “Gary Linker” Martin able to push the ball on goal into traffic.

An always-ready Akshay (capable of winning both the MoM and DoD titles in the same game) keeps the clean sheet in the second half, and the game ended with the awareness of having lost against a perhaps better-equipped team but the bitterness for those five initial minutes that impacted the rest of the match.