It was very much business as usual on Saturday. The ground was in good nick (apart from the rock hard cricket pitch and the nearby deep crater full of mud). The nets had been expertly attached by characters looking suspiciously like Benny Andersson and K Rudd and the local guttersnipes took their positions on the sidelines in the hope that the 2R bbq would be fired up in the usual way.

The usual stretches took place in the usual circle, between the unusually large canine calling cards left by the local dishlickers as a sign of their respect for the beautiful game being played on their sacrosanct village green.

The usual talk followed – win the 50/50s, play the simple balls etc. , protect our unbeaten home record, do it for Steve, do it for R.O.H.I.T. (when he arrives) and we were ready to go, with Matt running on from the grandstand , as usual, at 12.59.

It was, as Rick would have said, a beautiful Saturday in the residential area of Longueville and we were, as Rick would have wished, ready to enjoy ourselves and do the playing while the ref did the reffing.

From the kickoff, we played the passing game and created numerous chances, the most spectacular of which was Hughesey’s contravention of most laws of physics by putting a shot from the 6 yard box closer to the corner post than the goal.

The 50/50s were being won, the most spectacular of which was Steve dispossessing and upending Jock in one of the tackles of the day (sadly this was not the only time we won the 50/50s against our own team).

The usual lead up play lead to the usual pass to Matt in his usual spot in front of goal, who knocked it through the North bridge keeper for a 1-0 lead.

Things then turned to the unusual. Northbridge, shamed by a previous correspondent who said “Northbridge are sadly not the robust manly club they once were”, turned on the football – they started to win the 50/50s, play the simple balls etc. Just before half time a sweeping move from halfway, which ended in a gem of a chip, had them level on 1-1.

We were in a contest.

The second half began as the first half did – great passing, well controlled by Puss in Boots Bowd in the midfield, led to several more chances and the 50/50 challenges on our own team continued, with  your s truly being flattened by John M in front of goal. So well were we playing that Sayley decided to liven things up a bit by handling the ball outside the area (then standing statue like until Bjorn on the line had no choice but to flag the infringement) to give himself something to save.

We survived and shortly afterwards a dazzling interchange that started in our half saw Stew pull the ball back from the goal line for R.O.H.I.T to  slot one inside the near post – 2-1.

As they did it the first half, Northbridge then came back with some impressive football and were denied by some excellent defence and goalkeeping. 

Eventually they got lucky, with a bouncy speculator  that somehow got through.

2-2, and so it remained despite the efforts of both teams to break the deadlock. A game of quality football in which the result just didn’t go our way. The unbeaten home run is intact, as we farewell Steve for the season and wish him all the best for his wedding.

Congratulations to or players of the year, Bowdy [midfield] 3rd, Matt [forwards] 2nd and club player of the year Paul Baker [defence] 1st.