Round 10 12 June 2010
St Michaels 5 v 0 Lindfield
Kingsford Smith

Goal scorers:
Matt M 3,   Scotter 2

Once again on a crisp Saturday morning the air was thick with expectation, as we entered that magical 1/48th period in any normal boy's life.  The daily grind of the 9 to 5 is replaced by the incessant humming of Hugo Chavez and his friends from Vuvuzela trying to put us off the hyper-Disneyland that is the World Championship of Football 2010.
 
With impeccable timing the two primary nations of interest were scheduled to play on the long weekend, and shortly after festivities of a somewhat differing kind (though the intent is there) were completed at Kingsford.  This meant gentle ribbing and something approaching mutual support was combined with heady optimism for each member of the axis of evil. 

Who could have predicted that St Mick's, England and Australia would follow so clearly a script of a different kind, The Good The Bad and The Ugly....

Your correspondent, having managed to hurry his spouse-to-be and resident family members through the normal Saturday morning home furnishing departments, rather rested on his laurels, only to realise that a crate of the good stuff cannot even be carried on a Zoot, let alone a normal motorcycle.  Hence my arrival as the game kicked off, comfortable in the knowledge that our excellent and sizable squad needed the merest of shuffles to still field a starting XI capable and likely of taking out the finest that most of this league has to offer.
 
However Lindfield (the 'oppo' as we like to say back in Blighty.  "Oo's the oppo today then geezer?" one might hear on Hackney downs) had arrived early, were well-prepared, and had much the better of the first 30 minutes.  Their pressing game was 'rewarded' with a couple of efforts cleared off the line (well done to Dom, apologies to our other forgotten hero) and a penalty kick.  As Lindfield prepared to take the kick our lycra-clad 'keeper, resplendent in black as always, danced back and forth along his line with great gusto, as if in the front row of a 1980s aerobics video.  He was deservedly rewarded with a penalty that was ultimately straight at his body, and saved comfortably.  Well played that man!
 
This was of course the turning point.  The remaining 10 minutes of the half were played at the other end of the field and, despite leaving the field scoreless at the half, we all knew that more of the same in the second half would lead to only one outcome.  And so it proved.  The passes became shorter, confidence grew.
 

Lindfield were reduced to chasing shadows and soon turned their collective efforts to shouting at each other rather than to repeating their first half efforts.

This is a common theme amongst Mick's opponents and serves to further highlight our own team spirit.  We do occasionally lose games, but even more occasionally do we focus on internal squabbles.
 
The goals that won the game were of the highest quality, made even more notable for the fact that very few opportunities were missed.  Mido totally outperformed his expensive West Ham namesake, grabbing a hat-trick that would have graced a higher league than this one, should one exist.  Captain Scott generously passed up a couple of opportunities, preferring to stretch and test his own abilities by only donning his shooting boots from somewhere close to the outside Water Closet.
 
Five Nil was the final outcome, which was not what many predicted, but in a pleasing show of humility we were not shy in letting the 'oppo' know that the afternoon was tinged with disappointment for many of us in the tipping stakes, so they shouldn't feel too bad.
 
Onwards and upwards, with another game on Monday.
 
The Beautiful Game.
 
Steve

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