Drew 1-1
Scorers: John Aikin
MoM: David Lane
DoD: Sir Geoff Philpott
With thanks to team sponsor MFri
It is not often that Friars matches start early but this one did catching short Sir Geoff Philpott who turned up late who needed to get that last cauliflower cut and thus getting awarded the season’s first DoD.
With Mr Grumpy keen to start the game off we went with a considerable amount of huffing and puffing signifying a lack of peak match fitness from the Friars but the 15 man squad was expertly wheeled on and off by Corporal Jones which is probably why New Beccs took the lead as they sliced through the defence, though not before Tom Parkin who never stopped running had missed a goal that should have been slotted. However that lead was not to stay as John Aikin (for it is he) got one back off a deflection.
There was a sizeable crowd for this match from both home and opposition with 3 additional “officials” watching from the bunker and giving opinions on whether John Boy’s “lazy” swishing (after last week’s in his own words “lazy tackles”) merited a coloured card of sorts. However he stayed on until he was subbed.
So an equal first half came to an end. New Beccs rejuvenated came out of the blocks at speed which meant Friars defence of Biggles, David Lane (who took a fiercesome knock), Philpott, Ricketts and Barton all marshalled by Trigger in goal had to do a serious shift of over-time as upwards of a dozen short corners were defended. Indeed Alex Ricketts the defence runner, with a fiercesome face mask seemed to be imitating Mel Gibson’s Braveheart charge at the New Beccs Sassenachs with blood curdling vocals which certainly put off his own side let alone the opposition. Still it worked with no ball crossing the line in the second half and coupled with an outstanding save from Trigger the Friars claimed their first point of the season. Cllr Ricketts’ little daughter though was heard, having watched her dad’s antics on the pitch, saying she preferred him without a mask!
Young Archie Barnes in his debut match (13 years and 4 days) performed very well on the right wing as did Isaac Stroud whilst Phil Dowling proved there is life (though possibly not a lot of puff) in the old dog yet with a very creditable performance. Back in the club house Biggles generously purchased beer for all (albeit at £2 a pint!) in anticipation of his upcoming 74th, 76th or 78th birthday – your scribbler has forgotten which but he is fast catching up Skipper Jonesy who is between 80 and 82 years old (true) Many thanks to Kevin and Tom for umpiring
Squad: David Lane, John Aikin, Simon Triggs (GK), Chris Ward, Cllr Alex Ricketts, Corporal Tony Jones, Brian Hurlow, Isaac Stroud, Phil Dowling, Jamie Harris, Ewan Hutchinson, Sir Geoff Philpott, Mike Barton, Archie Barnes, Tom Parkin.
