With spirits high, and 2nd (or possibly 1st) place in the Cornetto Challenge up for grabs, Olympique LMB put in a sterling performance to brush aside LTLF FC and finish Division 6 in style. In an opening ten minutes that was fairly laid-back and evenly matched, Brett (“beautiful pins” Griffin, 2009) nudged himself into 2nd in the Challenge with a long range strike after 3 minutes, before Rowan counter-attacked with a belter of his own to level the goal tallies on 17. Neil finished off a sumptuous one-two with Brett, before Rowan capitalised on a defensive error to steal his second of the game. Barnesy then completed a great team move with his left foot, before Griff smashed in a long range effort to make it 6-0 at half time.
As the second half began, LMB struggled to find the net, and it took a hefty blow to the @nus for Rowan (“my @rse is burning”) and the rest of the team to increase the tempo. Crozier tapped-in a squared ball from Barnesy, and then Rowan waltzed his way towards goal on a solo run to complete his hat-trick. With the Challenge now all but over, some emphasis was placed on the merits of a clean sheet, and Paul continued to make smart saves when required throughout the match. Finally his good work was undone when Rowan decided to take on the LTLF striker in front of Paul’s area, and after falling over, gifted LTLF with their first goal of the game, prompting Paul’s ‘Steel-y’ gaze of anger to descend upon him. Despite the setback, LMB continued to have all the possession, and Kieran finished off a great team move involving Brett (and his legs), and Griffin claimed his second of the game with another left-footed shot, before LTLF pounced on a lucky deflection to make it 10-2. With Rowan and Brett exchanging passes across the LTLF area in a sickeningly kind-hearted attempt to help each other out, Brett finally attempted to make the Challenge interesting again with another trademark strike. Unfortunately he had to be subbed with 5 minutes remaining, and Man of the Match Rowan finally eased away in 2nd place after finishing off a Crozier through-ball and firing in another long range effort from the right. With 2 minutes remaining, Rowan feigned a groin injury so that Brett could go back on and try to close the gap:
Rowan: “I think I’ve done something to my groin. You’d better go on Brett…”
Brett: [all humble, like] “I’m only close [in the Challenge] because I got 5 last week”
Griff: “This is the g@yest thing I have ever seen”
Crozier: “Right, I’m going on instead.”
