A frosty morning over 4 Ashes then especially for me , arriving stupidly early to give you lot the chance of a deserved lie in , or at least an opportunity to help with the housework . Disappointly I waited and waited , the only sign of civilization being other refees to swiftly call OFF the other pitches with the ground rock hard . As my texts signalled the need for you all to start out on an apparently fruitless journey , the home side arrived ...in force ! About 20 blokes keen to brave the elements and get the match on ! The Ref eventually made an appearance at 10am (good of him) and incredulously gave chance to the pitch being fit to play , declaring a 15 minute delay to allow for thawing ha ha . As the Prince lads arrived it seemed we had a decent turnout , good to see Wayne available again , if only until his much awaited operation . Amazingly the Ref said ' Game on but no tackling ' ! and everyone got changed in a state of shock . As we got onto the pitch , now freezing my bollocks off , I announced that we needed to focus on the game and try to put the conditions to the back of our mind . Not everyone agreed so that man Mr Toone had to step up to the mark in goal . We countered the conditions very well and after 20 minutes , only a corner of the pitch was hard . A fantastic strike from Woodbine sent the high riding Division 3 side ahead , and with Ben struggling our defence were left for dead when they notched a second . At this stage they pounded us and Kris Toone pulled off a succesion of fine saves to keep us within reach and looking respectable . Indeed some of his leaps sent me back to Gordon Banks 1970 bringing a nostalgic tear to my frostbitten features . Geoff again grafted down the left and played in Colin neatly to peg us a goal back , only for the Woodbines to go into the interval when a cross ricoched off Anton past the helpless Toone , lost without his briefcase . Despite being 3-1 in deficit we hit back well after the break , Anton battling now up front and Colin floating in some glorious balls for him and Geoff . Credit to Ben Lawley for playing again despite his long term injury but when Wayne moved into the centre it made our defence look far more composed and organized . Lawley had to limp off but Campbell slotted back to LB and did well as Squizz came on and also played a blinder ,linking superbly with the ever present Geoff Smith . Coops and Toon got better as the game went on and we had the majority of possession second half . Inevitably top scorer Colin went on a solo burst and clinically pulled one back and Anton gave us an extra half hour by chesting the ball deftly into the path of Super-Cooper for our equalizer . What a fightback ! With Roberts struggling for current form , Grant had come on by now and put in a good effort , only for our opponents to score a soft winner in the first minute of extra time . The game opened up as both teams looked done in after the winter lay off . Smith was clipped in the box but to his credit stayed on his feet and the home side also had to be denied by Toone once again before the ref drew proceedings to a halt . Wee lads once again my dream of a Cup Trophy goes down the pan but I am heartened by the attitude of the men that took part today . News of a welcome new signing this week , much welcome after the plethora of let-downs from a chunk of people putting pen to paper this campaign . You live and learn...even at 55 ! Bye Bye for now ....Grandad Baz .
Toone ...not happy with conditions but very willing !
