Purley Reserves 0 - 2 Tilehurst YM
It's 9.30am on a chilly Sunday Morning in April and Tilehurst is all serene and quiet. The sound of a happy Paperboy, whistling out the tune of his favourite school hymn, is the only noise to be heard.
Front doors sit ajar, some wide open, as the residents of Tilehurst sit safely in their homes, safe in the knowledge that the crime rate is still low and that you can leave your crying baby unattended without the fear of a Ronnie Mitchell type character walking in and stealing it.
In fact Eastenders hasn't even been invented yet. Neither has burglary nor child abuse. For this is 1959 and these are the good old days.
And it was in this year that a 17 year old Mike Shanks was enjoying his debut season for the mighty Tilehurst YMCA United FC, later abbreviated to Tilehurst YM. Excited, nervous, brave, Mike Shanks was none of these. He knew he was good and that Tilehurst were even better. This was an impresive team. A team that never knew when they were defeated. A team that had that never say die spirit. It was a record breaking team whose incredible exploits that season saw them finish in their highest ever league position; 3rd in the Huntley & Palmers Reading Sunday League Division 2 West.
This was also the last year when Tilehurst YM last won four games in a row.
That was until this Sunday of course, when Tilehurst YM saw off high flying Purley Reserves with a thundering 2-0 win.
Roared on by a passionate Prospect Park crowd of Jamie Butler, Ben Cashley and Joe Edwards' Dad, Tilehurst played with little swagger and even less skill, as a wonderfully laboured performance edged out their 10-man opposition.
YM threatened throughout with James Williams sillfully managing to avoid the back of the net at every opportunity. Fearing James may injure himself in tripping, slipping and generally bumbling energetically round the pitch, YM Manager Clive Butler replaced him in the 70th Minute with Ashley Swain who was equally proficient at giving the Purley goal a wide berth.
Tilehurst took the lead in the 23rd minute. Mark Harding's deep corner to the back post was met by Michael Buck's head. The ball then landed at the feet of Jake Atkinson, who found time to let out a few choice expletives, to shove an opponent in the back and to abuse the referee who was sat in a deck chair on the half way line, before coolly slotting the ball home for 1-0.
Then in the 30th minute, another corner was again inadequately dealt with by the Purley defence and fell to the edge of the area where Tim Waters was waiting with a thunderous right foot drive that ricocheted to Ryan Maslen who tucked the ball away for 2-0. He turned to celebrate in front of the YM support but realising there was none of his mate's birds to snake on, skulked off to the far side of the pitch to resume his position on the left wing.
Half time came and saw YMs link up play working well as they triumphed at passing water bottles from player to player. In one flowing move of note, Boyband picked up a water bottle, drank from it, passed it to Joe Edwards who also drank from it before moving it on to Tim Waters who without drinking from it, shimmied to the left and masterfully put the water bottle back in the water bottle holder.
It was the best half time performance of the season from YM and took a lot out of them as they gave Prospect Park a masterful display of how to play out a drab, nil nil second half against fewer players.
All of that said, Tilehurst did get the ball down several times and pass it about well. This felt and looked like a training game but in all seriousness it was 3 points in the league and YM Push on to another win. 1 game to go and the aim now to topple Purley Jubilee and finish 4th in a breakthrough season that's seen some incredible performances from arguably the best team in the league.
Michael Harvey down the right was the stand-out player for YM who never looked like conceding against a demoralised Purley Reserves whose season seems to be petering out to obscurity.
