Team: Reynolds, Varrall, Ellison, Cunningham, Hyde, Donnelly, Gaukroger, Brown, McGrath, Talib, Gallagher D

Subs: Tremant, Roosen

Last Week

We lost 7-1… say no more…

This Week

We lost 2-0… lots to say though…

KO

On a warm late autumnal afternoon, the man with the whistle, disguised as a Belgium referee, blew it…in FIFA speak, he did well and truly blow it. A diabollock -all performance.

A few minutes into the match Jimmy Donnelly was booked for uttering the mind blowing obscenity " White Ball Ref" How this constituted a yellow card only he knows…the tussle between these two promoted teams was for the most part evenly matched. Unlike I imagine, the tussle between the ref and his conscience on Sunday morning.

I digress…With Strawberry away, Firth injured and Knott tied up somewhere else…Vets 2 lost a little bit of bite at the back, and quite a bit of stamina and speed up front. E type carrot and strawberry add life-giving nutrients to any recipe, this mix in Vets 2 is equally important it was sadly missed today. Jimmy Donnelly's return after election duties supporting Abraham Lincoln (or was that John Kerry with a hat) in the US, did redress the balance slightly.

Besace were promoted last year with honors being even in the Vets 2 part of the season.

With a more organized set of players, they exerted a more subtle form of pressure on our boys today. But we matched them in most departments and in fact the game became just boring to watch with little or no incident to dwell over, apart from a varying degree of strange decisions from the re "dick" uless referee who must have invented the word pedantic

Sparks did begin to fly however when our union boss from the grand Duchy too a lunge too far at one of their forwards, the referee dictated that this had happened inside the penalty area…when in reality the only bone of contention was the bit that holds his conscience in place.

Penalty

When the laminated sphere had dribbled away from the netting enclosure behind Colin's outstretched torso, only then did it dawn upon us all that the score was 0-1. A well taken spot kick had given the opposition a less than deserved lead.

Although as any neutral watching from the line would have agreed…Besace should have been one up even without the diabolical penalty decision. In front of goal and from a vantage point of perhaps 5 mm from the goal line. Their liveliest forward contrived to miss an open goal by doing a Hughie Gallagher impression; that of trying to curl the ball around his shin bone and straight up his arse.

Our chances were few and far between, but on several occasions we could have snatched goals, one, a lovely floating corner from Jimmy D…met an immovable object, namely John McGrath's head pivoting at 45° .Which in normal circumstances would have powered into the net…unfortunately the goalmouth was as full as the beer mugs after the game…and the ball was scrambled away

Half Time 0-1

Second Half

Much the same pattern followed after the oranges had been given out; we did have our chances

But so did Besace. The game was still void of much excitement for much of this half. We lacked the penetration; the opposition lacked the power to unlock our stalwart defense

If only we could have snatched that vital goal but fate decided otherwise…Besace for once escaped the clutches of Ellison & C°…heading goalwards they entered Colin's space and after several tries at goal and with our defenders hastening back home…the ball broke loose in close proximity to their nasty little number 13…who upon seeing Colin out of his area tried to lob him, Colin with the natural instincts of a good goalkeeper… stuck his hands up as far as he could…so that the incoming ball might miss them and hit him smack in the face or at least on his body.

Remember this is Belgium…no such luck , Besace being of the sporting fraternity all screamed RED card ref…of course our snotty little thespian with the whistle obliged.

Poor Colin was sent packing…Our union boss duly signed on for goalkeeping duties despite protestations from Pete Tremant and Patrick Roosens on the line…Ade nearly won MOM his performance in goal was tremendous he saved at least two , possibly 3 more goalward attempts. A fine shot from Pete Brown brought out the best in the Besace keeper and a couple of other half chances slipped away. In the end though Besace did score another…but by that time and with only 10 knackered artillery it didn't matter.

Final score 0 - 2