Line-up : Kerrigan ; Butters, Tache, McPhie, Eriksen ; Denholm, Drochon, Pellegry, Wright ; Barnes, Fitzgibbon

Subs : McDermott, Timms

And so it was back to business as usual. After a rousing 8-1 victory the week before the mighty 4ths looked to continue their winning streak of one. Surely a team called Penelope would be prepared to lie down? Alas it wasn’t to be, as the 4ths turned in the worst performance this reporter has witnessed.

Better was expected of a reasonably strong 4th team line up, but it was clear from the off that several players just weren’t altogether there. The back 4 had (with the notable exception of McPhie) seemingly lost all power to communicate and were thus very unorganised. It wasn’t long before keeper Kerrigan got his first touch of the ball by fishing it out of the back of the net. A seemingly innocuous Penelope attack was greeted by a seemingly asleep RRBFC defence. 1-0.

With not much RBBFC forward play to report we are quickly led to Penelope’s 2nd. A well struck corner from the left that goalie Kerrigan should have perhaps come for was met, unchallenged, by a Penelope head. 2-0. A couple of sweet passes by Fitzgibbon came to nought and at half time the 4ths trudged in, knowing full well there were underperforming. Harsh words were bandied about and the usual platitudes of “keeping it tight” and “keep talking to each other” were exchanged. Co-captain Denholm excused himself for his joke of a performance.

Although more vocal in the 2nd half, there was no great improvement from the 4ths.

Half-time substitute McDermott was the most notable RBBFC performer with some great runs and passes that unfortunately could not be translated into goals. Penelope did not need much invention to threaten our goal again and a quick break led to a 1 on 1 with our keeper. Kerrigan rushed out to meet the attacker and promptly upended him. Penalty. Now, the common technique is for the keeper to read the player, guess a direction and hope to get lucky. Not moving at all is an unusual approach unlikely to pay dividends. Yet it very nearly did as the Penelope player struck it straight down the middle. Unfortunately it skewed off the keeper’s hands and trickled in. 3-0.

An honourable mention must go to Fitzgibbon, McDermott and McPhie for their trying to keep it together. But by now most of the 4th’s had dropped their heads and many looked to be awaiting the final whistle. It is no surprise then that Penelope managed a 4th and that it was the softest of them all. A quick stroll through our back four saw the Penelope attacker with an easy shot past the stranded Kerrigan. 4-0.

All in all, a fairly dire performance with a telling lack of passion and coherence. Back to the training pitch lads!

MOM :McDermott