In the week when the UEFA 50th EU anniversary team did not name one RBBFC player and more importantly nor did ABSSA include one for the 2nd Division Trial match, there were plenty of bruised egos and irate agents at Boitsfort.

Our return game at Coin du Balai was against one of last year’s contenders, who had aged prematurely by the time they came to Everberg this season and had been dispatched easily 5-0. Talking to their delegue before this game, they felt they were actually stronger than last season and their mid table position betrayed them. Simon Yearsley arrived quite late, although 20 minutes before the breathless captain, and was asking if we had seen who had just been selected for ABSSA Veterans Trial match. We feigned ignorance.

They started quite confidently with a view to knocking us off our perch. Using two wide players they packed the midfield but their impudence started to evaporate quite quickly against our resolute defense and high work rate. Clearly they are one of the more technical teams but they were partly let down by an overweight centre-forward.

After ten minutes or so we had a degree of control on the game but our penetration was lacking too. Captain Christmas, perhaps making up for lost time, marauded down the right wing arcing in some lovely crosses. James Binning as the other fullback was always ready to join in the attacks too. Their keeper was rarely troubled but did have one ‘squeaky bum moment’ as Laurent Legere let fly with a shot that was barely over the bar.

As we played into added time at the end of the first half the ball came out to the edge of the box only to be met by Ally Anderson lurking with intent. His shot seemed to be deflected through a crowd of players and hit the back of the net. His first reaction was to consult with Massimo Guarnaccia to confirm that it was a goal and then next how to celebrate it. After much deliberation in Zurich, FIFA finally attributed the goal to our young centre-back purely on the grounds that the story was so implausible it must be true.

The goal coming when it did deflated them further as we prepared to dissect oranges. Gael De Rotalier replaced Nils McGrath at half-time and the midfield led by Jan Skonieski and Laurent took control of the game. Sebastiaan Van Der Vinne worked tirelessly to make himself available and to harry their defenders in possession.

It’s not surprising they’ve conceded so many goals lot as they leave themselves wide open to the counter attack. A fault that Juan Toscano then exploited twice in almost identical fashion. With breakaways down the right he turned inside, looked for the best pass then ignored it, and then let go from inside the box with his left foot.

Up this point our keeper Adrian Drury had been able to lounge on his sun bed until the referee had the nerve to interpret an accidental pass back as deliberate and awarded an indirect kick well inside the box. The wall barely in front of him offered a hole that their player found and scored.

Our last ten minutes were not quite as comfortable as we had hoped but we knew we would still get more chances. Finally the ball arrived at Sebastiaan’s feet and the Dutchman’s Golden Clogs buried the ball as it hit the roof of the net. His frustrating afternoon was finally tamed with a venomous shot that the bench and the WAGS celebrated wildly with him.

So a potentially awkward game had been handled efficiently by a team believing it is going to be champions. A few minutes later we heard Pharma had beaten Ambience Auderghem so hopefully any complacency will be contained until the mathematics cannot be disputed.

MOM: Ally Anderson

Reporter: Mike Davies