Team: Brown, Cunningham, Knott, H Gallagher, Macdonald, Talib, Ffinch, Dean, Gaukroger, Currie, Roosen. Sub – Reynolds.

The trip to Nivelles became a tour of several of Wallonie’s villages and its agricultural hinterland thanks to the route chosen by Pete Brown’s GPS. However, the rolling countryside gave way to a rather grim looking football pitch once we arrived at our chosen destination. Pitch maintenance clearly hasn’t been high on the priorities down Nivelles way and the muddy remnants of a few weeks ago’s football had now become baked into a badly rutted pitch by this week’s sunshine. In some places it looked a bit ankle breaking so the usual vets 2 silky football would have to be put on hold for a week.

The changing room was a bit flat before the game before it became apparent that Colin would not be there in time for kick off. Everyone then quickly found a good excuse why they would be unable to play in goals leaving Pete to don the goalie’s jersey. A couple of good omens emerged before kick off in Pete claiming to have played in goals 3-4 times before and only having conceded 1 goal and Ally Currie insisting that his randomly chose number 2 shirt had yielded a hat trick when previously worn.

Once it became clear that the opposition only had 9 players we sensed that this was going to be our day. The pitch took some getting used to with the ball bobbling all over the place most of the time. However, we were determined to push home our numerical advantage and used the ball to good effect on both flanks. After about 15 minutes, Gauky floated over a cross from the left and Chris Ffinch jumped beautifully to head home. 1-0.

We kept up the pressure and closed down the spaces to limit any attempts from the home team to get any sustained possession. It was only a question of when the next goal would come and it duly arrived when Ally Currie turned neatly just inside the box and slotted home for 2-0.

Half time: 2-0

Colin had appeared by half time but Pete, clearly enjoying his clean sheet so far, decided to keep the team unchanged for the first 10 minutes of the second half and cautioned against any complacency to let Nivelles back into the match. Fortunately, the team heeded these words and within a few minutes of the restart Ally Currie grabbed his second heading in from an Ady cross. The third goal really seemed to be a heart breaker for the home team and it was a case of how many we would score thereafter. Ally got his hat trick within a few minutes with a nice chest control and volley into the right corner.

Hughie created a bit of excitement by letting the ball bobble away from him a couple of times and allowing their sole attacker a fleeting thought of setting of in the direction of our penalty box. On the second occasion, a Hughie nudge on the forward resulted in a free kick awarded about 30-35 yards out. Their player lined up ready to have a shot at which point Pete decided that his clean sheet might be under threat and a substitution was called for which saw Gauky take a break, Colin back between the sticks and Pete move to left midfield. The free kick sailed harmlessly wide.

Hughie then decided it was time for a sortie forward and as he moved deep into the opposition box their defence and rest of our team moved quickly out leaving Hughie in splendid isolation. Hughie did head the ball into the net but the other 21 players, including the home goalie, had clearly seen this infringement and Hughie’s muted complaints at the perceived injustice of the decision were met with derision by his team mates.

Our team were determined to get a few more goals and try to beat our 7-0 mauling of Nivelles in the home game. Adrian thought he had got a goal when he got free in the box and his shot was going in until Ally Currie poked the ball in on the line and was blown up for offside. This resulted in a “anyone but Ally Currie” vote from a frustrated Adrian after the game.

There was a hilarious moment when Ady Talib was lining himself up for a shot on the edge of the box only to see the bobble right, left then forward and back and when the ball did eventually sit up so he could get a shot in he was quickly closed down.

We did manage to add 3 more goals with Ally getting another to finish with 4 goals; Ady Talib managed to get to grips with the bouncy patch on the edge of their box and smash home a very nice 6th goal and Scott Macdonald got the 7th in the very last minute, knocking the ball in before the ref could blow for a penalty after a home defender handled the ball.

Man of the match was, not surprisingly, Ally Currie for a four goal performance in the lucky number 2 shirt.

MOM – Ally Currie