TEAM (SUBS): Kris Mercelis / Jean Minne (Didi Lebbink), Nils McGrath, Ben Thom / Joaquin Gimeno (Thibault Boulanger), Spencer Springob (Kevin Deroeck), Hodgy, Rich McGeehan, Steve Lamarra / Dan Donner, Tommy Kellerman (Shin Takeda)

Rich said after the previous fixture between these two sides and their left winger’s eye-rake on Steve that we’d remember them, so the first XI of RBBFC had the chance to right last season’s wrong.

The boys turned up beneath heavy grey skies, the kind of weather that RBBFC live for, or as James calls it, WGW (woolly gloves weather). The first ominous sign of what lay ahead was when Didi stepped out of his car wearing not the usual screaming red we all know and love, but a dull shade of burgundy, perhaps an unusually understated hint of what was set to follow.

The players were soon ready for a rousing team talk from everyone’s favourite Welshman, who some say has been allergic to the colour green ever since the recent World Cup qualifiers. All those gathered feared this dislike of all things vert could hinder our Captain Fantastic’s performance on the pitch. With the players ready for battle, Thibault was holed up in the toilet facing his own personal Agincourt.

The match began and RBBFC dominated from the whistle. Sharp passing and good pressing was interrupted by the referee shouting at Mike for stepping out the box, the subs for cheering, Rich for asking to change the ball, and basically having a go at anything that moved. Fortunately Kris was spared his wrath as he didn’t actually move for the entire first half.

Meanwhile RBBFC upped the pressure and Tommy received an excellent 70-yard+ pass from Ben at right back. Unfortunately due to Tommy’s improved fitness (not sue if anyone heard but he recently completed a half-marathon) he was too quick to the ball and had no choice but to kick the ball sideways. Following this strong chance and a number of RBBFC attacks, the first half came to a close with a score line as bland as Didi’s trousers.

The second half began but was quickly interrupted as the players heard a disturbing sound on the near side of the pitch. Fortunately as the bathroom door swung open they realised that it was just Thibault finally flushing the toilet. Rich took this as a sign for what could be achieved through persistence and so maintained the 3-5-2 but introduced the fresh legs of Thibault and Shin.

RBBFC contained LXG in their own half, and the opponent’s only weapon turned out to be time-wasting (notwithstanding a clever decision from Ben to allow LXG’s striker a speculative shot that our curly haired heart-throb between the sticks had covered all the way). The match continued in the same vein until Shin jinked and jived his way through the LXG defence and found himself all alone with only the goalkeeper to beat. Hearts were in mouths, but the shot dribbled wide and RBBFC had drawn 0-0.

As our regular readers know, every cloud has a silver lining, and so Ben claimed his first MOM at the club in what was a reflection of a drab 0-0.

Onwards and upwards though as a top of the table clash away from home against the Irish lies in wait for the boys in white. This is what they train for, this is what they play for, and this is why it’s the best day of the week. Two days to go...

Reporter and MOM: Ben Thom.