Changes*

Ah those pesky Executives are at it again No sooner than we’ve got used to one alteration than, rather like buses, another turns up to confuse yet more of the gentle folk of SHWFC

Change is best done with everyone’s support and in little steps Evolution rather than Revolution

Monday morning this week started brightly with the experiment to streamline to dynamic team alterations done during games The notion would be to select six teams and have three fixtures only each lasting the session duration Any alterations would be done during a break in play purely to address teams imbalance As experiments go it seemed minimal and helpful Early feedback would indicate the trial went pretty well

But I’m giving the plot away

There are announcements waiting in the wings for December So you’d better be good or Santa could overlook you Once again Watch This Space

Ruskin Sports Village took a slightly different tact with its application of change On arrival one of the car parks was closed with jobsworths standing guard to direct vehicles instead to our usual car park Then we learned that the Wicket was closed for the day, including the sumptuous Slipper Salon This meant there’d be no post session cuppas and more importantly our cake venue would be off limits The wailing and gnashing of some of the Group was now off the scale

At least the pitch and changing facilities were still in operation to accommodate our members all thirty eight of whom were suitably warmed, sliced and diced before being photographed for preliminary action Those selected in one form or another were;

Yellow - Wickie, Amazon, Tony W, Haggis, Lord Rainford of Toad Hall and Jim

Pink - Brian, Donal, Steve Honeyman, Chopper, Gonzalo, Tom McG and Snakehips

Sky - Les H, Glen, Harry the Hatchet, John C, Eileen and Michelle Monday

Purple - Colin the Late, Grav, Citeh Geoff, Roger, Aldo and Sheila

Black - Tom Stretch, Little John (these should not stand next to each other) Grazer, Phil the Power, Steve Jones and Eamon

Orange - Andy Man, Margaret, Roy, Les Meldrew, Spiro, McSpeed and Rob Roy

We did have a couple of Referees, Herr Betty and El Presidente both mad with power (no change there then) In addition we had also the sublime ball boy skills of Messrs Prout and Mullarkey, who surprisingly had a quiet morning with shooting more on target and under-powered than normal The stage set for 55 minutes of frantic football What fun!

El Presidente took charge of the Purple v Sky game with a early goal by Aldo for Purple setting a pattern that summed up the first period Sky working hard to keep on terms Purple seemed to be able to cope much better with Sky’s attacking effort and hitting their opponents on the counter Sky defenders were unable to cope at times with the Purple movement Aldo doubled the advantage finishing sharply following good approach work by Grav Harry the Hatchet had a constant series of saves to make to hold Purple at bay, but there was little he could do to stem the third and fourth goals which followed the pattern of yet more breakouts from defence With Purple clearly on top El Presidente issued a proclamation which switched Grav and Glen for the remaining period of play John Cousins claimed Sky’s first goal in an immediate justification of the executive action The period ended with Purple 4-1 to the good but some semblance of equilibrium returning to general play

The Second period saw Jeff Betty enter the fray to keep order with such devastating effect that there was no further addition to the score line until the final third period This particular segment was self-regulated with Colin the Late Williams assuming the Refereeing duties The final period saw Purple regain their shooting boots with a repeat four goal salvo to claim the win Sky did grab another consolation but play ended with Purple claiming a bruising 8-2 win

Jeff’s first game had been a close affair with Yellow and Black drawing 2-2 thanks to goals by Amazon Prime and Lord Rainford for Yellow Black’s twin strike force Eamon and Steve Jones claimed the goals in a good game The second period went in Black’s favour and the overall score was 4-3 when El Presidente took over duties for the final round The game was end to end with both sides looking for the edge Tom Stretch took full advantage of a lapse in the Yellow defence to put Black 5-3 ahead Grazer in the Black net was on inspired form with a series of typical saves Some he simply got in the way, others he knew little about, but it was most effective and kept Black with the slim advantage

In the unconventional goalkeeping stakes Lord Rainford produced a couple of timely interventions with various parts of his anatomy to keep Black at bay Haggis produced some good moments for Yellow but couldn’t find the net Black went through a similarly wasteful period, squandering good opportunities to seal the game Generally Black had a greater degree of possession and at times looked very organised but too often failed to find the decisive pass A fine shot by Lord Rainford from a full 30 yards was saved by Grazer at full stretch - Black retaining their lead just when it seemed likely that Yellow would close the gap Play ended with Little John driving home from wide on the left for 6-3 Black possibly flattered by final winning margin

Pink faced Orange on the far pitch with a tight first game locked at 1-1 Gonzalo and Rob Roy Andrews with the goals The second period looked after by El Presidente was a frantic affair at times with Les Meldrew firing Orange in front from the extremes of a very large keeper’s area 2-1 to Orange Pink were impressive upfront but sometimes lost their shape in defence An unfortunate deflection on a shot by McSpeed gifted Orange another goal

3-1 which was soon 4-1 with Rob Roy firing in from a wide angle “We’re not working hard enough Pink” was heard to rouse the troops to greater action Pink did fire a couple of efforts on goal before Gonzalo struck to make it 4-2 Donal then seemed to find an extra gear after a spell in the nets and his drive pushed Pink into a greater share of possession Brian found the net for 4-3 Pink probing for a leveller that their pressure probably deserved

The final period with Jeff Betty now at the helm saw Pink wipeout the deficit and claim the game with goals by Gonzalo, the Honeyman and Brian by Six goals to Five McSpeed with Orange’s only goal in the final stages The victory was hard earned, trailing 4-3 before that final decisive period

A useful experiment? Time will tell but the early indicators are that players generally enjoyed the extra playing time and that their team work grew stronger with the extended time allowed The only enforced change had an immediate impact but tailed off as bodies tired

No Slipper Salon but we look forward to the promised improvements to our spiritual base for next Monday

We later heard that Rob Roy Andrews suffered a broken leg in a non-football related accident Best Wishes to him for a speedy recovery Another of our members Nigel Smith is also injured with a prognosis likely to keep him out of action until the New Year We wish good health and speedy recovery to all our injured brethren We look forward to seeing y’all in fine shape in the near future

Wednesday’s Sutton SoccerDome session fell victim to the winter’s first wave of bad weather, with overnight snow and frost making the outdoor AstroTurf unsafe Confirmation received by Clib Secretary Lord Rainford in the early afternoon heralded a hasty message to those already declared Outward Bounders and a rethink for the evening’s session

We do have a number of players who dislike the pace and unyielding surface of the Sports Hall, so a postponement would likely deprive them of their session for the week Others are happy to switch indoors to ensure they could still enjoy a Walking Football fix

In the end we settled for three teams of five with a series of shorter games to provide all with some quality game time The sides selected were;

Blue - Phil the Power, Steve Carine, Eileen, Les H and Ian H

Red - Midweek Michelle, Enoch, Andy Man, Triallist and Tom Derby

Yellow - Grav, Les Meldrew, Joe the Ghost, Steve Honeyman and Tom Stretch

Blue took a firm grip on their opening match with Yellow, Steve Carine firing home after less than a minute Les H struck a short time later with a goal that probably should have been ruled out for his fleet of foot movement Undaunted Blue withstood a period of Yellow possession with Eileen, in particular, displaying excellent timing to stem her opponents efforts The game became an arm wrestle with both sides denying space and time to each other Finally Jeff Betty ended the contest with Blue 2-0 to the good

Game Two and Blue facing Red who having witnessed the first game set out to stymie the Blue passing game Whilst Midweek Michelle and Tom Derby caused problems for the Blue defence Red coped well with a tight formation intent on stopping the supply pipeline into Carine and Mr Power The game was finely balanced until Phil the Power found half a yard to fire home Blue breaking the deadlock to lead 1-0 Steve Carine doubled the lead with a typical turn and snapshot 2-0 Andy Man replied with an impressive goal to raise the pressure on Blue 2-1 but time almost up The game ended with Blue looking to extend their advantage, but relieved to hold off Red

Game Three featured Yellow and Red in a tight game with too many wasted and wayward passes Red enjoyed marginally better possession but were almost undone when Tom Derby in the Red nets was judged to have strayed beyond his area to gift Yellow a harsh penalty Sportingly, Les Meldrew rolled the ball back to Tom and so play remained locked at 0-0 Kudos to Les and Yellow Fittingly the game ended with both teams having to settle for the scoreless draw A triumph for SHWFC spirit

Game Four Blue returning to face Yellow, would Blue continue their unbeaten run? Could Yellow raise their game to match their lofty rivals? A high press and cagey game followed with both teams much tighter to deny space A potential disaster was averted when Les Meldrew parried a shot that dropped between his feet and spun wickedly back towards his net Fortunately the ball spun harmlessly wide for a corner Chances to score were extremely limited Carine and then Honeyman were just off target In the end a draw was the inevitable result, in truth neither side created a clear chance 0-0

Red played Blue in the night’s penultimate game Another tight affair with Eileen taking a nasty looking blow to the face in the opening minutes Happily she recovered quickly to continue her most impressive session

Controversy followed when Red stopped waiting for a Referee intervention (for a tackle from behind) One of the oldest and sometimes most annoying football cliches is “play to the Referee’s whistle” Blue played on allowing Ian Hilton to fire into an undefended net Red and all others watching were left expecting the whistle to curb the celebration but sadly no sound was heard 1-0

The contrast of sportsmanship compared to the sacrificed penalty incident in Game Three could not have been more stark So Blue went ahead in a most unsatisfactory manner, to claim a victory and the final word

The grand finale pitched Red v Yellow in an occasionally scrappy match that featured a cool finish by Steve Honeyman to hand Yellow the lead 1-0 Red wasteful too often when in good positions Tom Derby crashed a shot onto the post when free on goal Enoch fired high and wide Time elapsed with no further goals 1-0 Yellow prevailing

The Boot Room was a tester for those determined to enjoy refreshment and chat through all matters SHWFC The weather had plummeted below zero, roads and pavements treacherous An early night followed with one by one the Boot Room glitterati finding reasons for an early finish Tough life in that elite band

Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes* - David Bowie