The Masterplan*

It is easy to lose sight of routine and ‘normal’ in the pressure cooker atmosphere of a competition week It’s unusual and a little different of course But without ‘routine and normal’ we, as a Club, are nothing So having offered a Blog to give an insight into our successful visit to Burnley it’s only right and fitting that we offer details of our Monday and Wednesday sessions

Monday morning’s Ruskin session was a one-off chance to test out our teams for Burnley So twelve players were assigned to the Far Pitch away from prying media eyes and any telephoto lenses

Under the guidance of El Presidente and Les Meldrew a six a side match produced some great football and contest Sky raced into a healthy 3-0 lead with McSpeed a real handful But with a slight personnel adjustment the whole game shifted with Orange totally turning the game around 3-3 the final result Confidence of a good showing at Burnley was high after a good session that involved most of the eventual squad

Masterplan teams were;

Sky - Citeh Geoff, Enoch (injury sustained ended his hope to play at Burnley, Chris K, Wickie, El Presidente Ref and Coach, McSpeed and Mark NR

Orange - Lee Jenko, Amazon Prime, Andy Man, Steve Jones, Mika and Phil the Power

Those players who weren’t travelling had their own matches under the close attention of Ref Jeff Betty Birchall

Those teams were;

Purple - Haggis, Barry Wizz, Cockney Rebel, Chopper, Little John, Charlie, Eileen, Triallist and Spiro

Pink - Grazer, Tomo, Grav, Kirsty, Willo, Phil the Moss, Les Hewitt and Snakehips

Pink keeper Dave ‘Grazer’ Clark had a bit of a nightmare with his distribution leading to 2 interceptions and goals Barry and Spiro were the grateful recipients He recovered to produce a string of decent saves to keep his team in the game

Pink came strongly into contention but struggled to find a way past the solid Purple rearguard Little John (promoted to the Burnley squad after a strong performance) Chopper, Les and Triallist closed out with a clean sheet Eileen claimed Purple’s third goal with a mazy dribble past Snakehips and fierce shot from Spiro’s corner 3-0 and a harsh result in a relatively even game

Wednesday’s Sutton SoccerDome session was played in a celebratory mood with plenty of laughs and smiles lighting the mood Twenty One players assembled with debutant Paul Vickers thrown in at the very deep end The teams selected were;

Yellow - Jason, Joe the Ghost, Eileen, Andy Man, Michelle Midweek and Citeh Geoff

Red - Darron, Les H, Deggs, John C and Gonzalo

Blue - Simon, Steve C, Paul Vickers, Roger and Grav

White - Kirsty, Little John, Barry Wizz, Will and Deano

White played Yellow in the first match on Pitch One with Jeff Betty on whistle duties The game was very even with both sides creating great teamwork Goals by Barry and Jason meant the game ended all square 1-1

Red and Blue was equally absorbing John Cousins got the opening goal in a lively start Roger beaten by the power and accuracy of the shot Red increased their lead when a smart free kick from Deggs was fired home by John C 2-0 El Presidente ruled out a couple of foul goals (running onto shot) before Gonzalo made it 3-0 Steve Carine pulled a goal back with a smart turn and shot 3-1 Paul Vickers produced a glimpse of things to come with a curving shot that unluckily found the woodwork

Blue faced White in Round Two Little John was narrowly wide with a calm side foot Steve Carine fired Blue ahead seizing on a poor clearance A period of scrappy play strewn with errors followed before Deano claimed his first of the night to bring the sides level Both sides went all out for the win but neither team could find the net despite creating loads of chances 1-1 as time expired

Red produced some expansive football to see off White in Round Two by three goals to one John C, Gonzalo and Deggs on target for Red with Joe claiming the White consolation

Jeff Betty was forced (reluctantly? Nah) to deputise for Michelle who limped out of the action for the last game with a back injury Steve Carine hit a brace for Blue with Herr Betty marking his playing stint with the Yellow reply 2-1 to Blue

The last action pitted Red against White Play moved swiftly from end to end until Darron produced a fine through ball for John to tuck away 1-0 Red ahead White created lots of chances Will stung Gonzalo’s fingers with one particular effort At the other end Barry had to stretch to fend out one great drive The contest was competitive throughout but as fair as always Sportsmanship from both sides exemplary as weve come to expect as normal

Red might have scored again but for John accelerating onto the ball to get his shot away The game ended 1-0 Red good value for the victory and preserving their 100% record for the night

A good week for SHWFC despite a number of COVID and more routine injury cry-offs We look for better health for all members before we move Wednesday sessions to the ‘Winter Arrangement’ with games split between indoors and indoors at the SoccerDome

The Masterplan* - Oasis (1990s Beatles tribute act and major shareholders in Ticketmaster)

Oasis - Masterplan