Match Report: Wednesday 25th August

Churchy's Team: 5
Tom's Team: 9

Churchy's Team: Churchy, Shaun, Rich, Chris, Little Dave, Big Dave, Kev, Sam, Barry
Tom's Team: Tom, Rich, Matt, Brett, Jason, Jonny, Jonni, Ed, Paul

Ideal conditions for a game of football and it was good to see Big Dave and Paul return after long absences, the Church brothers and Brett also returned. It was Rich Church's birthday and he turned up with a nice new football and a dreadful liverpool shirt - seriously bad dress sense from an otherwise thoroughly decent chap. Anyway, game on...

The game started with Churchy's Team on the attack and although Brett and Tom dealt with most things comfortably Tom's team couldn't seem to keep the ball upfront or get any kind of attack going which meant each time the ball was cleared it just came straight back. It wasn't long before a nice move from Churchy and Little Dave led to Shaun being played in and he made no mistake firing past Matt in goal. Matt got a hand to it and really should have done better.

Fortunately for Tom's team, Ed and Jonny turned up and joined their team (Big Dave and Sam also turned up and joined Churchy's Team). Jonny W needed a few minutes to warm up and ran around a bit like this man (although when he got going he played more like this man (that is about the speed he runs nowadays too)).

A change of keepers saw Tom replace Matt in goal but his first job was to pick the ball out of the net after Churchy had marked his birthday with a nice run and a quality shot low into the far corner that left Tom rooted to the spot looking like a waxwork Buzz Lightyear in a football kit. Nice goal and 2-0.

Tom's team started to get back into the game with Jonni and Jonny providing some width on the left and Ed causing all sorts of problems for Sam and Kev in defence. Brett was playing some beautiful passes from the back and spreading the play brilliantly. It wasn't long before Ed got in a pulled a couple of goals back, on another occasion, he did well to keep a ball in on the left, beat a defender, then his hat flew off his head and he caught it in his hand whilst beating a second man, but ultimately his shot hit the side netting. Ed needs to get a hat that stays on... or have a haircut, but there's no telling teenagers is there?

The game settled into the normal St Paul's pattern of both teams going for goals and counter-attacking at every opportunity. Jonny W was enjoying the challenge of running with the ball with space scarce and he made a number of goalscoring chances for his team. Tom also played some nice balls into the box and Matt had a couple of headers that were OK but didn't really trouble the keeper. Matt and Ed both blasted the ball over the fence and had long jogs round the fence to get the ball back.

Then Churchy lost the ball in defence after a challenge (Rich claimed foul) by Jason and Ed was on hand to slot the ball home, he doesn't miss those. A ludicrous handball from Jason (he was in goal and ran out, miles out of his area and just picked the ball up) led to a free kick which Shaun cleverly took quickly and played the ball in to Barry but his shot flew wide.

Then a great goal from Churchy, collecting the ball about 25 yards out on the left wing, he looked up and hit a volley with the outside of his boot that flew past Jason in goal. Spectacular. Paul, who was have a good game on his return, ventured up front and the ball fell to him after Churchy had challenged Matt, Paul hit an exquisite first time shot that arched into the far corner. Brilliant.

Little Dave was also having a great game and one of his runs seemed to have paid off when he got some space in the area and his shot beat Jonni in goal. However, Matt had run back and got a foot to the ball on the line, it flew up onto the bar, bounced down, hit Jonni and bounced over. Close! There was a bit of mumbling about goal line technology, but claiming that had crossed the line would be akin to claiming Simon Bissett is teetotal.

There were some tasty challenges. Some nice quick foot work from Big Dave saw him skin Jason, although, just when he looked to have made some space for himself, Jason floored him and Dave went down like a stack of giant jenga bricks. Free kick! Matt nearly took Kev's head off with a foot so high it could have joined Pink Floyd and Brett put in a number of solid, but fair, tackles all over the pitch.

Sam hit the bar from a nice flicked header, the Jason made a great save, so did Paul and Kev made a good save from Jason after Matt pinched ball from Churchy and played the ball across the box - the scoreline could certainly have been higher. Big Dave grabbed a nice goal from distance, hitting the ball hard and low past Paul in goal.

Tom's team started to pull away a bit though. Ed was in a ruthless mood and scored a peach of a goal past Kev, curling the ball low into the far corner after a nice turn. That made it four goals for Ed. Then Jonni broke down the right, cut inside and buried the ball into the back of the net. Matt even got on the score sheet after a nice through ball found him one-on-one with the keeper and he hit it through the keeper's legs. Despite Little Dave pulling one back there was no catching Tom's team and, fittingly, the final word was left to Tom who finished off a good win with a nice goal on the turn. so 9-5 and time was called. A good game that could have had a lot more goals in it, well played lads.

Goal Of The Week: Both of Churchy's goals were great and Ed's fourth was fantastic but Paul's first time finish was sublime and wins GOTW this week. Paul had a great game after a long absence and fully deserved his goal, well done Paul.

Player Of The Week: Brett and Tom were both outstanding again, as was Little Dave. Kev Church had yet another solid game, Jonny W was great and Ed scored 4 goals and managed to keep his hat on for most of the game. Still, you have to say that Churchy was awesome yet again! Rumours before the game suggested that it was his 32nd birthday, but in a slight of hand typical of a Nigerian footballer, Churchy claims to be a mere 23 years old. He spent most of the game out on the left wing and put in some very dangerous crosses that had the opposition defence at full stretch, always involved in the attacks Churchy linked up brilliantly with both Daves and also went on some nice runs himself. He also got back to help in defence and, once again, proved what an excellent tackler he is. You can always rely on Churchy to put in a good shift, but he topped off a great performance with two wonderful goals. Looking like a cross between Magnum PI and Harry Enfield's scousers with the skills of Paul Scholes and Joe Cole genetically spliced into his own already considerable skills Churchy bossed the game and put in a performance that fully deserved the POTW. Well done Rich and Happy Birthday!