Game 16

Today saw my second appearance in this round of the County Challenge Cup having already completed a successful outing on Tuesday in Game 15.

Today's game was a much less clear cut affair with a single goal deciding the outcome of a game which had the potential for an upset. The top team are struggling this season and the away team are making their first appearance in the competition following a rule change. Despite the apparent gulf in class between the two sides, it was the away team that started the stronger.

They seemed to be coping with the windy conditions better, despite the fact that they arrived thinking we had a 2.30ko and not 2.00. With the fuss over team sheets, jewellery and footwear inspection and appointing club assistant referees (home side usually have neutral assistants) we had a late kick off.

The first action was to oversee a substitution as the first tackle of the game (after 15 seconds) resulted in damaged knee ligaments for an away team player. Two more away team players were replaced because of injury as the game progressed. The game was very scrappy with the weather proving a real leveller.

I had little to do except oversee player injury assessments and then after the home side scored the game's only goal, things got a little more lively. I was struggling to get running, still feeling some of the after affects of dad's wake on Thursday night methinks!

I had a flurry of late cautions, all for the home team but not before I had been tripped by a home player as he ran across the back of my legs and I fell to the ground, regaining my composure with a backward roll and a jump to my feet. Two away players stepped on my toes as well. There's a lot to be said about keeping up with play but I'm going to have to drop off a little, if I'm not going to get hurt.

Things got a little tetchy near the end as the home team dug in to record their first victory of the season. Afterwards talking to the away coach he said I had a good game up until the close offside call about 2 minutes from the end of normal time and then out of the blue he asked about this blog!!!

It appears that he was a regular reader until it went underground in the close season. So it appears there's just a little too much interest for me to consider bringing this blog back into the public domain and it will be staying underground at least until Christmas. Calories burned 1568, max hr 93% with an average of 75%. Instructor's course tomorrow, but I'm just a little concerned that I've had no pre-course work to complete. Let's see what tomorrow brings ...