Game 41

The big four-o, blind 40, the age when life begins, blah, blah, blah ...

A strange start to this post because of the strange state of affairs surrounding the game but to start with I should explain that Fat Lad had a birthday last week and we went out to celebrate it last night (Saturday). As a consequence I'm feeling slightly jaded after two games on two very heavy fields over the weekend AND a late night on the tiles. So ... to business!

A late phone call on Friday tells me that the fixture is in danger of being called off because of the state of the field. As per competition rules (and to save on travelling expenses for clubs), clubs can arrange a field of play inspection by a senior referee who can then pass on his findings to the appointed official. The arrangements were made with Rod for him to do the inspection and I was to contact him for the result. Having already got a full morning of pre-match preparations and errands to do I found myself in the vicinity of the ground and went for a little look myself.

I found a firmish field with the occasion damp patch, but nothing to threaten the game, especially as a junior football game was kicking off on an adjacent field when I arrived. I rang Rod but got his answerphone and left a message advising of my decision, then the club secretary rang me to say the game was off after the inspection by Rod. I checked we were talking about the same field and it seemed between Rod's inspection just before 9 a.m. (for a 2 p.m. kick-off) and mine at 10:30 the weak sun had melted away the thick frost and ice he had found. I called the game on and went home to finish my preparations.

Fat Lad had been assured that his field was ok and also set off. When he arrived the field was nowhere near fit with standing water in a few places so he headed off the 25 miles or so to watch me instead! A nice long warm up (having not trained all week) saw me loosen up and ready for the trudging around the field which soon became a muddy patch. Unlike last Saturday's game though, the field was wide and long, so there was plenty of space to go down the wings and the home side exploited that in the second half, but as usual I'm getting ahead of myself.

The opening exchanges were even and neither side managed to get a shot on goal for quite a while. The first notable action for me was cautioning the away captain for a reckless swing of the foot after an opponent had played the ball away. Fat Lad thought that it only really warranted a strong talking to for the player but I had noticed an increasing ferocity in the challenges, as players tried to use the conditions to slide in all over the place and that needed keeping in check. Shortly afterwards a cross from the left saw a two handed push from a defender and the home team opened the scoring with the resultant kick from the penalty mark. Two of the away team's players were well known to me from an old Sunday League team and this worked well on the banter front, but they tried to exploit it a little but to no avail.

As we ended the first half one of these old heads seemed to be struggling and his substitution just after half time saw the game turn in the home team's favour. Before that though I had to issue another caution, this one for not respecting the required distance at a restart. It was a nothing free kick almost on the centre mark but the away left back decided to get in close and stick a leg out to deflect the ball.

The shuffling of the away defence just after half time hardly had time to settle down before the home team's fast winger pushed the ball past the new left back and struck his team's second goal. A minute later and the same tactic of push and chase saw him add a third goal which effectively killed the game off. A fourth goal was added with just over 20 minutes to go. The away team got a consolation goal after their kick from the penalty mark was saved but the taker moved on to the ball again and hit it past the home goalkeeper. The final caution of the game went to the away team's forward for jumping into a challenge.

The home team then voluntarily reduced their numbers to 10 after one of their players got injured. Although they had named 5 substitutes, only one was available and when a second player was injured they didn't bother to replace him! The game petered out as the conditions took their toll and we finished at 4-1. Calories 1616, max hr 95%, average 81% - good work-out.