Perfect seven for Philosophy
PFFC 7 Boodle Hatfield 0
Second win of the season and perhaps the perfect result. A good all-round display, six different scorers, two great saves, one penalty and almost an Owen goal (which are on a par with hen’s teeth, sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, etc). A 13-strong squad started against Boodle Hatfield: Matt in goal; Tony, Damian, Vipul and Owen at the back; Ally, Brian, Tom and José across midfield; and Eric and Rob up front.
Ally opened the scoring five minutes in after some great interplay with José and Eric. Very soon after PFFC were awarded a penalty, from a foul on Bryan, which Damo calmly put away to register his third penalty of the season – a 100% record. The one-way traffic continued with the majority of the attacks coming down the left wing where Owen and José were combining very nicely. From one of these came the third goal: an Owen cross headed in by a Hatfield defender. We did think about sending it to The Dubious Goals panel but apparently the ball has to be travelling towards the opposition’s goal for it to count as a deflection rather than an own goal! Then, with five minutes of the half remaining, Rob slotted home to make it 4-0.
Half-time talk was about the importance of not letting the opposition back in. The second half started slower and the only danger came from a rare Hatfield attack parried by Matt with an excellent one-handed save. It was time to raise the tempo, and so the subs were brought into play: Mauro on for Eric and, five minutes later, Andy on for Tom. The red men were looking for a fifth and got it soon, when Tony powered a top-corner header from Ally's corner. Bryan mopped up a goal-mouth scramble for the sixth before Andy completed the rout with the last kick of the game to make the final score 7-0.
A lazy journalist would give everyone 10/10 and award the whole team ‘man of the match’, with one player as 10*. I am that journalist, and my 10* goes to José. He maintained a constant level of threat throughout the game, and used his time and space on the ball either to hold the ball or to deliver a killer pass.
The walk to Meson Bilbao has never seemed shorter or sweeter.
PFFC (4-4-2): Matt, Damo (1 pen), Vipul, Tony (1), Owen, Bryan (1), Ally (1), Tom (Andy 65 (1)), José, Rob (1), Eric (Mauro 60)
Subs not used: None
Mesón Bilbao: Ally, Andy, Owen