Last week’s man of the match: Ross “two” French. Congratulations to the Englishman with the French name.
4-2 to a spirited whites side last night with a brace each for Chris B and Arthur. They were in control most of the game with the Colours seeming to want to play complicated balls out wide, lacking a bit of direction, and with a centre forward who made Andy Carroll look like a £35m bargain.
Here’s the man of the match poll. Feel free to vote for who you think had the best game by his own standards rather than the best player on the pitch. Or whatever, do what you like really.
Here’s the league table. Welcome to Dan B, Mudge and Ben D on their third appearances of the season.
Whites: Coxy, Marcus, Danny, Lee, Christophe, Ross F, Tim, Harry. Colours: Mudge, Ben D, Roscoe, Chris B, Dennis, Monty, Arthur, Ignacio.
A close game last night ended 5-4 to the bad guys after the lead changed hands more often than the Premier League this season, a title that Man City bought and paid for (controversial). A good game that seemed to have enough space in the midfield to drive a truck through and colours deemed it sensible to give Lee the keys to the city to dominate midfield. A spirited game from both sides. Some cracking goals too, including a hattrick of left-foot daisy-cutters from league-leader Ross F, two excellent goals from Chris B, one cutting in deliciously to slot one in off the crossbar, and who set up Artur for a 4-3 lead to whites, and a wonder-volley from Monty that even he was surprised by.
I’m going to open the debate on the handball rule. In my opinion, as there’s no ref, any time the ball touches arm or hand, accidentally or deliberately, it’s handball and an indirect free kick. The alternative is that there’s no handball rule at all, given that none of us are the type to go round handballing on purpose. What say you?
Here’s the man of the match poll. Don’t vote for yourself and feel free to vote for the player who had the best game by his standards on the night. League table below.
Apparently we played on after 9pm last night. Personally I don’t mind that. I’d play till the lights went off (as has happened on that pitch a few times) if my legs could hold out. Which they can’t. But if you guys think we should have a nominated timekeeper in case the parkie doesn’t haul us off at 9.00 we can do that? I don’t wear a watch at football – it’s not really allowed – but we could sort something? Otherwise, play on till the lights go out or hypothermia sets in?
Here’s the table. I’ve moved the points column second so I can see it on my phone. Couldn’t before.
Man of the Match for 23/4, on the day of Shakespeare’s birth AND death day (true), Frenchman Arthur Ballu! ‘Ave some of that Shakey, you Great Bard you.
30/4 teams: Colours – Nick, El, Az, Christophe, Arthur, Ross F, Wayne, Rafa. Whites – Sean, Coxy, Jason M, Ben D, Lee, Roscoe, Monty, Darren.
One of those games where the tight scoreline, 3-2 to the colours, didn’t really reflect the true story of the game. Colours had a lot of possession and a team that looked stronger on paper after whites lost Tom D and Dennis, and, despite falling a goal behind after yours truly smashed it in from about 3 inches, whites were backpedalling for most of the game. A reshuffle changed things round for whites, after Az and Arthur combined to work through the defence with some ease to make it 2-1, before a sweet Jason equaliser from a decent Darren corner. Still, Sky possession stats would have showed 70-30 in colours’ favour and, despite Sean fluffing his lines on a chance to equalise, Az’s winner made it 3-2, and about right too.
Here is the Doodle for next week’s game: http://www.doodle.com/ueb2rz3v5bc434q8. It’s a bank holiday don’t forget, but I think we’ll probably get a decent turnout.
Here’s man of the match. You know the rules. League table as it stands below:
Man of the Match for 16/2, as announced by 70s detective John Shaft: Wayne “number one” Quan. Damn right.
4-2 to the colours in another tight 8-a-side game which looked fairly even on paper. Though colours took a three-goal lead, two most excellent goals by Az from Lee passes hauled them right back into contention only for hearts to be broken with a close range effort by David, his second, to tie up the points. A great headed goal from him earlier off a cracking Tom D pass as well, it were just like it were on the telly. But a major special mention to returning Frenchie Arthur Ballu with a dazzling right-wing display including a fine goal, cutting in from the left, that Nick didn’t even see till it was past him. Welcome back Arthur. Or Le Welcome Back, as they might say in Pulp Fiction.
So it takes three games to get on the league table and that gives our good friend Wayne Quan a lead, courtesy of his MotM win from last week. Names get added as we go along. Bring it on.
Man of the match for April 2nd: Special agent Chris Barton, the scourge of the underworld.
3-0 but the score doesn’t tell the full story of the game, which was far tighter than the whitewash suggests. But two goals from Darren and one from Lee let yours truly off the hook as all I could do was kick it at the keeper all bloody night. I sense a spell at left back. A good game though.
Check out the slideshow. How cool is that? And a new layout and design for a new season. Grab the RSS feed if you dare stay updated.
The photos show last season’s winners of stuff: League Champion Lee Yeap; Cup Winner Ross French; Most Valuable Player (points per game) Tom “Scooby” Drew. Congratulations gentlemen on your well-deserved victories.
No league table yet, but here’s the man of the match poll for yesterday’s season opener, a 4-1 victory for a colours side over a whites side who were a man down because Eddie didn’t turn up.
NEW RULE: Please let Ross, or his nominated representative on earth if Ross is not around, know by no later than 4pm if you can’t play as that gives us a chance to call up a reserve. Text me (07855 450410) preferably, or email. Please don’t just not turn up. No-shows, such as Eddie yesterday, get an additional minus 1 point the first time, minus 2 the second time and so on. This is a politburo decree.
Oh and since First Secretary Nick has been good enough to create some Excel magic, I have the time to add all names to the Man of the Match poll, not just the winners, as previously stated. So vote for anyone, apart from yourself, and feel free to vote for whoever you think had a particularly game by their own standards if you wish.
Image: Chairman Cox ironically applauds his own team mates.
LAST WEEK’s MEN OF THE MATCH: Tom ‘the’ Mann and ‘Clevor’ Trever, the loveable rogues.
Match report: Whites 9 – 1 Colours: Whites (Lee, David, Tom D, Mudge, Wayne, Nick, Adrian, Chris). Colours (Darren, Roscoe, Dennis, Coxy, Marcus, Dan, Eddie, Monty)
And so it came to pass that the teams for the final game of the league season were decided by coin tosses and the game was won 9-1 by the biggest tossers. Let’s face it, choosing by the league table has its flaws, much like the gearbox on the otherwise perfect BMW 5-series, but when we don’t use it all sorts of weird shit happens. Having said that, the whites team played a superb game, good teamwork, flowing football, managing to pass to other players in a white shirt, skills that the colours were totally unable to do. Apart from passing to guys in a white shirt, which they were doing with startling regularity!
Colours passes were at chest height and usually 9 feet away from their intended targets. Usually dependable players went missing on the night (including yours truly) and the result was the biggest humiliation in modern Avondale history. Even the goal I scored was pathetic. Nick thought he wouldn’t bother to cut a deflected pass out, and David in goal felt so sorry for us he moved his legs out of the way so it would go in. But take nothing away from the deserved victors, all of whom played extremely well.
Coxy was happy down the pub, I can tell ‘ee….
Shout out to Eddie on his return, though injured. He’s got a few weeks till he returns to fitness so let’s run him ragged in the meantime…
So a quick roll call of honour. First of all congratulations to Lee for a second consecutive championship. The outstanding player on the pitch a lot of the time and able to kick the ball in the net from range. Well done big guy, and 10 free games credited to you as champion. Runner up was David, who gets 5 free games credited, who’s also showed a lot of consistency this season.
Team of the season – these are the eight players who’ve played at least 10 games and whose points to games ratio is the highest and who therefore are the most awesome – Lee, David, Roscoe, Tom D, Ben D, Eddie, Marcus, Tom M.
The most valuable player (MVP) cup is awarded to the player outside the top 2 who has played at least 10 games and who has the highest points per game ratio and that player is: Tom Drew! But only just. Marcus, you were JUST behind him.
Wooden spoon: Goes to Ben Shaw, who also wins the Jonny Wilkinson Award for “kicking the ball so high that it bounced once before clearing the perimeter fence.”
I want to thank everyone who’s played this season, but a special thanks to Lee, David, Darren, Barry, Dennis, Mudge, Ross F, Coxy, Nick and Monty who all have played over 20 games out of a possible 35 this season, well done lads.
Here’s the man of the match poll followed by the final league table position.
Next week’s game is the cup final, Thursday 7.00 as usual. After that the next game is Monday April 2nd at 8.00pm. We’ll return to Doodling weekly so keep your eyes peeled.
Men of the Match for 8/3: Christophe, Ross F and Tom D. And bloody right too. I’d have voted for them all if only I’d had three votes.
So here is a picture of a cute puppy. I dunno why. It’s all I’ve got for this week.
A decent game of football last week marred only by a little confusion in who was playing resulting in whites being a man down and three goals down by the time Grant arrived so shore things up a bit. It ended 5-1 thereafter, a good result for Sean who is off the bottom of the table and has to hope Ben doesn’t win the last game, in Sean’s absence, by more than +4 goal difference. Getting tight at the top too with.. oh wait, no it’s not.
The battle will be for second place with David and yours truly in contention. Oh look oops I left David off the team sheet for this week. Sorry mate, unlucky.
Just kidding. Anyhoo, just one more league game for the season, then the Cup Final, and then some small rule changes to announce. Enjoy the sunshine ladies and I’ll see you all soon.
Last week’s man of the match: David! The total opposite of Samson. No hair, but a fine warrior nevertheless. And second in the table too.
So anyway…. The table never lies. See this one. It is not lying. It is saying nothing other than “I am a table.” It is not saying, “I am a tasmanian devil holding a van der Graaf generator between my voluptuous virgin thighs.” Or “Norwich City are the finest football team the world has ever seen.” That would be a lying table.
The table does, however, tell slight mistruths, shall we say. It errs, occasionally, from reality. It’s more like Syd Barrett than Pol Pot, though. It says, “Hey man, I just took some hot acid. How about these for teams?” At which point David Gilmour is supposed to say, “calm down Syd. Let’s do the teams this way.”
For those of you who know nothing about early Pink Floyd please take it from me, the above is very, VERY funny.
So the teams looked a little unbalanced on paper and this came to pass on the pitch too. This week’s big winner is Ben Shaw who not only got his first victory of the season at the 15th time of asking, but has moved above unfortunate Sean Kemp who, despite not playing terribly badly, is now bottom. A bit like Nick Clegg. (Ouch). (It’s true though).
The last time there were 5 goals difference in a game was November 2011 so, kids, worship the table. Love the table. BE the table. Now naff off and do some yoga.
A 6-1 victory to a strong looking colours side. I can’t remember who the goalscorers were. I got one, Tom D, David, Tom M. Someone tell me. Meh, it doesn’t matter. If the teams appear too unbalanced in future I’ll employ my veto to make it better.
