After the biggest battle for the starting line-up sofar this season (24 qualifiers, most of them with all limbs and breathing) so Mao needed his authoritarian style. Which reduced the number of spectators somewhat but we felt the support !

Alex in goal, Scott Paul Jean-Louis in Defense (yes, an away game to a team with double our points and we start with 3 defenders), midfield of George and Chris in holding, Stemps and Adi on the wings and Patrizio in the middle plus the dynamic duo of Ffinch and Timmie up front. Benchstrength with Freddie, Dave, Mark. Bazza relegated to umpire as he is just back from a Mexican beach the sloucher.

OK so away we go for a grasspitch match against Choule.

Right after kickoff some battles on midfield but the lines seemed to hold. Clever defense with offsides and Scott closing the gaps. Jean-Louis and Paul did not need fouls and comfortably held off their attacking waves. Alas, a mishap in defense while clearing an innocent cross and the ball bounces to the forewards of Choule who cleverly pass it out and 1-0.

Alex made some big saves and impressive runs off the line (shall I go, no I wont Scott will get there, oh maybe not, If I go now I will be late, let's wait on the line, no screw it I will go for it. And get it !).

Choule could not be resting cos' George and Chris were closing up midfield, using Pat as the distribution with Adi and Stemps making penetrating runs, which led to a great chance for Timme: He got the ball at 30 meters from goal, threatened to pass it to Chris to his right, threatened again, leaned in again and then had the whole defense thinking he surely will pass it and not be a selfish prick with a .78 record and go for goal ? Surely he did. As all defenders leaned and fell over expecting a pass, they left the left corner open. One more threat and Timme put it away cleverly. 1-1 !

So far all was quiet on the referee front. However Bas decided to make a contribution and gave us a penalty on account of an attack on Chris who was away on a clever pass by Timme through the middle. It accelerated off the ground and Chris anticipated well only to get hit loudly. Credit to him, while stumbling he did not do the Balotelli but stumbled on for a shot. Nevertheless, penalty which Chris himself put away neatly. 2-1 before the tea !

Halftime with Adi off for Mark. Good team talk, hold steady !

Second half started with controversy. What are the ABSSA rules about 'Scotsman sliding studs up gets to ball first but opponent still out of range' Anyway the Choule whimp felt threatened and decided to shove Scott. Red card and free kick for us. But wait: no red cards on hand and opponent not going anywhere. Nice bit of escalation, duly calmed by the captains (thanks again Riley, for a historic expose on what happened in this situation two years ago on a field far, far away). OK, truce signed and play goes on. Dave on for Stemps. After some discussion which in North Korea would mean they feed you to the dogs. No let Freddie go on. I wont go. No not left back. Well OK then but don't give me lip. OK so Dave on.

Quickly afterwards the bloody ref (oh wait, that's me. I mean the excellent impartial one) decides that a shove to the Choule forward in scoring position means a penalty. What really happened is he bounced into Dave who did not lose his balance, strongfooted fighter he is, but the weakling fell with the ball out of range. Anyway, penalty and 2-2. OK we are in for a nice final 20 minutes, nervousness taking over but wait, do we have more air than the opposition ? Seems like it ! Play got ugly, no combinations but with long balls and fast Mark, Timme and Chris up front dangerous enough ! Did I mention they changed goalkeepers and now had a guy in goal with a gut like Jimmy Fivebellies and he was dressed the same way ! jogging pants, glasses, moving like he is walking between the couch and the fridge. But no shots on goal from us ! Until finally a free kick in midfield, highball into the center and time for some Mark Magic. He sees the ball fly in, ducks, kicks it overhead and it goes over the keeper into the goal ! 2-3 to the good guys.

Jittery minutes to play plus 5 extra for the historic expose, so 10 minutes of fun. A real battle ensued with fights for possession going on all over the field. Some chances for Choule but their forwards lost their wit and did not combine anymore. Full points in the bag from a good team after an impressive fight. MoM standoff between George and Scott, won by Scott in the second round but George had a birthday so a good time was had by all until late.