TEAM:

K.Mercelis (GK) J. Minne, D. Bernardo, J. Philpot, K. de Roeck, A. Hodgson, S. Lamarra, R. Mc Geehan, D. Donner, D. Heerkens, T. Kellermann

SUBS:

N. Mc Grath, M. Vadora, L. Novak, 竹田S.

After a mini-break in the Belgian countryside the weekend before, RBBFC1 came back refreshed and ready for the challenge of Choule back on home turf at Rosières. Choule were another team not yet safe from the drop and thus a dangerous proposition for a British team very much on the title trail.

The usual pre-match routine of robot dances, bananas and clichéd speeches from the captain was supplemented this week by a welcome new arrival: shiny new match balls. Even if RBBFC must be the only club still using Mitre balls, this nouveauté got the squad excited. Having miserably failed in his previous efforts at ball pumping, Lamarra was fired by unanimity and McGrath Jr and Sr went off to a private room to break in the new balls. With new balls primed and a vigorous warm-up completed, the mighty whites seemed ready for kick-off when Kris decided something was not quite right. Clearly worried that the new balls were shinier than his golden locks, Mercelis promptly replaced them all with training balls. Seeing the perplexed look on his Captain’s face, RBBFC’s no. 1 explained that in fact the new balls were too shiny and that like this, "if I concede a goal now, i’ll only have myself to blame”. To be continued…

Training ball or not, RBBFC got off to another promising start, pushing forward and dominating the early stages. The forward trio of Dries, Daniel and Tommy were looking dangerous and it was no surprise that the first goal came from a slick combination from Tommy, putting Daniel through for a powerful finish. 1-0 up at home was a familiar scoreline for the Brits who were determined this time to get the second goal before the break. With the defence of Minne, Bernardo and Hhhhamez Philpot looking solid, Lamarra holding the middle and De Roeck and Hodgson pushing down the wings, the signs were looking good. Towards the end of the half some good approach play down the right released Kellermann who crossed to McGeehan at the far post. Richie decided to cushion the ball down to Dries in front of goal who, perhaps confused by the change of ball, perhaps by the particularly round head of the opposition keeper, managed to make a perfect connection… with the keeper’s head. Fortunately he was able to continue on, albeit with a comedy lump on his head.

It thus looked like the first half would end with a 1-0 scoreline to the home team. However, as they do most weeks, the Brits sensed Coach McGrath needed a little bit more ammunition for his half-time team talk, if only to prevent McGeehan getting another dressing down for his positional play. When another British attack came to nothing, there did not appear to be any danger. As the Choule left-back launched the ball long, there still did not appear to be any danger. As the defence left the ball to our sweeping keeper, there still did not seem to be any danger. As the ball was suitably unshiny there still did not …. "stupid training ball took a dodgy bounce” explained our otherwise immaculate keeper as we went to the break 1-1. Coach McGrath was generous enough as we supped on some cleverly marketed sports drinks. Rousing the spirit of some 20th century footballer no-one had heard of, he told us to go out and do it all again.

Spurred on by these words, the whites once again started to dominate the game. Shortly after the restart, a smart back-heel from Heerkens gave McGeehan a chance to shoot from the edge of the area and he found the bottom corner for the 2-1. When Donner then released Dries down the middle, he made no mistake and the Choule resistance was broken. To make matters worse, RBBFC decided to bring on a couple of promising young wing-backs in Vadora and Novak to add some pace on the flanks. McGrath Jr was also added to give the midfield some extra steel and the league leaders were now starting to move the ball at will. Kellerman added his second assist of the game when he found Dries in the box who once again finished smartly. As the game moved towards its final quarter, the Brits were rampant. Takeda came on to add to the Choule misery and immediately won a free-kick on the right. McGeehan whipped the ball towards the far stick and Vadora ran into the post, fell over, and knocked the ball in from 10cm out to complete the rout.

After a couple of close calls in recent weeks, RBBFC 1 had the comfortable victory they wanted. As the players rehydrated with some more cleverly marketed drinks and mingled with their loyal fans, news filtered through that Portugal had… won. All eyes on Stade Chazal next week then with another point needed to make sure of the title.

MOM & Reporter: Richard McGeehan