TEAM: Beautiful Kris Mercelis in goal; trying to keep the action from our own goal in defense were Nils McGrath, Sylvain Lachia, Jean Minne; while the midfield was eager to get on the scoring board with Joaquin Gimneo Blanco, Rich McGeehan, Steve Lamarra, Luka Novak and James Philpo; Hodgy and Tommy Kellerman up front waiting to be served some bagels and last but not least a hungry and aggressive bench of Adrian Vasquez and Kevin Deroeck.

Motivation has been rising in anticipation of the big derby day with unexpected amounts of sunshine and the return of Gav’s motivational Whatsapp speeches. Following last week’s clean sheet, Kris has gained confidence and the whole squad looked sharp.

Jimmy and John were watching from the sidelines thinking about the some cruel exercises for the next practice session while Nils was blabbering something about the qualities of the Irish defence.

The game was on and the Britsh started attacking. Pressing high-up, winning balls in midfield and being quick in transition. Early chances by Hodgy and Tommy were just about missed but the first goal was almost there. While everybody was expecting the Brits to go ahead, the Irish got a freekick in dangerous position. Cillian stepped up and following a slight deflection, the ball was flying dangerously into the top corner direction. But luckily enough, we had Kris in goal that pulled an all-time magic save (or was he just looking very focussed at the ball?). Following that cross-bar moment, a slight little mistake in the Irish defence was all it took for the game to be swung by Luka allowing Tommy his first tap-in.

Second half began with the same kind of intensity and more chances coming the British way. Following one of Hodgy’s all-time classic, knee-destroying, slides, Joaquin was through on the left, played a beautiful cross for Tommy’s second tap-in of the day. Then Nils found his way back on the scoring board in classic fashion after a long Minne throw-in. Luka continued to show his excellence by assisting Tommy once more whose failed cross went straight into the back of the net. Two tap-ins and a failed cross sealed the first hat-trick of the season for the British, still far short from the incredible 8 hat-tricks by 8 different players from the 14-15 season. But who knows, there are still five games to play for. The derby against the Irish ended with an own-goal at the last minute and a perfect 5-0 to the good guys.

Celebrations off the pitch continued thanks to Richie’s 200th appearance, bagels being served and great news from Jefke and Portugal dropping points. The beers were flowing and everybody is already eagerly awaiting the motivational speeches of next Saturday:

"I'm sure I don't need to mention that with 5 games to go, 5 wins is going to win you the title. This is not going to be easy, as each of these games should be treated as individual cup final, and needs you ALL to come together as a squad”. Thank you for these wise words wise man. We missed you and we will do our best! Excited!

MoM and Reporter: Tommy Kellerman