Line-up: Jean Minne (Captain),

James Philpott, Andy Dunn, Ben Thom, Tarik Si M'Hammed,

Andrew Hodgson, Luka Novak, Paul Somers,

Daniele Mineo, Maarten Billiet, Thomas Godeau

Subs: Martin Costa, Martijn Ebregt, Nils McGrath

It feels like a lifetime ago that we had our last 'Best Day of the Week'. Lockdowns and regulations of the last 18 months left us all uncertain about when we could continue our glorious careers in the ABSSA league. Last season we saw a glimmer of hope, only to have our dreams shattered after 4 games. However, thankfully, this season our prayers have been answered, and we can now focus on winning a 9th league title for the club.

With a pre-season of hard work completed, a 6-0 win over Coin de Balai under our belts, and the transfer window closed, it was once again the first 'Best day of the week' of the season for 21/22! Some late injuries within the squad over the last week forced Captain Minne to make some last minute changes to the line-up; this season's new 4-3-3 formation, with the Captain himself in goal, saw a defensive line of Philpott, Dunn, Thom and Si M'Hammed behind a mid-three of Hodgson, Somers and Novak, with Mineo, Billiet and Godeau up front. With Ebregt, Costa and McGrath waiting in the wings, we still had an incredibly strong squad. How could we lose, right?

The coin toss saw the teams switch halves, before LTC got the new season underway from kick-off. As discussed in the dressing room, the aim for the first 10-15 was keep the game calm, keep compacted and not press the opposition too high. All in all, we did this very well. With the exception of a few corners, the opposition were not too much of a threat. The defence was strong from the start, and the maestros in midfield played well from back to front, linking with the fullbacks Philpott and Si M'Hammed and the forwards to create some nice chances. We pushed forward, winning corners and, in particular, a fantastic free-kick taken by Godeau; he whipped the ball around the outside of the wall, just clipping the outside of the post. Eventually, we did take the lead, or so we thought.. A through ball played to Mineo that he slotted passed the keeper was called offside after the ball hit the back of the net (a call that became a familiar theme throughout the rest of the game). Through the half we continued to move the ball around well, both with our short passing and long balls over the top for the wingers to chase. Then, finally, the deadlock was broken; a long ball over the top from Dunn sent Billiet down the line, once again easily beating the full back for pace. A great ball into the box from Billiet found Mineo, who's attempt to take the ball around the LTC keeper only just failed. Thankfully, however, Godeau was there to collect the loose ball and fire it in to the top left hand corner. A well-deserved 1-0 to RBBFC 1. The remainder of the half continued much the same, with no real threats for our defence, and solid play from the whole team.

Half time: 1-0

After a fiery team talk, some new ideas given by McGrath, and a substitution of Novak for Ebregt, we were ready for the second half. Within the first few minutes however, some close quarter passing on the left hand side saw Thom pass the ball back to Dunn, who mis-controlled the ball allowing the LTC forward through on goal. Thankfully for Dunn, the forward couldn't take advantage of his chance, shooting from 25 yards with no real accuracy. For the majority of the second half we continued to control the game well. Hodgson and Ebregt in the midfield didn't let much get past them, winning the ball back again and again. Substitutions of Costa and McGrath kept our intensity high as we continued to look for more goals. However, our efforts were regularly called off as we found ourselves offside time after time (some of us started to wonder if Mineo was actually playing sweeper for LTC!) as we couldn't manage to keep our line. Nevertheless, we continued to create chances. Mineo, Godeau and Somers individually made great runs down the left hand side to provide balls into the box, narrowly missing the heads of our forwards. Billiet also found himself in a position to score another absolute screamer, and, if this was rugby, it would have been. For the last 10-15 minutes, LTC switched to 3 at the back, and starting to advance forward more in search of an equalizing goal. We saw a change in them, they started to play well from the back and between their midfield and attackers. In defence we found ourselves with an extra man to mark, making the runs down the wings. However, they lacked that final killer pass or cross. And thus, despite one good shot from 20 yards out, they couldn't find a way through.

Overall, LTC 1 never showed any clear cut chances. It was definitely a deserved win for ourselves, since we controlled the game well from start to finish. However, if we were able to stay on-side, we could have (and probably should have) increased our lead a lot earlier in the game. Despite this, it was an absolutely solid performance from the whole squad! Everyone played their part and did their job. Most importantly, we got our first 3 points and our first clean sheet of the season!

Here's to next weekend against Higgins 1 away, where we need to make sure that we repeat the feat. Let's go lads!!

Take Pleasure!

MOM and Reporter: Andy 'Dis-moi oui' Dunn