LINEUP: Jean, James, Nils, Dex(Fred), Antti, Hodge, Tarik(Martino), Paul, Dani, Thomas, Martijn

We all knew Martino was a talented sportsman...but did you know he is also a medium? He walked over to Hodgy in the warm-up and says, straight-faced, "i see the future and we will get a penalty today”. Yeah yeah Martino whatevs nobody believes that stuff.

Game kicked off late but it only took 30 seconds for RBBFC to take the lead. A ball down the right was laid back to James who crossed first time. Paul was on the end of it and within the blink of an eyelid had turned and rifled into the bottom corner. Lovely goal, lovely start.

The cheers didn’t last long though. Before we knew it we’d conceded an equaliser. Some sloppy mistakes lead to their left sided midfielder straight through on Jean. He finished well to level it up at 1-1.

Anyone remember that time Zlatan karaté kicked the ball over a despairing Joe Hart and Ryan Shawcross when England played Sweden that one time? Well LXG scored something a little like that to take the lead. A long through ball wasn’t properly dealt with by our défense and Jean came rushing out and even remembered to remove his cap off before only managing to half clear with his head. The LXG forward didn’t hesitate and sent the ball high up into the air heading for goal. Time slowed right down...Nils was chasing...Jean was chasing...surely between them they’d sort this out...no they only managed to get in each other’s way as the ball bounced on the line and then high up into the roof of the net. Dang. 2-1 down after such a great start.

We dealt with the setback pretty well though and came roaring back into the game. Antti doing well down the left. Paul and Thomas had decent penalty shouts and Martijn got unlucky with a cross that was just too far behind him to get a good connection.

Just before half-time our chance came though. Once again Antti doing very well to get to the byline and drive in to the box in front of his marker who couldn’t resist doing the right thing and chopped him down for a stonewall penalty.

Hodgy drilled the penalty into the bottom corner (more on that goal later) and then Martino ‘the medium’ Costa got himself a yellow card for running on the pitch to tell Hodgy ‘I told you so’. That was just coincidence though...right?!

2-2 at the half. Half-time message was upbeat - this is where our fitness counts most - we'll take em in the second half. Martino on for Tarik.

Second half didn't quite start as we had hoped though. 5-10 mins in and again more sloppy mistakes led to their striker wrong footing Jean with a solid strike and we were 2-3 down. LXG will feel they should have widened the gap minutes later when a failed offside trap left 2 of their players alone in front of goal with only Jean to beat. The man on the ball slid his teammate in to tap into an empty net. Sometimes, just sometimes, if you shout loud enough you get a decision. Ref blew for offside...lifeline.

We didn't let up. Martino and Paul were showing their strength and ability. Thomas looked dangerous. The equaliser seemed inevitable.

Another attacking move saw us awarded a free-kick out on the right, a decent 20-25 metres out. Thomas has been striking a mean deadball so far this season and he did not disappoint here. A wicked strike over the wall towards the near top corner was destined to hit the back of the net. Their keeper miraculously got a strong hand on it and managed to keep the ball out...only for Martino to nod in the rebound from close range. Phew. 3-3.

We might have gone on to win but as it was we had to settle for the draw. Silly mistakes cost us this time but coming from behind twice is a sign of how tough this team are mentally. Hopefully more improvement to come next week.

The mom contenders Antti, Martino and Paul all left early doors. Without them around people took the easy option and voted for the milestone. The penalty was my 150th goal for the club. Pretty cool but more important than any individual stat is that even after all these years and all these appearances Saturday is STILL the best day of the week and i STILL wouldn't rather be anywhere else. Uno Mas.

Reporter & MOM: A Hodgson