Oh dear, oh dear

December 5, 2004 9:37 AM from

Sick as a parrot...........

This is a "missed one, and I'll catch up later" sort of entry, and within a few minutes of reading this weblog you will understand what I mean.

It was a pity as I really wanted to see how the Tigers got on against Crowle. But then I fell foul of the assorted "ill-nesses" that most of us get at this time of year here in the UK. To be honest I remember very little of Sunday at all. The reason for this?. A mixture of thing, as I have already said. It was a conglomeration of an early Winter cold, with a touch of a Sinus Attack, with a twist of School delivered Sickness bug. And with all that, I was then told that the match that the Tigers played was "not of the highest standards".

Having watched this weeks game - I wish I had still been too ill to have attended - they were plain awful.

Sunday 05th December 2004

Park Tigers 1 - Gainsborough Hawks 2

“All the words below are only a simple Parents' opinion of what he sees, and how he sees it. “

Man of the Match – No-one

The weather, for this time of year is a little odd to say the least. Earlier in the week, "it was proper Winter". It was Cold. It was Icy. It was bitter. But today?

It was more like mid to late Autumn. The Sun was bright and low in the sky. It was warm. The ground under foot was muddy and damp . But all in all quite pleasant. And, with only a few weeks to Christmas you would have expected at least wishing that it was a little bitter. But it wasn't. That said there was plenty of flasks' of Coffee appearing out of Back packs and Bags.

1st Half

The Tigers started the match playing very badly, and then they seemed to get worse. You couldn't honestly say anything else. The Lads didn't talk to each other. Their passing was non-existent. Passes missed. Feet were flung left, right and centre. Ben tried to score and "fluffed it". Then Andy and Callum fell over each other. The only members of the team that seemed to do anything were Jaccy, Naz, and our Liam.

I know I'm biased (I wonder why? -

) That said, by the end of the match Mr "Tall and Lanky

" would leave the field with a face "as long as a wet weekend" - and all because he, like I, had set ourselves a set of standards higher than we could probably supply.

There was just no "effort" from the Tigers. And they were soon penalised for the lack of effort. The Hawks came down the pitch and played the ball across. The tigers defence, as a whole was beaten, with only "Tall and Lanky" in the way. The Hawks player struck the ball, and it seemed to go behind Liam. The ball pitched up and struck the crossbar, then the goal post and sort of "trickled" passed Liam as he he tried to turn and stop the ball.

What a devil -

Tigers 0 - Gainsborough Hawks 1

Then things seemed to change a little in the favour of the Tigers. They created several good attacks and there was a little bit of "good play". And then there was a foul in the Hawks Box. Everyone lined themselves around the edge. Andy (who was the Ref for the day) made it very clear to everyone what he was expecting. Joshy came up to take the penalty and scored.

Tigers 1 - Gainsborough Hawks 1

And that is the way that the half finished.The smiles of the other week had gone. There were eleven anxious looking faces came off the pitch for the half time "talk". And Chris was not happy - but neither was anyone watching.

Something had to be said.

2nd Half

The second half started a little better than the last half had finished. But the confidence didn't last long. The Tigers play soon broke down to what it had been half an hour before.

The Hawks took over.

And they got their reward. A corner was awarded and the ball played across the face of the Tigers goal. Liam reached for it and caught, and then dropped the ball into the pack of bodies around him.The ball bounced, and pitched in the melee of bodies. Liam seemed to half catch the ball again and then lost it. Next thing you know, the ball is in the net, with Liam looking up at the sky, back to the grass with the strangest looking "face" that you have ever seen.

"NOT HAPPY" would not completely cover the situation (Liam still said nothing, with that odd expression on his face, as he came in the back-door at home forty minutes later)

Tigers 0 - Gainsborough Hawks 1

The game was over.

There was no after match team talk.

Chris just sent them everyone on their way without comment.

There was nothing to be said.