With a squad of 10 (no goalie) the Gondoliers had a foreboding about this game. So it was a pleasant surprise when we picked up a Southampton goalie from the previous game.
The game was fairly evenly matched however the Gondos went in at half time with a 2-1 lead but down to 10 men - who would have predicted this? And so on All Hallows Day (with the adjacent pitch populated with a Tapley team of trick and treaters garbed in radiation warning colours - no doubt a throw back from their roots -AEA) and then...the sun went down and a purple haze appeared on the right side of the pitch affecting Nick who was sent off allegedly arguing with the umpire. When will Nick learn that a player does not have the right of reply so he should have kept his mouth shut instead of pointing out to the umpire that a green card is time out, but for good measure and for embarrassing the umpire further this turned to a yellow. The umpire felt good and powerful now and even said it was up to him how long Nick would be off for and just to prove the point it was a 15 min time out. Nick has suggested resigning from hockey and concentrating on cycling due to such injustices - the rest of the team were tempted to take him up on his offer.
After an early 2nd half goal took the Gondos to a 3-1 lead we then lost our shape and composure. A sloppy goal was given away 3-2 followed by Tom passing to the opposition who immediately strung a few good passes together 3-3 and then in the final minutes another goal and we were 4-3 down - pay back for last weeks result. There was some histrionics and handbags at dawn between Brent and a convicted serial offender on the Southampton side (pointed out by Nigel in an earlier identity parade), but the Halloween moment of the game was Alistair's amazing goal, a superb deflection off long hard pass from Nigel sending the ball at top speed into the top of the net - a pure Treat!
Clearly the Gondos will have some work to do if they hope to defend last seasons incredible win against Oxford Hawks next week.
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