Alltraders V Subs United - 13th October 2000 - 21:00

On a cold, damp, miserable Friday evening, Alltraders gathered again to meet our latest opposition, Subs United. Sadly tonight we miss the silky talents of Andy Westerman, who decided to take it easy relaxing on another night shift at Gatwick. Don't sleep too deeply Andy...

No matter, tonight we welcome the return to top class five-a-side football of Tony Good, our goal-a-game hero from the Summer league. Could he maintain his unprecedented record? We were soon to find out.

Tonight's opposition were an unknown entity, having never appeared in any previous competitions. All we knew was that they seemed to be spending a worryingly long time warming up on the adjacent pitch, and looked very young and fit. But I suppose this is to be expected really...

The game began with an Alltraders kick. Unfortunately, the camera girl was still adjusting the headphones on her CD walkman to capture the Alltraders hallmark 'shot-from-the-start' party piece from Tony Good. If it had been on target as opposed to ten yards wide it might have even caused the goalkeeper a bit of inconvenience. However all it achieved was a few howls of derisive laughter from some watching lads on the other pitch.

Alltraders were actually looking very controlled tonight, Tim and Paul covering well at the back with assured play from Kevin and Tony in midfield and attack. The opposition, for all their fitness, failed to make any real progress into the Alltraders defence. The only real chance of the half they had brought out a superb save from a slightly more awake Warren Fiveash in goal. Apart from that their finishing was bordering on crap.

After a sustained spell of attacking play, Tim Leader gently lobbed the ball into the path of Tony Good who was now unmarked on the left, close to the byeline. With a piece of skill not normally seen in an Alltraders shirt, he cushioned the pass with a deft touch and launched a shot of precision that drifted gently over the head of the stranded goalkeeper into the far netting. Not only was this a continuation of Tony's goal-a-game record, he actually hit it with his left foot! A double-whammy if there ever was one!! It could be argued, however, that the ball did actually canon off of a defender's left buttock before it hit the back of the net, but we could argue about that forever. The goal goes down to Tony Good...

Tony actually manages to hit it with his left foot	Top corner - 'keeper - no chance...

Tim and Tony battle back	Kevin in the thick of it	Yet more action...

Things were looking good. A comfortable one goal lead and lots of good posession, with the prospect of more goals to come - what could possibly go wrong??

The ghost of the headless attacker comes close	Even Paul got on the attack

Well, it only takes a second to score a goal apparently. And that's about all it took for a slip-up in the Alltraders defence followed by a hurried snap shot that bounced under Warren's body and trickled agonisingly slowly over the goal line for the opposition equaliser. What rotten luck...

where was the marking?	Tim (far left) can't bear to look...

No game is complete without the lob from Tim	Another shot comes close ...	...as it canons off the post

With the game now all square, Alltraders knew that they had to push further forward in the remaining couple of minutes to try and reclaim the three points. Time and again, shots were either hitting the metalwork or skimming just wide. However, the opposition were still looking dangerous on the attack and mananged to glide past Tim at the back on one or two occasions. If it wasn't for Warren's acrobatics in goal or otherwise woefull finishing, Subs United could have snatched the points instead.

But the game was eventually won by the ever dependable Kevin Burton and his never-say-die approach to the game. Having taken on every player on the pitch (including some of the Alltraders team), he slid in his shot under the Subs goalkeeper, removing another few layers of skin from his right leg in the process.

Warren tries to find an Alltraders player for a change	Kevin slides in Alltraders second goal.

With no real time left for the opposition to mount a counter attack, Alltraders ran out worthy victors on the night.

Although playing good football for the second week running, there is still a worying lack of concentration at the back. There are still nine games to go, and a real possibility of qualification if we can sort this area out...

Having reviewed the video evidence, the stats go a bit like this:

Final Score:
Alltraders 2 (1) - (0) 1 Subs United
Kevin Burton