n.b. This was a cup game with a later kick-off time of 10:30
Sometimes a seemingly innocuous moment or conversation at training can prefigure what’s to come on Saturday. On Thursday evening, Evan and Mark ran out onto the dark and uneven surfaces of Forest School’s car park. As he turned a corner, I yelled ‘EVAN!’, but Mark’s mum was sanguine. She said “Well Mark is the George Best of the team, you know.”
I wasn’t so sure. “Really?”
“Yes, we had Amelia (the coach’s daughter) round the other day and Mark gave her a Fanta. Her dad told me that she normally only has water.”
It seems that Amelia benefitted from the sugar rush because her commitment to Cruyff turns and drag backs paid off in style and when I mentioned to Mark’s mum that the team were playing well, she said “Yes, it’s probably because of the lie in.” A lie in for a six-year-old? Again, that’s news to me, but Mark’s maverick, Fanta-driven worldview seems to have its benefits when the kick-off is pushed back. He was committed, effective and demonstrated a (hitherto undetectable) mental alertness which made him a vital component of the team.
Another important conversation was one conducted by text message with Marjie Walker, hardened supporter and the Wokingham and Emmbrook firm’s ‘top boy’, as it were, along with the sartorially elegant Joe Walker. As you may know, Marjie is ultra-conversant with the ways of the iphone, and when arranging a ‘meet’ is able to baffle and befuddle even the most proficient of emoji users and linguists, of which I am not. On this occasion she outwitted both the Westwood Wanderers crew and Woodley Cyber Crime Squad in just a few words by opting for French: ‘Tu veux un cafe a Costa a demain? Je t’emporterai un grande latte si tu veux?! Sucre ou non? A bientot’ (accents included). So having managed to outwit the authorities by a variety of means to gain entrance to the facility, the support they offered, at the peak of Woodley’s monsoon season, genuinely buoyed the team as they sought to contend with Westwood Wanderers’ niggly and ill-timed challenges.
Against the run of play, Wanderers took the lead in the first half, but the second half belonged to Wokingham. From one free-kick, Evan shot from well inside his own half (a cleaner strike you will not see), but it was saved as it dipped towards the top corner. An equaliser wasn’t long in coming though, with Josh Dance calmly finishing from close range sfter sustained pressure. When it looked as if we were heading for extra time, another free kick was awarded and this time it was star man Connor Mulvaney’s turn. There seemed to be something curious about the angle he approached the ball at, but what do I know? As his left foot connected, well…he pinged it unstoppably into the far corner, sending Wokingham and Emmbrook through to the next round. As Evan was excitedly speaking through the fence after the game, he was taken out, ambushed by our resident George Best’s exuberant embrace. Evan got up, clipped his heels and they were off running again.
This was a victory for spirit and creativity, both on and off the pitch, so it was fitting that fans left the ground singing both ‘Autumn Almanac’ by The Kinks and Ray Davies’ ‘Next Door Neighbour.’
‘Friday evenings, peeeeeeople get together,
Hiiiiiiiiding from the weather.
Tea and toasted, buttered currant buns
Can’t compensate for lack of sun,
Because the summer’s all gawn.’
‘Mr. Smith, another story
I wonder what became of him?
They say he threw the telly through the window
He went berserk and jacked the whole world in
They say he may have hit rock bottom
Still, he went out with a BANG and so he is not forgotten.’
Wilderspool Causeway 