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Having started the season with two defeats, the Vets were certainly in the mood to start turning things around.  Even the fact that we only had the bare eleven didn’t put us off.  We started well, worked hard, created chances and, most importantly, kept our shape throughout the match.  With the unenviable task to replace Jim Finn for this match, Phil (Dean’s mate) did excellent work and in combination with Ray, Derek and Shaggy plus Martin as safe as the Bank of England, gave our defence a very solid look which limited Old Pastovians to long range efforts.

The goal came from a set piece, a corner which went over Pastovians’ man-mountain goalkeeper and was headed in expertly at the far post by an uncharacteristically humble Bobby Horn (“it just fell on my head”). We should have scored more as a hardworking Bobby and Pete Culham up front gave their defence lots of problems but luck wasn’t with us.  As usual, Dean was in the thick of things in the middle, did his Zidane footwork impression (not bad at all, we have to say!), showed misplaced compassion by missing a penalty (“I didn’t think it was a penalty”) and got put off by the size of the Pastovians’ goalkeeper during a one-on-one (well, you are a shrinking violet, aren’t you Deano!!)

Oh yes, and I played like a wet lettuce which has been left in the garden for three weeks….

 Tony van Emst