Skipper Jim Finn's Report follows the official Vets Scribe's report...

The prospect of sharing a beer (and Tea Duty!) with unwashed ‘fragrant’ team mates (courtesy of the showers being re-furbished) after the match was clearly appealing to the Vets, as we had a stormin’ (sorry Norm) game against a strong Blackheath side. We finally recorded an excellent win after a bit of a losing streak over the last four games. While pre-match tactic talks were largely confined to the imminent demise of Pete Culham’s facial hair which according to insider reports has adorned his features since he was four years old, you could clearly feel that we were ‘up for it’ and everyone worked their socks off from the kick off and throughout the match.

Nevertheless, Blackheath took the lead with a well taken goal but that didn’t reduce our resolve and we started to apply the pressure. It was a very competitive match with, shall we say, some ‘juicy’ tackles. John Foster made a good run into their box and got fouled for a clear penalty which Gavin dispatched expertly for the equaliser. In the second half, we took the lead after a great run by Sam who had a shot which everyone, including the Blackheath goalkeeper, thought would go wide. It didn’t, and we were 2-1 up.

A very good move with crisp one touch passing by Blackheath sliced our defence open for an equaliser but another reckless tackle by the opposition defence inside their own box gave Gavin another fully justified penalty which he converted for what turned out to be the winner, despite the goal keeper getting a hand to it. After this, shall we say, tempers flared a touch and self-control on the opposition’s side suffered markedly.  A special thanks to Alan Lawrance therefore, as he was on the receiving end of some frankly unacceptable behaviour and sledging by some Blackheath players. He kept his cool however and to their credit, the opposition did apologise for it afterwards which made the post match beers a much more friendly affair, as it should be.

The ‘Having a bad day’ award must go to Del. Not only were there no showers, was he tied to the sink to do the washing up after the match, saw United lose to Man. City, had to listen to van Emst crowing about Arsenal’s 7-0 victory over Middlesborough, but worst of all, he was the victim of a terrible tackle which winded him badly (or worse, cracked a rib. Have it checked out Del!) and had to come off as a result. Oh yes and Oldham lost as well…..

 Tony van Emst  

Saturday’s game against Blackheath was a good team performance and overall, I think we deserved our 3-2 win. We seemed to have the correct attitude from the start and even though we went a goal down in the first half, it was not necessary to change how we were playing as we were doing alright. We drew level with a penalty from Gavin after John Foster had been brought down in the penalty area and then, we went ahead in the second half, when Sam Karlsson deceived their keeper with a well placed shot from just inside the area. Blackheath came back and equalised with a fine goal following a defence splitting pass. However, we won the game with a second penalty from Gavin after another foul inside their penalty area. It was disappointing to see about three of Blackheath’s players being abusive to Alan, even though they may have had some justification for a penalty when the ball hit a defender’s hand. It was quite unnecessary. Well done, Alan. You made your decision and stood by it. Well done everyone. We have a tough game on Saturday against Malden vets, so we will require the same attitude for this game that we showed against Blackheath.

On a more serious note, the other evening I had a nightmare. I dreamt that Norman had asked to play in midfield and foolishly, I agreed. He spent the whole game running aimlessly around the pitch and naturally the rest of the team were becoming extremely frustrated with his efforts. Even placid guys like Gavin and Peter were using the language of the gutter at him. I felt for Norman and was pleased when I came out of this hallucination.

Norman needs help and I am hoping that team members can assist. Historians amongst you will know that Norman descends from the Vikings who settled in Northern France in medieval times. Their rule there was formally recognised in 911 by Charles the Simple and I know for fact that Norman has always tried to base his game on Charles.

Because of the delicate nature of this e mail, I am restricting delivery to team members only.

What I would like to know, therefore, from you guys, is the answer to the following question. 

 Jim Finn