MATCH OF THE DAY!!
The big match
Early Saturday afternoon, there were many sore heads about the place. Only then did these sore heads realise that they had indeed agreed, for some crazy reason, to play a game of football on a rather blustery day in the Town. Some wise old sore heads, (who promised very loudly the night before that they would be there) stayed in bed! Peter Grant and Angus ‘Durdur’ Daniels, to name just two, failed to rise and shine for the town lads. With this bad start the town lads feared the worst, how do we stop the country lads? Boddach springs to mind!
Our master plan of standing in front of them failed with in minutes when one of the best defenders the island has seen was still standing on the spot as a grateful Morrison passed him with ease to start the scoring. After a lot of tormenting, the said ‘Ravanelli’ Macaskill did not give the ex-MSP a sniff. Seriously, he kept it all to himself.
But to match the explosive colours that were on the pitch, the town lads exploded into life. With the country boys giving him a free transfer to the town for the big match, Roddy Barvas ripped down the left wing at a great deal less pace than he used to (and to some laughs from the side line, yes I heard them!) Cutting in onto his right foot he thundered in a shot which was almost stationary because of the gale the town lads had been playing into! By this time Boddach had made an outstanding swash buckling save only to drop it at the feet of Alan Macdonald who punished him for his first lapse of concentration of the afternoon.
The town lads, with their tails up, again broke down the opposition with ease. Some lovely play down the right saw Nenna (yes, Nenna!) stick his cross right across the goal. With six or seven players still in shock at the class of MacLeod, they all missed it with the exception of Barvas who, falling over because of tiredness after trying to keep up with Nenna and Tipper (now out of Barlinie:> Haha!), only had to let it hit him to score the town’s second goal.
Things start to get a bit hazy around this point - it was a lack of oxygen, ahem! Barvas, who has always struggled with authority figures!, nearly lost his cool. The Ref, a former player with Roddy Barvas at Ness, was obviously being bribed by Morrison ex-MSP (obviously a Labour trick he learned while away from the island!) We know this to be the case because the now very tired Boddach, thought he was going to take a quick by-kick. As many of you laugh at that thought, his legs not being the same as they were 25 years ago, Boddach passed it to a very grateful Roddy Barvas who, with even more glee than before, slotted the ball home - only to be ruled off side. Now, how the heck is that possible? I was told we were playing 1980 rules! Yea, right! Without doubt, the town boys were there to win it and with Tipper and Nenna, and particularly Alan Macdonald, playing so well, things looked very good for the Townies.
However, the highlight of the first half went to the country lads. Some trickery from Macpherson and Macbain in the middle of the park cut open the town lads and Macbain, forgetting that he and everyone else on the park were indeed 40, sent a rasper of a diagonal pass out to the right to Ian Gillies who was still running 10 minutes later and still did not get the pass! This was obviously a trick by the country boys as the town lads were almost caught out because they were still laughing at Ian Gillies trying to catch the ball. Obviously nothing happened, because the score was still 2 to 1 at half time - I think.
After a far too brief break for half time, with absolutely no refreshments at all of any kind, things took a dive for the town boys. Pudding, rumbled forward, struggling with the now oncoming wind slowing down his small frame, and managed to squeeze a pass through what had become a water tight defence. It could not have been a very good goal as I can’t remember it. So 2 – 2. This soon became 3 – 2 to the country boys as the wind played a big part in missed tackles, and the country boys slipped the ball into the back of the net again. ‘We don’t care who scored it really as long at it was not Morrison’ was the Town motto!!!
The fivers were obviously still being passed by the ex-MSP (who had been clearly overpaid by his former employers - the tax payers!), to the aforementioned ref, D.J Smith, who gave a penalty against Nenna. The replay clearly showed that this was a great tackle, and he clearly got the ball after he got the man! With things looking grim for the townies, Pudding, with sure footedness, stepped up to thump the ball to his right only for an extraordinary save from Bubble. However, the country boys did get the ball in the net again to make it 4 – 2. ‘It was the sore hand from the penalty save’ according to Bubble!
Chins on the floor, and no amount of wishful thinking could have prepared the townies for the next moment. Right from the kick off, Macdonald passes to Barvas, who in turn passes it to Duke Box who from 65 + yards (I kid you not) thumped the ball. The ball, now travelling at near the speed of light (according to Boddach), bounced near the spot and went straight over Boddach’s head and into the net. With much mocking now taking place, and a sense of deja-vu that I am sure has happened before with Boddach, the country boys were now like a defeated boxer who had just got a leathering and the town lads scored again to take the tie to 4 – 4. With the wind and the tide and with Boddach on the Town side, the Townies were closing in on the winner only for the ref to take pity on his ‘employer’ and blow the final whistle.
I have to admit, there was a great deal of relief at the final whistle. There were amazingly no heart attacks or for that broken legs or even pulled muscles. We must have been a lot fitter than we felt. With the Town boys having a moral victory at least, the day passed with no trouble. So for my closing thoughts - it is time for “reflections”, since I am now a minister and feel the need to do something religious, I close with these profound thoughts, “Though no one said it, we all thought it, I ain’t doing this at our 50th, no way!”
Thanks to all the committee who made our weekend a great one, and well done to all who came to it. I really look forward to the next one which I hope will be in 5 years time and not 10.
Roddy ‘Barvas’ MacRae
Page Last Updated - 06/05/2009
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