So ahhh….. yes, well, that wasn’t pretty was it.

The Nannas™ had struggled to find ring-ins before kickoff, which meant we started with the tightest of fives. Now, I’m of the opinion that a Tight 5® can actually work quite well, consistency and all that, but perhaps there is still some kind of combined age threshold above which the return on investment starts to head south, rather quickly. I wouldn’t say we ran out of legs exactly, but the energy levels definitely dropped off in the second half. We were moving it around the back quite well, but struggled to link up effectively in the last third with wayward passes and poor first touches really letting us down. Unfortunately, the opposition were doing the opposite, with quite a number of their goals more less tapped in… doh. They scored 3 each side of halftime and we failed to register a single digit on the scoreboard… double doh. Ah well, it was still fun (when Best Looking wasn’t yelling at us) and relatively free of argey bargey, which is certainly not a given with Harchester. Jim did go down very theatrically at one point and Andy got a yellow card – I did’t see the incident and Wal was protesting his innocence while admitting “well, I did chop him, but…”. The author also had a glancing headed goal disallowed after the ref failed to register that the faintest of touches had in fact occurred (he wasn’t having a great night), one day we’ll have VAR and I will have satisfaction. Also of note was the arse coaching Captain, twice the leadership in the technical area, respek!

Then to the new, possibly now old, club house for meals that took so long to arrive that Jim and Captain had to leave unfed. Tao hung in there until his carbonara arrived but it was barely larger than a starter so he too left largely unfed. Conversation revolved around the Orange Emperor and his increasingly free and easy approach to post war geopolitics. Europe now playing the part of “the Baddies” with Russia stepping into the role of“the Good Guys”… Phark. TV Shows. A crazy arse film by a Polish autodidact that is more David Lynch than David Lynch. Tropical Cyclones. Hiking at the Prom. Then to the Photo Booth for a final dose of disappointment as the machine was out of action… ah well, it was an absolutely beautiful night for a ride, the small pleasures.