TWFC

We welcomed back Rilonlewis. He is now known as Prosperous but remains registered as Rilonlewis, he is a player that the fixture has not seen since 2019. A piece of trivia for long standing readers of this blog - Rilonlewis made his full debut in a 22 - 22 draw where Sadulla scored what was described as a 'Special Individual Goal', a viewer on YouTubeSteve praised Steve's delmonte trousers and JonF made the first ever attempt to overturn a match result using video technology.

Back to the match. Ed picked the teams, we initially thanked him for doing this. By the end of the night some sentiments were less grateful and one player even voiced a belief that Ed had executed a sleight of hand. We will examine whether there had been an edit of the rules as we go along.

Niyi was about 10 minutes late for the match. Guest Lineker kindly stepped in to cover him. When Niyi arrived Lineker switched to Ed's team. Theoretically this should have been numerically impossible, but we learned that MarkA had gone off with an injury and Lineker was his substitute. Even closer inspection showed that in short order Guest Jumhal had come on for the Orange Bibs. We learned that Ed was also injured and Jamal was his substitute. For the remainder of the first half the Orange Bibs were out played and relied upon a goal by Steve, then Andyhibbert exploiting a mistake and Lineker scoring on his debut. At half time the Mufti led 5 - 3 and seemed to be in cruise control.

For the second half Ed re-edited his status and identified himself to be sufficiently well enough to substitute himself for his substitute. The rules have been checked and Ed was actually within the letter of the law:

'The number of substitutions made during a game is

unlimited. A player who has been replaced may

return to the pitch as a substitute for another player.'

The rejuvenated Ed then set about scoring four goals, of which three were definite goal of the month contenders.

We basically learned how Ed can drill the ball in from distance with pinpoint accuracy if he is given even a moment to himself.

On the darker side of things, it was also noticed that for much of the game the Orange Bibs played a goalkeeper who was not in his bib and therefore his dark top was no different from the opposition's kit. This was not commented on during the match so will be allowed to pass but is not to be repeated.

VAR was called into question once

53:15 on the match clock. Check requested to see if Sadulla encroached the penalty area when scoring.

VAR shows Sadulla did not at any point touch or enter the area. On field referee's decision upheld and goal stands

The Mufti's spirits seemed to have been broken and despite Elvis completing his hat-trick in the 57th minute, the match had been turned around by the clever use of substitutions by the Orange Bibs.

The match ball is awarded to Ed who scored a second half double brace. Ed also enters the record books as the first person to return from an injury during a match to score four goals and the first player manager to substitute himself into a game and score four goals.

Final Score

Mufti 6 - 12 Orange Bibs

Match awarded to Orange Bibs

Things to Note

A call for strike action was made in a post match recording by a senior player. It has been advised that no matter how upset anyone felt a wild cat strike is not the answer.

While it is not appropriate to say that the rules were 'edited' there are at least two things to take note of:

The Orange Bibs operated roll on roll off subs, in effect allowing themselves the use of a pool of eight players to their opponent's six.
The Orange Bibs allowed their keeper to play out of kit for much of the game which could have been confusing for opposition players.

While the above were not materially devastating breaches of the rules, they are practices that should not be repeated please.

From his own perspective Ed was seen to be unrepentant and the next day posted a GIF on social media of a character laughing in a sinister fashion and running off, which he captioned with 'Me match fixing and going away with the 3 points'.

There will be time for things to calm down as Spurs are playing at home on Wednesday 12 October so our pitch will be unavailable.

Let's do it all again next match at Tottenham Wednesday FC