TWFC

The match video, courtesy of Fabiocc17, is on the private Veo sports camera account that Fabio uses (other brands exist). We are not allowed to publish the link. Many thanks Fabio for providing us with the footage. We also thank MarkA who, as he recuperates from his injury, attended the game and acted as a referee. MarkA was provided with an official referee whistle and refereed from outside of the fence. Players were told in no uncertain terms that this week the teams should play to the whistle.

The Dark Tops raced to an early lead which including a delicately angled ball put in by Jumhal off of the Orange Bibs keeper's far post with all of the precision and delicacy of a football surgeon.

The pick of the goals was when VIIGeorgeVII floated the ball from the edge of his own area to Naz on the edge of the opposing area. Naz caressed the ball out of the air into the net with his instep to make it 3 - 0 to the Dark Tops. The Orange Bibs had been warned a minute earlier when Hagenius had constructed the same move for Naz which he didn't score..

With the score at 4 - 0 to the Dark Tops it seemed that Hagenius's team had been set up to deliver the much vaunted clean sheet that had eluded the coach the previous week. This spectre was banished when Sadulla, untainted by the previous week, ran the ball at the Dark Tops goal and slotted it home to make the score Orange Bibs 1 - 4 Dark Tops.

On 19 minutes VIIGeorgeVII ended up on the ground following a tackle by JonF. The referee indicated play on. Ignoring this the Dark Tops awarded themselves a free kick. The ref in no uncertain terms advised the Dark Tops they were contravening a direct instruction from an official. The Orange Bibs understanding the ref's position on the matter demanded that the ref be listened to and that the Dark Tops be penalised for handball when they awarded themselves a free kick..JonF took the free kick that was awarded to the Orange Bibs and gave the ball back to the Dark Tops.

After the first free kick debacle VIIGeorgeVII was judged to have fouled Elvis and another free kick was awarded to the Orange Bibs. More discipline was shown this time and the free kick was taken in accordance with the ref's instruction.

On 35 minutes the Orange Bibs brought the score to Orange Bibs 2 - 5 Dark Tops. In the lead up to the goal Sadulla took the ball off of VIIGeorgeVII who is then seen holding his leg and hopping. There was no whistle so the game continued through to the goal being scored.

Sadulla brought up his hat-trick a minute later. Orange Bibs 3 - 5 Dark Tops.

On 38 minutes Naz is seen on the floor after an engagement with JonF. Footage suggests he may have experienced strong contact from behind. There was no whistle but it is noted that Dark Tops players simply stopped the match of their own accord and the ball was reclaimed and given back to Naz. The resulting phase of play ended up in VIIGeorgeVII scoring for the Dark Tops to take them 6 - 3 ahead.

A minute later the Dark Tops keeper was judged by the referee to have played the ball outside of his area. The resulting penalty was calmly dispatched by Sadulla. Orange Bibs 4 - 6 Dark Tops.

VIIGeorgeVII scored again from distance to give the Dark Tops better daylight. Orange Bibs 4 - 7 Dark Tops.

JonF responded immediately for the Orange Bibs to bring the score to Orange Bibs 5 - 7 Dark Tops.

On 42 minutes Fabiocc17 can be seen limping away after a tackle with Ed. The ref instructed play on. In the last minute of the match as the Orange Bibs pressed to at least score the last goal of the evening Fabiocc17 is seen to tumble heavily to the ground following a tackle with Andyhibbert. The ref indicated play should continue. Fabiocc17 stayed down and Ed scored for the Dark Tops in the next phase.

Orange Bibs 5 - 8 Dark Tops.

Final Score

Orange Bibs 5 - 8 Dark Tops

Match awarded to the Dark Tops.

The match ball was awarded to Sadulla who scored four goals.

Things to Note

Seemingly incensed by the injustice of what he experienced in the last minute of the match Fabiocc17 shared footage of the offending tackle in slow motion on social media. Interestingly this did not help him much as viewers could not spot a foul. However, close inspection finally resolved that Fabiocc17's foot had been trodden on as he tried to move with the ball, causing him to end up on he floor. Given that even on slow motion footage this was hard to see the ref cannot be deemed to have made a clear and obvious mistake, but on the other hand it was a foul. The play on has to be accepted.

We attempted to play to the whistle and in some instances this was judiciously done. In others we were somewhat lacking and adopted practices that would not be tolerated in a formally officiated match.

After the match, a survey was commissioned on social media with the question

Should the ref (when we have one) be able to come onto the pitch?

At the time of writing the response is

5 Yes

0 No

2 Don't mind either way

This suggests that in our evolution of playing to the whistle our next stage will be to allow the referee on to the pitch.

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