After last weeks triumphant 5-2 win over White Lion we were playing Greenbury in round 2 of the Jubilee cup, well it was a nice run while it lasted.

A few players were missing today but unfortunately Kofi was not one of them. Brooksey was still injured from last weeks game, Butler is still injured from 2004, Darren white was working (yeah working on his 4th round of sandwiches) and Ben was stuck at home whilst Sharon was having her hair cut… I know I know, his nuts are kept in Sharon’s purse, yes he has a thumb print on his forehead, yes he is horse whipped, yes he is a whimp, yes he is S**T in bed (or so Butler tells me).

Anyway back to the people who are allowed by their wives to play football, Snails in goal (why couldn’t Sarah have her hair cut today), Neil right back, Tiger left back, Tony and Earoles in the middle, Kofi left midfield (why couldn’t he have his hair cut and his wife come over and play instead), Manno right midfield with the Olsen twins in the middle with Barry and Steve up front. Subs were Alan and Stevie J (minus his swimmers).

We were up against Greenbury who are top of the prem but his was a cup match and anything could happen, well maybe not…

It was clear from the off Greenbury were well organised and apart from the fat centre forward who looked a lot like Earoles they were young, fast and fit. They were playing the ball around well and making runs off the ball which we were not tracking, Tony was having a great tussle with the small striker and spent more time having a row than playing football, a couple of great Tony tackles didn’t scare the tiny terror and it appeared he spat at Tony, well it kicked off a bit and the ref had to calm things down, I think Tony made a mental note of that for later though.

Greenbury then took the lead after 20 mins, Tony gave away possession and the Greenbury player sliced a volley which fell nicely for the striker to bury home from 8 yards, 0-1.

This spurred county on and we started to make some chances of our own, after some good work Steve Martin found himself one on one with the keeper but hit his left foot shot wide. We continued to press but couldn’t convert our chances; we were then hit with a sucker punch after a scramble the Earoles like forward smashed the ball in from 10 yards, 0-2.

Greenbury started to exploit our defence by cheating and playing the ball into space for their fast forwards to run into but we hit them on the counter attack, a long ball out of defence sent Barry on his way, the very tall defender couldn’t deal with Barry’s pace and rugby tackled him inside the box, penalty and red card. Up stepped Barry who seemed to change his mind at the last minute and scuffed his penalty straight down the middle very slowly, lucky for us the keeper dived out the way and it went in, 1-2 half time.

Matt made no changes at half time as he thought we were still in this game, both teams started well and both sides had chances to score. Kofi made way for Stevie J after 15 mins to add some much need pace, skill, attacking flair, defensive duties (I am not saying Steve was going to provide it, we just needed it). As County were pressing for a equaliser we got caught on the break, Greenbury hit a long ball out wide, Tony made a small challenge which the ref deemed to be a foul (was it fu*k), he quickly took the free kick and hit the ball central to where the striker was running through unmarked, Tiger had a chance to intercept the ball, he got there but missed it (I think his eyes are going), the player ran through and scored past Snails to make it 3-1 and game over.

Neil made way for Alan to add some more pace and weight to the defence, Stevie J started to cause some problems down the left and put a couple of decent crosses into the box.

Greenbury then got another goal; from a cross Tossersky (yes I meant to spell it like that) flicked the ball over Snails to make it 1-4.

We had a chance to score late on but Barry did an air shot from 2 yards with the keeper beaten.

Overall we were well beaten by a good team that is top of the prem so no shame in that. Big game next week in the Junior cup against unknown team Hinton FC.

But looking at todays snow, see you in the new year and no fighting over the XL shorts cos you have eaten too much (Yes Whitey I am talking to you).