It was the fixture we'd all been looking forward to - a 5.30pm push back in Saffron Walden. It was no surprise that we could only muster 11 brave volunteers to make the journey.

3 players deserve a special mention; Rich Boutcher in goal made the journey despite battling full blown man-flu, such was his dedication to the team and his refusal to let anyone down.
Steve Smith -famous for captaining the 4s through their league winning season last year (that seems a distant memory now!) answered the late call for players ensuring we had a full team.
Adam Morley - for doubling up and playing his second game of the day!

Onto the game (reluctantly). We found ourselves facing a well drilled, talented team who repeatedly broke at speed and isolated our defence. They were also clinical in front of goal, no less than 8 times (I have blocked out the goals from my memory so I'm unable to give any commentary on these).

Despite the 8 goals against us we battled to the final whistle and our young front-line of Calen, Dylan, Adam and Alex gave their defenders plenty of problems throughout the game with Adam scoring a deserved late consolation goal.

The 8-1 final score doesn't reflect the efforts the team made with last ditch tackles, goal line clearances and fine saves on display throughout but, in the end definitely a game to forget.

Also of note was the good nature the game was played in with both sides united in disbelief at some "surprising" decisions made throughout by the umpires.

On to Tower Hamlets at home next week, a game that we look forward to after a feisty battle against them earlier in the season.

Man of the Match - tied between Simon, Rich and Steve (here's hoping that this scoreline hasn't put Steve off making another appearance next week!)

Match report - Mike