Elton - "I'm dreaming of a brown Christmas !"

Mud, Mud, glorious mud ! Nothing quite like it for cooling the Chrimbo blood !

Elton was back for a Foxes rendezvous on the Downs , just like the good old days.

Cold , wet, windy and muddy. PERFECT !

(Raymonde, Lawrence, Elton, Kione, Max, Armani, Messi, brom and Ian)

And makes a change for Elton, Ian, Ceti and Thomas, where the football is in SNOW at the moment !

A few passing and shooting drills, a penalty shoot out against the South's best old Northern goalkeeper and then a massive, muddy, mega, mini match that ended up 9-7 with Elton scoring the winner !!! It's like it was meant to be !

Hot chocolate and cookies at half time kept spirits high and, as the final whistle blew, all that remained was to pack up all the drenched goals and bibs, and stuff them in a bag to be dropped off at "Lamont's Laundry" later !

Thanks to everyone who turned up today, I'm pretty sure Elton appreciated it, and it was great to see the Finnish superstar again!

Elton, we're playing Clifton United on the 19th Jan, I'm sure the Foxes will pay for your flights !

Rock(hard)leaze - 15 December ...

Have you ever seen the film '300' ? 

It's about 300 Spartans fighting the might of a million Persians with ingenuity, bravery and incredible skill.

Well, that was like the Foxes against the mighty Rockleaze on the 15th December.

Now, I can only talk for the Blue Foxes, for that is all I saw, but it was a couple of matches strewn with incident and excitement !

RED :	Ned, Raymond, Harry, Ben L,Aran, Conrad, Neerij, Arthur
BLUE:	Ed, Lawrence, Seb, Kaylen, Max, Kione, Danny, Gabriel

We had players telling us they weren't turning up  ( 5 minutes after kick off was supposed to have started ) , we had a player taken home by his agent before the games had finished (so when a crucial substitution was needed, he was nowhere to be found), we had a Tevez style refusal to play half way through a match, and we had a player declare that he was going to play for Rockleaze instead next year.

All very exciting, and very unexpected in Year 4 footie !

So, the Blues kicked off and started a rough and ready game. Lots of pushing and shoving on both sides until BOOOOM ! BOOOM ! 

The Rockers were 2 nil up by half time.

Seb's dad, Chris, saw Max stomp off and kick a few goalposts and strolled over to have a word in his ear while I rallied the rest of the troops for the second half. "Don't worry," I said, "these guys are very good, so just treat this as training. A bit of practice."

No chance. Second half the boys were on fire !! And whatever Chris De Carlo said to Max worked wonders . BOOM BOOM !! 2 goals from the skinny fella.
( chris later told me he'd told Max to score 3 goals in the second half, so I hope he wasn't disappointed ...)

2-2 ...

Then, DISASTER STRUCK ! A gentle nudge from one of the foxes, sent a Rocker spilling to the floor.

"REFEREEEEEE !" The Rockleaze coach screamed, "HE PUSHED HIM OVER !!!"

"Okay," I said meekly, looking slightly surprised, "If you like ?!" ... and blew my whistle for a free kick.
( Wearing my Santa hat as ref obviously hadn't purveyed the friendly nature I was hoping for the game )

So Rockleaze tee-ed up ... and WALLOP ! The free kick was in the back of our net.

3-2 Rockleaze ...

"Oh poo" I whispered under my breath. 

The game then entered what will now be affectionately known as 'brommy time'.

And in the 'final second' of Brommy Time, Kione ran the whole length of the field and scored an equalizer that, if anyone was unsure before, would be fully convinced now that the ref wasn't entirely impartial ...
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS !!"

3-3

"PEEEEEEP !! " The whistle blew, "Game over everyone , Happy Christmas !!"



... and that was just the first game ...


The second game was a little tougher. Our sub had been taken home by his agent for an important photo shoot for the school magazine (maybe), and we had one little fox who got so upset, he just didn't want to play anymore.  Bless his dad, who managed to bribe/cajole/promise the earth to get him back on, meant we had a little fight back to get the score back to 5-3 after a proper footie battle. Seb and Kaylen were tireless in their pursuit of the ball, Lawrence's big clearances saved us on numerous occasions, Ed, as always, was dominating, skilful and fearless in goal, and Gabe , our lone striker, piled on the pressure every chance he got.

Max and Kione repeated their scoring partnership from the first match, but a big pat on the back goes out to the whole team, Rockleaze are fearsome opponents and we battled like warriors who thought they could defeat a million Persians.

Well done boys. These guys are the Empire, and altogether we scored 7 goals against them. 


We should rename ourselves "The Westbury Park Ewoks" ...

(That's a nerdy Star Wars joke, your kids will get it ...)

Rockleaze at home 15 December 2012 - Lost

Property:

That is all.

Sonic BOOM !

It was cold.    Baltic.     Brass monkeys.

But we're the Foxes ... and nothing stops us. 
So we bustled on over to the Sonics ground for another taste of football inspired warfare.

We had one team ready due to a lack of numbers : Kione, George, Ned, Raymonde, Connie, Kaylen, Max, Ed and Harry.

And we were off ! The first match was end to end, a hard fought battle, this was clearly the Golden boys' A team and they meant business ! 

Wallop ! 5 minutes in and it was 1-0 to them !

But we're a hardy bunch, and in a characteristic one man charge from Max, probably shouting, "passing is for losers !" he blasted past a few defenders and evened the score.

1-1 ! Game on !

We'd ruffled their feathers, they were on the back foot. Suddenly, a charge from George, on hiatus from time spent canoodling an odd shaped ball, lead to a powerful shot that 'glanced' off one of the Sonics and ta daaaa ! 

2-1 to the Foxes  ! Get in there !!!!

However, this was their A team after all, and our boys may have been tiring ... Unfortunately, the Sonics managed to pull back another 2 goals just before the end and nipped the game in the dying minutes.

3-2 Sonics ...

A fantastic game ! But let's not talk about that ....

Up step the Sonic's second set of hedgehogs for a prickly Foxy reception.
Our boys were warmed up this time and eager for another slice of the action.

But first, disaster ! Neerij's boots had somehow shrunk during the first game to the size of 2 small acorns, his feet were cold and stinging and he had to retire early.

The team held fast, with Ed strong and resolute in net, and Harry , Connie, Ned and Kaylen guarding our half, we managed to stop all the attacks coming our way. Kione and George were holding the front line, pouncing on every pass. Harry, always untiring, is a problem for the opposition wherever he plays. 
But from nowhere came a surge down the wing from Connie in defence ! Running the full length of the pitch meant if he could just cross it into the box, we had a chance for glory.

He took it, It was inch perfect. And George met it. 
He said a simple "Hello, how'd you like to meet the back of the net ?" .. and Coolio Iglesias, we were one nil up !

2 goals already for George after his 11 match ban. Let's hope the rugby world forget they ever knew him.

Half time beckoned, and unfortunately a bit of a goalkeeper fracas led to one of our less experienced players stepping up and squeezing into the goalie jersey ! 
This was going to be tricky, Raymonde could only just get his head through the jersey's neck.

Unfortunately, until he managed to get the hang of it, one of the sonics bundled a goal into the back of the net.

1-1. 

Time to beef things up at the back ..."Kaaaaaaylen ! You're back on !"

Raymonde got into it and came into his own, saving a few shots. Kaylen was everywhere at once, a moving man mountain chasing down the ball. He clears it to Kione, whose football brain was alive and well. Head up, he sees his chance and passes it to Max, Max tears down the right wing, George just ahead of him in the box. 
2 defenders bear down on Max, the crowd gasp,  'oh no,' they cry, 'there's no way he'll get past them, and (apparently) he never passes ! ' ...

... the ball floats from Max's foot, over their heads, a glorious cross ... time seems to slow to half speed , George, bounding towards it like a short, blonde gazelle, leaps and gently taps it into the net with the lightest and most exquisite of touches ! 

3 goals to george ... 2-1 to the FOXES !!!!

The crowd go wild , the coaches hug, and in almost perfect synchronicity, check their watches and beg for the ref to call an end to the game  !

A few minutes later, he does ... we're back baby, we're back.

Oh poo, it's Rockleaze next ...