Our first game of 2009 had been postponed from the previous week as we were struggling to raise a team (again) as people were still away and in festive mood. As I opened my bedroom shutters on the morning of the re-arranged fixture I thought I’d lost my colour vision in the night. The scene was one of snow, about 2 inches (about 5 cms. to be truly European) thick. I switched on my phone but there were no messages indicating the game was off just a text from Stevie Twiselton to confirm it was snow and not a defection in my sight. He also wanted to let me know he couldn’t get up his drive without a sled and a pack of strong Huskie dogs and could I pick him up. It then dawned on me we might be struggling to get a team together due to the weather. For certain the Spanish lads wouldn’t be turning up. Any hint of weather other than blue skies and sunshine and that’s them holed up inside.
As I drove to pick Stevie T up and passed the meeting point at Venta de Palma I glanced to see a dozen cars, twice as many people and thought, “What a cracking turn out”. It wasn’t until we returned that I realized the throngs were only there for the view of Cómpeta covered in a blanket of crisp, white snow. “Here, mate! That snowman you’ve built, does he have a pair of footy boots?”
Arriving at Nerja for the match we were a man short but Blue Sky were also struggling to get eleven good men and true. Euan was making his way from Sedella via Canillas de Aceituno with our new Romanian ‘loan signing’. Between us we’d managed to get his services in the January transfer window. A few calls on Friday evening whilst I was in the shop had secured the deal. “I’ll be with you in a minute with that Daily Mail, love. Just putting an important deal to bed”
By the time we kicked off it was like a summer’s day and all thoughts of snowmen and snowball fights had been forgotten. We had managed to raise eleven players by ‘borrowing’ two lads who had played for Nerja Feliz in the previous match and had agreed to play a half each. Blue Sky also had eleven so game on.
Our borrowed lad, Mark, made an early impression as he received the ball inside their box only to be fouled in the area and we were awarded a penalty. Vinny stepped up to take it (he shouted the loudest, I think) and coolly slotted the ball home and we were 1-0 up inside 5 minutes. We were playing half decent football and the debutants, Migel, our Romanian signing, and Will were getting involved in midfield. We were keeping our shape and making it hard for them. The attacks they had were being broken down and Jamie was playing well on the right of defence. Simon was struggling a little on the left with a combination of bad knees and beer from the night before.
We held out for maybe fifteen minutes before they equalized against the run of play. How did that happen? No, it happens every time we play. Shortly afterwards they scored again with a good strike from the edge of the box, which had Sam beaten all the way, not his fault but a good strike. It was now 2-1 and normal service was being resumed. We still managed to pass the ball around well and Euan, Vinny,Mark, our borrowed player and Sam up front were linking together well. It paid off as we equalized as Mark found the back of the net. Can we borrow him every week? 2-2 and we were back in it. Simon took a knock and went down in pain as his knees were giving him some trouble. Like the true war horse he is he said he’d struggle on but he was now only playing at 30% capacity. No change there then. (Sorry, Simon, couldn’t resist it) Maybe that was the reason they managed to score before half-time and we went into the break 3-2 down. We had to be pleased with our performance but as we had no subs there were some tired legs as well as some which were starting to give up the ghost.
Our other ‘borrowed’ player, Dave, swapped with Mark but he had already played a match so wasn’t totally fresh. We kicked off the second half and our first half efforts soon started to show as we struggled to maintain our flowing, passing game. With Simon and his knees and Stevie T saying he had a sore groin (don’t go there) our defence was starting to fall apart. Only Jamie on the right seemed to maintain his first half performance. Simon moved into the centre of defence and I moved to the left to try and extinguish their threat down the right but very soon we were 5-2 down. They then got a corner and as it was whipped in to the far post Simon just got his head to it but it went straight into the goal, 6-2. Simon couldn’t get the spring from his stiff knees. If he was a horse they’d have shot him.
Blue Sky then seemed to take their foot off the gas a little and despite being ahead were arguing amongst each other. We took advantage and goals from Sam and a deflected goal from Will and we were only two goals behind. Will’s celebration was somewhat muted for a debutant goal but perhaps that was down to lack of energy after his first half contribution. Then they got another corner and this time Stevie T went to the back post. As the corner was whipped in again, Stevie T took on Sam’s role as goalkeeper and punched the goal bound corner over the bar. It was as subtle as a snowstorm in a mountain village. The resulting penalty meant it was now 7-4.
Tired legs were now the order of the day. As their right winger received a pass the bounce of the ball had me beat at left back. As I turned to chase their winger I felt my legs starting to go but still managed to get a tackle in. As I stumbled I grabbed their player round the waist and as he struggled to get away, still holding on, I managed to slide down his legs to his ankles before he was brought to the ground. It was a text book tackle but more akin to the sport played by men with funny shaped balls. All the rugby training I remember from my school days from our sadistic, Welsh rugby master came flooding back. He would have been proud. “Great tackle, Howard. There’s luvverly!” I definitely came off worst despite my efforts, as I took all the skin off my knee caps on the artificial turf. I won’t be trying that again.
As the full-time whistle went we’d lost 10-5. I felt if we’d managed to field a full side with substitutes to provide fresh legs we may have got a better result. We had to be happy that we’d scored 5 goals, the most we’d managed against a full side but it was scant consolation. Some better news on the day was given by Luke who runs the league and who also had a team, Maui FY, entered. They’d had to drop out as they couldn’t raise a team so without kicking a ball we’d beat them 3-0 and had another 3 points. Unfortunately, it was the same for all the teams. We needed to get more players if the same wasn’t to happen to us as those who turned up regularly were starting to find it hard work and the enjoyment was ebbing away.
Man of the Match was unanimously given to Jamie at right back who was clearly more wide awake than the last match when he was dragged from his bed by Sam to make up a team.
We made our way back to the winter wonderland that was Cómpeta passing a line of cars returning from their visit to see what this white powder that had fallen overnight actually was. Knowing the Spanish penchant for substances white and consumed in a line, maybe some were returning disappointed. Most cars were returning with a man-made trophy on their bonnet by way of a miniature snowman. Perhaps we could have done with a few of them to make up the numbers. Snowmen are better than no men at all but can they stand the heat of the match without their contribution melting into the background?
