Enfield Town Thirds vs Hackney Laces

‘Do you ever feel like your life is like a movie?’ asked Katee to a bemused team as we made our way over to the pitch to face Enfield Town. She was met with a few quizzical looks, and general disagreement. It certainly felt like the match had been enhanced with some special effects, more like the ones seen in The Day after Tomorrow or 2012, rather than in Avatar or theDark Knight Rises. As hurricane warnings flooded the news, the swirling wind made running, let alone kicking a ball very difficult. We were constantly battered with leaves and other debris swirling at our feet; at one point a small child was even blown across the pitch!To set the scene, this was not so much a David and Goliath scenario- we were only one place behind Enfield Town 3rds as the division’s top two teams - more like colony of a small empire trying to assert their authority on a smaller but still annoyingly challenging nation (any other movie analogies are welcome to be inserted here). The plot to the game reads something like this: two teams meet, battle hard in difficult conditions, with one able to land the killer punches leaving the other hurt and winded but not on the canvas. We would have been out cold if it was not for the heroic efforts of Emma in defence, who carried on tirelessly throughout, and as a result was our girl of the game. Katee managed to show our fighting spirit was still intact, converting a brilliant deep cross from Begay at the far post, showing a teaser for what to come in the next installment.Unfortunately this really was not a movie, and there was no happy ending to speak of, in terms of the score line at least. It was definitely more a film that requires you to think, leaves a few questions at the end and some lessons learnt for next time. To use a good stat, this team scored 14 goals in their last game, so we managed to reduce their outlay by just under 50%. Stats can put a positive spin on everything. Five games in and our record reads: won two, drawn two, lost one. To call upon a stock football adage this time; if we’d been offered that at the beginning of the season, we would have taken it.