Day 16

Distance Run: None
Total Distance Run for January: 30.22 miles
Other Exercise: Football (Five-a-side for Barcelogilvy - 20 minutes)

  Today there would be only one event worth blogging about - glory or despair on the artificial turf of a school nr Edgware Road. Having been drafted into the five-a-side team of the company Ogilvy, through my school mate James Duggan (or as I've always called him - Duggan) in September, results have generally improved. The team stopped losing (most of its) games, and won actually won promotion last season with a 2nd place finish (of 5 teams) in Division 2. It turned out that the promotion was meaningless, as the 9 teams which wished to continue for another season were combined to form a round-robin Championship of 8 games each. A top 4 finish was required to participate in the title play-offs. Continuing our good form, Barcelogilvy (a mildly witty name, albeit utterly inaccurate in its inference) won 5 of the first 7 to secure a top 4 berth, and played Pensioners in the last fixture hoping to secure 2nd place. In a generally disjointed showing we lost 1-5, finished 4th, and had to face Gazprom in the SF. Although we'd beaten them 2-1 in the round-robin, form suggested we would struggle.
  After the Christmas break, I was keen to play a part in the team's quest for glory - but the latest virus left me feeling like more of a liability (see last week's blog), so I stayed at home (and ran instead). That meant I failed to witness the debut of Ogilvy's 2012 work-placement addition/signing Gabriel - a young Argentinian with a footballing pedigree. Duggan had suggested he'd make his debut in a "more hope than expectation" roll of the dice. I got a text later that evening to confirm the team won 5-2, and Gabriel had bagged all 5 goals...
  Hence tonight, and a rematch with Pensioners (who won their SF on penalties after a 4-4 draw), to play for the title or bemoan what could've been. Seven players attended, and Gabriel's welcome addition meant I dropped to the bench following a team warm-up. A solid 2-1-1 formation with an emphasis on the direct/long-ball style was still the aim, but with Paul playing behind Gabriel the goal threat had increased significantly. Duggan is the goalkeeping stalwart of the side, and his first save (the ball sticking between his legs - thankfully) was to be the first of many top-drawer stops. The opening goal, predictably by Gabriel, was scored roughly 7 minutes in - pouncing on a poor clearance from the goalkeeper, making space on his right foot with a sure touch before driving the ball across into the left far side of the goal. I subbed on for Paul after 12 mins, and attempted (generally in vain) to link with the mercurial wonderkid from an unfamiliar midfield role. I am much more comfortable (and useful) playing deep in defence, sabotaging the opposition attacks - not so hot being a potent attacking force and judging when to press and when to defend zonally when I can't see who's doing what behind me. My main contribution for the first half was to get out of Gabriel's way as he controlled a high ball with his back to goal, turned in my direction with the ball dropping slowly from his second touch, and planting his right foot right through it to score in the exact same spot as his first - 2-0! I had a great view of both goals, and he made them look much easier than they were. One hand on the trophy...
  For the second half, I swapped again with Paul - the plan being to replicate the first half (I'm more solid defending, which would be increasingly useful to close the game out). The other sub, Craig, was admittedly the weakest player on offer, so he was consigned to the "get a few minutes at the end" spot. A few minutes into the half and the plan changed - Paul took a nasty knock to his leg, and I re-entered the fray. The confusion of my role continued - do I man-mark a player, press the ball wherever it is, or guard the centre of the pitch - or do all the above whilst baking a cake? I put in plenty of effort (and felt my lack of high-intensity fitness take its toll), and helped preserve the 2-0 lead, even managing to link up with Gabriel (who had predictably drawn the aggressive attention of the opposition). My two main contributions were undoubtedly:

1: Blocking one of the opposition's cannonball powerdrives from distance with my groin (not through choice) - nobody drew any pleasure from that (least of all me)

2: Actually displaying "skill", "technique" and "ability" for a brief few seconds. With Duggan increasingly busy, and Gabriel increasingly marked, I was increasingly used as the out-ball. I ran from the centre of the pitch to the right wing, back to goal, and controlled a throw from Duggan with the outside of my right foot, about a yard from the sideline. A defender was at my back, and Gabriel was marked somewhere to my right - out of sight. I formed an ambitious plan in my head, and put it into action. Dragging the ball slightly inside, I feinted to my right (suggesting I'd cut infield to link up wth the dangerman), only to drag the ball behind me with my left foot and accelerate up the line. I knew this would leave me facing an unfavourably tight angle at goal at best, but it succeeded in giving me a yard of space from the (utterly bamboozled by my dazzling skillz) defender. An effort on goal was obligatory, and I struck a low blow at goal, on target, but sadly straight at the keeper's legs - the ball rebounding back to me from a more acute angle, and rather than take the throw-in I fired a second shot which, if it hadn't been caught, would've threatened the school's 1st floor windows.

  With 6 minutes remaining I subbed off for the recovered Paul, who demonstrated his effectiveness at holding up the ball with Gabriel tiring. Still leading 2-0, and with Pensioners firing shots off whenever possible, Craig came on for Gabriel at the 4 minute mark. I felt sorry for Craig, in that he was left with a thankless task of playing as a striker (which he isn't) and being expected to do several different jobs in the face of a Pensioner barrage. Having made several superb saves, Duggan's goal was breached with 3 minutes left - and the onslaught only increased from then on. More shots resulted in corners and throws, several scrappy 50/50 challenges with the ball rolling agonisingly towards the D for an opposition strike....Duggan saves again! With just under a minute to play, the Pensioners did score a second - but it was ruled out for entering the goalkeepers area. There was still time for a free-kick right on the edge, another cracking save, and Craig to almost score a winner, before the final whistle finally blew. No penalty shoot-out required - Barcelogilvy had defied the odds to be crowned the Marylebone 5-a-side Monday night Champions!
  The man of the match award was a tight call, but Duggan edged it over Gabriel. The consolation for the youngster was that his 7 goals in 2 games made him the team's top scorer - not bad when he'd missed the 8 game round-robin season! Victory pints and pizza at the local pub followed as we reminisced over our unlikely path to silverware (trophy pending: The ref didn't have it with him for some reason) whilst watching Man City win 1-0 at Wigan. I've now savoured glory with two of my three teams, and as the Wednesday boys have (albeit once) managed a win - it doesn't get any better than this!

Injuries: I feel good!
Mood: Champion

  Tomorrow I return to the bowling lanes for my first games of 2012. Out of nowhere, I began 2007's bowling with 9 strikes and a 267 game. I remember it well, but lightning doesn't strike twice. Or does it?