Big thanks to Dan and to his Stoke team for the game on Saturday lunchtime, prior to the evenings fixture between the 2 sides.
Stoke gave Man utd Suporters team their heaviest ever defeat in the our history and extracted some revenge for the 15-0 beating we gave them in April.
It was a decent game and Stoke went into half time with a 2-0 lead. Two early goals in the 2nd half saw the score at 3-1, before Stoke went onto score 5 more goals.
We never looked like scoring and playing with so many new people and a combination of some of the vets, certainly gave some thoughts to future team plans. Very difficult to play when the majority of people have never met before, as Im sure a lot of teams will know.
Stoke had 3 really decent lads, Sheldon (?) in the Midfield, the forward and the lad who came on the wing/upfront who score some (3/4) late goals were impressive.
Big thanks also to Dan for the food in the pub afterwards, even though it was a trek accross Stoke to get there!
Nice changing rooms at the Bradeley Football centre, although the pitches werent the best (its disspointing when the football foundation pump money into building nice changing rooms etc, then neglect the care and maintenance of the pitches). The guy who runs the dressing rooms was extremely helpful.
Have to comment on the ref. He certainly was a very perculiar character who seemed to have no control on the actual game itself.
Given the Utd team were playing in all black, he started the game wearing a thick grey hooded top, only to take it off after 20 mins. He refused to wear another top and as a result was getting passed the ball more than any of our players received it!!!
Gave some very strange decisions and changed his mind nearly every time he made one. He also seemed incapable of actually making a decision himself and kept calling both captains over.
I always find it a bit easier if the ref gives a little chat before the game, explaining ways he may ref the game etc. Not many refs we encounter allow the linesmen to call offside, with most just asking them to give throw ins, so that might have cleared things up on a few instances. Think refs also need to have an understaning of the IFA as well, in terms of how games are played, rolling subs etc.