Due to a few days heavy rain, it always looked like Sunday's game was going to be a non-event. Fortunately, a bleak Saturday gave way to a blue sky and hence a warm, sunny Sunday.

It was our turn to play in the 3.15pm binge drinkers slot, and we should've considered ourselves fortunate to have the late kick-off as a number of our squad members had obviously been painting the town red the previous night; watching the mighty FC Barcelona destroy the miserable Mancs. In the case of Francois 'Pukathon' Mosnier, he didn't cease at just painting the town. More about that later.

On paper the assembled squad looked strong enough to take on the Blackstars and get the win we so desperatley needed to stay in contention with the leading teams. Easier said than done - we started off looking sluggish and not really up for it.
For the first twenty minutes the ball was mostly in our half of the pitch and ever continuing pressure saw the Blackstars go a goal up thanks to a quick take down on the edge of the 18-yard box and rapid shot which deflected off this match report writer's boot, causing it to dip and swerve past Alex Moga in goal.

This echoed a wake up call for both the defense and the rest of the team, who reorganized and completely shut out the Blackstar attacks for the rest of the first half.
Meanwhile the midfield seemed to playing themselves slowly into the game but to no avail, 1-0 down at half time.
Which brings us to the half time antics of young Monsieur Mosinier and a possible all-new way to signify half-time. The sound of the referee's whistle was drowned out by Franky's yacking vomitous tones - fresh from painting the town red, he went one step further by also painting the pitch red................and luminous yellow, funky pink, fluoresant green, and dayglo orange. Match of the day meets the exorcist; Barftastic, mate!

Martin Tromp (taking over as Craig had gone AWOL), gave a subtle yet tactical half time team talk that seemed to rouse a few spirits and not to mention groggy heads. We managed to begin the second half in a higher gear than in previous games and played some neat and tidy 'simple passes' that the Blackstars struggled to deal with.
We seemed to dominate the play for over twenty minutes or so, and mostly pinned the opposition in their own half, but playing the final ball to set up one of our strikers for the equaliser continued to be a problem. Had we been able to do this, the final score would have favored us rather than the opposition.

With balls put in to the opposition's box both from crosses and corners, there was a feeling that we'd get that equalizer, but with about 20 minutes remaining and completely against the run of play, one the Blackstars decided to put in a long ball, originally intended for one of his team mates' heads, but instead finding the back of our net, as an over eager keeper (who most likely had it in his mind to punch out both the ball and one of the opposition also) ventured off his goaline a little too exuberantly, resulting in the ball sailing over him and into the back of the net. A wildy overhit pass that turned into a shot and a goal; yes it was one of those days.

Pushing an extra man from defense into midfield and try as we might to at least get a goal, it simply never happened for us. There were a good number of Carnegie's attacks, but the midfield and strikers never really linked up and put the Blackstars' keeper to the test.
The opposition even managed to rub a little more salt into the wounds with a late goal, resulting in a rather unflattering scoreline and concluding a bad day at the
office. As Roberto mentioned, nobody put in a great performance but nobody played badly either.

The poor result didn't deter most from heading to the sponsor's for a bite to eat, a few pints and a bit of banter. Let's hope we get a healthier number of players signed up and thus a stronger squad.
Fingers crossed that all of our injured stars make a quick recovery ahead of next weekend's mystery fixture and that the new kit arrives in the next few days and we can do it and ourselves justice by winning no matter who stands in our way.

One goal scored from the last three games and five conceded has resulted in accumulating only one point out of a possible nine and have faded our title hopes more than the
pitch's lines. And that's saying something!

Man of the match? Honorable mentions go to Alex Moga for some brave goal keeping, and despite being continually fouled by the opposition's strikers, not flinching even once. Other mentions go to the ever impressive Roberto and in his last match, as he's heading back home to Texas to drink beer by the bucket load and shoot stuff - Warren Pugliano. On behalf of the club, cheers to Warren for putting in a good number solid performances.

Men of the match: Two fantastic Frenchmen, Frederic and Jean-Marc. They played the match with heart, aggression and put in some great crunching tackles!