To Be Or Not To Be Nice? That Is The Question.
In the absence of young Harris, old Harris celebrated his return to being just Harris by buying a 2019 compilation CD for the trip to Newbury. He did however wait until he could be down with the kids and livened the still sleepy minibus with the ever-popular game of heads and tails. The delighted Ball and D.Balkwill the winners on this occasion. While young Harris was enjoying himself in Croatia, Butcher tried to start the sing-songs without his fellow Highnam hell-raiser. The ensuing silence was welcomed by myself and Burr who for the first time did not have to listen to songs about hair gel. It also gave Harris the chance to pretend he is young and play his CD. It was full of whoop-whoops and nasally females who at least tried their best to sing in tune. Without a single Led Zeppelin track on the playlist the services seemed like a good option to me.
Both Balkwill’s actually made a decision, independently both decided to buy cookies with their food for the both of them. They could not agree what to do with the extra cookies so they just ate them. Young went for the nutritional slab of chocolate breakfast and Burr for some reason went for two bottles of coke. It was noticeable that some were having difficulty in telling the Balkwill’s apart and started addressing either of them as “Gethin or Dylan”. Evans continued to tell his jokes. He could make a fortune at it… by selling all the tumbleweed that suddenly appears afterwards.
The game itself was one to forget for Gloucester. Two early goals rocked the visitors and they never really recovered. Newbury were first to every ball and much stronger in every department. In contrast to the two tournament games of the previous few weeks, the visitors allowed the hosts to play their football and they raced into a four-goal lead at the break.
The coaches played bad cop / bad cop during the interval and it had the desired effect on most. There was a little more grit and determination about the yellows and it made the game more of an even contest in the early part of the second half. The upturn in performance, led by Young in midfield, continued even when Newbury extended their lead further. Gloucester began creating opportunities of their own and Badham went close after good work by Moroney, Fogg and Young. Badham made no mistake with his next chance, firing in following a Burr corner to reduce the arrears by one. Gloucester then seemed to think that was enough and stopped playing, allowing the home side to rattle in two more unopposed goals in the final few minutes, making the final score a seven-one victory for Newbury.
The Gloucester boys need to realise that while their collective niceness off the pitch is more than welcome, on the pitch they need to develop a little more steel if they want to compete at this level.
True to form, the boys were praised for their politeness after the game by the mums serving the food.
Gloucester B: G.Balkwill, J.Moroney, C.Evans, R.Burr, J.Young, D.Balkwill, G.Ball, J.Fogg, L.Badham, H.Butcher
Both Balkwill’s actually made a decision, independently both decided to buy cookies with their food for the both of them. They could not agree what to do with the extra cookies so they just ate them. Young went for the nutritional slab of chocolate breakfast and Burr for some reason went for two bottles of coke. It was noticeable that some were having difficulty in telling the Balkwill’s apart and started addressing either of them as “Gethin or Dylan”. Evans continued to tell his jokes. He could make a fortune at it… by selling all the tumbleweed that suddenly appears afterwards.
The game itself was one to forget for Gloucester. Two early goals rocked the visitors and they never really recovered. Newbury were first to every ball and much stronger in every department. In contrast to the two tournament games of the previous few weeks, the visitors allowed the hosts to play their football and they raced into a four-goal lead at the break.
The coaches played bad cop / bad cop during the interval and it had the desired effect on most. There was a little more grit and determination about the yellows and it made the game more of an even contest in the early part of the second half. The upturn in performance, led by Young in midfield, continued even when Newbury extended their lead further. Gloucester began creating opportunities of their own and Badham went close after good work by Moroney, Fogg and Young. Badham made no mistake with his next chance, firing in following a Burr corner to reduce the arrears by one. Gloucester then seemed to think that was enough and stopped playing, allowing the home side to rattle in two more unopposed goals in the final few minutes, making the final score a seven-one victory for Newbury.
The Gloucester boys need to realise that while their collective niceness off the pitch is more than welcome, on the pitch they need to develop a little more steel if they want to compete at this level.
True to form, the boys were praised for their politeness after the game by the mums serving the food.
Gloucester B: G.Balkwill, J.Moroney, C.Evans, R.Burr, J.Young, D.Balkwill, G.Ball, J.Fogg, L.Badham, H.Butcher
