The Crying Game

26 February 1995, Divison 8 at Chilton Foliat

Aldbourne SSC 3 KMLC FC 2 (HT 1-1)

A trip out to the country for this one to the village of Chilton Foliat near Hungerford. The changing rooms were the local village hall and there was a walk to a pretty poor pitch. One end had a noticeable slope and the corner quadrants were only a couple of yards from the penalty area. No use for the expansive Kylie play of the time.

Perhaps that's why the teams turned round level at the break despite KMLC attacking downhill. The second half was short on chances with Garratt spending much of his time retrieving the ball from a nearby garden following wayward Aldbourne efforts.

Then, with five minutes left a Gunning foray upfield put the Kylies 2-1 ahead. It looked like a hard-fought win had been secured. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case.

Right at the death Garratt and Carpenter failed to deal with a long ball from Aldbourne, giving it a bit of 'after you, Claude' allowing someone to nip in and level. Worse was to follow. An Aldbourne break forced a cross in from the left and as Garratt dived to intercept the ball skipped off the uneven surface providing a tap-in for the onrushing forward.

As the hapless keeper trudged off the pitch the referee broke the news that the two late goals came in the stoppage time added for Garratt's earlier perceived time-wasting. This tipped him over the edge and he burst into tears, blubbing all the way back to the Village Hall where not even pictures of the Chilton Foliat N-word Minstrels could snap him out of his woe.

Garratt
Carpenter, Woolford, B.Warr, Gunning
Griffiths, Merry, Gould, Howell
Swatridge, Kibble
Subs: Gratland for Woolford, Shurmer

Scorers: Swatridge, Gunning

MVP: Woolford
Spoons: Shurmer (who must have done something interesting to not play and win this)

Next match - 12 Mar 1995 v Swindon Ambulance at RAF Wroughton