The rag tag band that is the Owens 5s rocked up to Fortress Armo just in time to catch an umpiring master class from McCartney, and watch the 2’s hammer MMU. And because the match before us we had shirts that matched, which is quite unusual for the 5’s.

 

When Hope arrived they failed to understand the concept of away games, which was quite strange as they were away. They assumed that as only our 2’s and 5’s were playing that the team would have ringers, it was then explained that the 1’s, 3’s and 4’s were in fact away. They were only making sure so that they weren’t thrashed.

 

As it stood, we were 2 points behind Hope in the chase for mid-table mediocrity. They had scored in all of their 3 matches but had a goal difference of –1. We had also scored in all our matches but had a goal difference of +2. It all looked set to be a classic.

 

We lined up again in the preferred 4-3-3 formation. There was lots of midfield play with us generally pressing them. After about 10 mins the Owens boys decided to camp in the Hope D at which point Tory Boy felt it necessary to shoot reverse stick with was is possibly the slowest shot ever recorded. It was however helped by one of their defenders that shouted ‘leave it’ and so that’s what the keeper did. It tucked nicely in to the corner. 1-0. From the push back Tory Boy robbed them, ran in to the D, shot reverse stick and scored. 2-0. Tory Boy was looking like he was going to do a Defoe, sadly he didn’t. 

 

After a few more minutes fresh forwards were needed, off came Mackintosh and Tory Boy, on came McCartney and Genesis. The change was inspired. Although by this point Hope had at least made it to our D, our defence was resolute with all the defenders having a good game. The link up play between the forwards and the midfield was working well, which lead to a break by Genesis who after some horrendous stick tackles by them made it to the Hope D. Their keeper ran out and so Genesis squared it for McCartney to blast the ball in to the goal for his first of the season. 3-0.

 

This looked set now to be a rout rather than a classic, with confidence oozing through the team. This was slightly to our detriment as Hope kept pushing and a few times made it in to the D but our defence were strong. Towards the end of the half after more pressing by the Owens forwards, Hope had a break away. It was our captain against theirs. With confidence high Irish went for the take out rather than the ball. Fortunately their captain played the ball outside the D, Irish stopped him but didn’t take him and the ball trickled in to our goal. A lucky escape.

 

At half time the mood was a lot better than last week, however Schneebly thought it necessary to lecture the umpires, which was unknown until after Dick of the Day nominations had been made.

 

The second half started fairly slowly as both teams knew that the result was inevitable. The ball was being traded between the midfields until the Owens after some pressure gave the ball to Mackintosh who shot reverse stick and scored. 4-0. There was no hope for them now (Yeh I went there).

Fellaini after having a solid game in midfield felt that after a few minutes, this would be a good time to stop a pass with his ankle and without shin pads on, it wasn’t. As he limped off there was slight confusion as to who would replace him. Eventually Audley was on and raring to go.

 

Scheenbly felt it necessary to restore some pride for his fallen comrade and subsequently shanked the ball in to one of Hope’s forwards. After the Owens defended the resulting free hit and pressure, the forwards broke. All the way up the right, Audley then cut inside got in to the D and from two or tree yards away from the back line unleashed a shot which to most people looked like a cross. However due to the ineptitude of their keeper the ball squeezed in at the near post. 5-0. Thank you and good night. 

 

With very little time remaining the game went from end to end with pockets of pressure on both defences. Both held strong until the final whistle. The Owens were very pleased to get the victory and are now the only team in the division with a clean sheet.

 

Post match banter was much enjoyed by all in Robbos. It helped that Hope had to leave early and so we got their food as well. A special mention should be made about McCartney’s lack of ability to down a pint. Nominations for dick of the day included; Carcrash for subbing someone off, on the other side of the pitch whilst they were meant to be defending, Fellaini because he was injured and we just don’t accept that kind of behaviour in the 5’s and to DT because he hadn’t had a vote in a while.