So a fortnight ago whilst most eyes of the football fans were on the World Cup qualifiers, an even more important match slipped under the public’s radar. That’s right, the Van Mildert works football match pitting the guys from the Warehouse against the guys from the Office The Warehouse had an average age of just 25 whereas the office’s was......well slightly (considerably) more.
There had been a lot of banter about the place, in the weeks prior, and both teams were confident of victory. Tactics and positions had been discussed at great length, and everyone knew what positions they were playing and what was expected of them. However it all changed at the 11th hour when one of the company's Directors got wind of the forthcoming battle, and put himself forward for the Office team. Not only did he put himself forward for selection, but he also named his position. Striker.
Now he was the oldest player on the pitch, and definitely the most confident and I'm sure it did raise some eyebrows, but that was all forgotten just 2 minutes into the game when he received the ball 30 yards out with his back to goal.In an instant he’d flicked the ball through his legs, turned his marker, bared down on goal, and then calmly placed it into the corner of the net from the edge of the box.
Winners in Green - Losers in Red
The next 25 minutes were fairly even, as goals were traded back and forth, as the score reached 4-4 (with another goal for the director), but then the Office guys took control and went in at the break 7-5 in front. Now it must be said, we'd never played on the pitch together before, or played in certain positions and all the rolling substitutions, (hey, we're not the Premier League just yet) the tactics and general play were at times disjointed. But as a company Director should, he took charge of the office lads with a pretty solid team talk and new 4-5-1 formation.
The new formation worked excellently as the Office dominated the midfield, and created chances for the big director – quite a few of which were tucked away, and but for a dodgy 5 minute spell in the second half where the Warehouse scored 3 times, it was fairly plain sailing for the Office team. In the end the score finished 12-8, and there was no doubt who the Man Of The Match was, as the director ended up with a total of 8 goals – he could have had a hat trick of hat tricks, but we’ll try not to mention the open goal he missed late on. We’ll also try to forget the moment in his eagerness to score he actually tackled his own player to get the ball
All in all in though the game was a great laugh, and played in a friendly atmosphere, without a bad tackle in sight. It would be safe to use the old cliché that ‘Football Was The Winner’, but in all reality it was the Van Mildert Office boys......and they won’t let their Warehouse counterparts forget that in a hurry