It's half hour til kick off and the geezer at the bookings office is still reluctant to give us the key to the dressing room, his colleague busily sweeping out the mud and filth from this morning's fixture. Another chaotic episode at Hackney Marshes, the spiritual home of football. We squeeze in with Shepherds and it's all elbows and arses as both teams struggle for space to get the kit on. The pre-match nerves are always infused with a great excitement and once outside we are eager to whizz through our warm up and get on with t
he game. Despite some of us being up since 3am (watching a jaded Oscar De La Hoya getting taught a boxing lesson from Manny Paquiao), Russell having a severe hang over and Alex still putting his kit on as the ref blows the whistle, we're all well up for this game. The first half sees Recreativo pass the ball beautifully, in and around the opposition's box. Dario, Kali, Bilal and Alex maintain possession and unleash another attack. It's Total Football today against a side who've had the better of us over the past few seasons. 2-0 up at half time and the team talk is simply "more of the same". Keep possession, close them down, score more goals.
Simple. Another four goals in the second half, Chris saying he's bored in goal with nothing much to do and that was that. Overall, a superb result, a very enjoyable game and Dario, Joao and Bilal move up the top goalscorer table (another two each). Recreativo are on a roll, just in time for the visit of high-flying Rio Kaiserslauten next week. Bring it on!Team : Chris Read, James Humphreys (Mario Pisano), Nick Candy, Jimmie Gregory (John Megaughin), Marcus du Sautoy, Kali Gregory-Hagenstede, Russell Smith, Joao Spinola, Alex the Reading Fan, Bilal Talib Ali, Dario Costa.