The week had been fraught with anxiety as our stand-in ref shamelessley emailed on friday evening, pulling out and letting us down with some lame excuse. Saturday meant another morning of calling round in the desperate attempt to get another man in black. We did. We hired him for the princely sum of £45 cash, but then fired him after Abdul the Geezer rang to say he was now available and would see us pitchside five minutes before kick off. We like Abdul, a larger than life Moroccan cockney geezer, although often wonder why after the dodgy offsides he seems to give against us. After spending saturday afternoon watching Recreativo Juniors under
-10s thrash Highgate 6-0, displaying a master-class in step-overs, dragbacks and pass and move and then an evening at Screen on the Green eyes agog at the adorable cast of Vicky Christina Barcelona, the weekend was shaping up very nice indeed. After another Juniors training session early sunday morning, we are finally off to the Marshes again. Bilal, Stef and Miguel are comatosed after a late night teen lager-fest. We manage to prise Bilal out of his slumber and drive off without the others. We are also missing Dario, Marcus, Russell and James today, but depite this manage to put out a really good team. 
Sandmere finally turned up and we got on with the game. We have to say, they were probably the best team we've played all season. Although, we've come on in leaps and bounds, a really good game of football unfolded. Chris once again had a great game in between the sticks, certainly a major factor in Recreativo's recent resurgence. Miguel made amends for his no show early morning by getting the bus out to join us for the second half and putting in a really good performance. 1-0 down with a couple of minutes to go Alex cooly stepped up to put away a penalty (after Adam had been hacked to the floor). A good result, a really great effort from all concerned and as the late afternoon rain began to fall, the ref blew full time and we headed homewards. Back home, very fine pork sausages and a mountain of mash potato and gravy awaited. As the dying embers of Derby-Man Utd fizzled out on the telly, it was into a hot bath for a soak and to listen to some old gits ranting about football on the radio. Laying back in the steaming water, a generous glass of dark Tempranillo in hand, it was heaven. A couple of hours later, the Milan Derby was being shown on BBC3. Bellissimo! Beckham vs Mourinho, fantastic ultras choreography celebrating a wonderful city torn apart by red or blue, flares and smoke
and drama. A beautiful weekend, sullied only by Mario's green pants that we all knew lay somewhere, deep down and dirty within the Recreativo kit bag.
and drama. A beautiful weekend, sullied only by Mario's green pants that we all knew lay somewhere, deep down and dirty within the Recreativo kit bag. Team: Chris Read, Mario Pisano, Joao Spinola, Jimmie Gregory (Miguel Morales), John Megaughin (Stefan Fernandez Garcia), Joe Dunthorne, Adam Bradbury, Alex Fenn, Jamie Harris, Bilal Talib Ali, Nick Candy.