"What happened to your opposition? Did their wheelchairs get stuck in the mud?"."Who were you playing? The Girl Guides?".
"Fourteen-Three? It couldn't have been proper football".
And so go some of the comments made by our nearests and dearests the past few days, scandalous assumptions that Barking Mad couldn't have been all that. Truth is, they did have a lot of possession in the first half, but even with the wind against us, we tore into their defence like the proverbial knife through butter. What a strange day out on the Marshes. A day that will simply be remembered as the best ever result for Recreativo Football Club.
The phone had been non stop the previous evening. 'Jim, is game on tomorrow? Have you seen the rain?'.
'Hello mate, is match still on? Will it be flooded?'.
There's nothing worse than spending a romantic night at the cinema (in front of 'Made in Dagenham') and the text messages are vibrating your inner thigh. All night the rain lashed down. The nervy staff of Regents Park would simply call off our games at the merest hint of a storm cloud, but the folk at Hackney Marshes are made of sterner stuff.
And so we found ourselves under the darkest skies we had encountered all year, heavy rain on and off all day, everyone soaked. The portakabin dressing rooms offered scant refuge from the downpour, semi flooded floor, mud and shit all over the place. It was a relief to be out on the gorgeous green pitches that looked in absolutely tip top condition. When the rain did stop, the conditions seemed near perfect to play a game of football. Having battled through traffic in such appalling conditions, everyone seemed more determined than ever to charge about for the next two hours.
The first half saw Barking have decent spells of possession, their right winger and the funki dread left midfielder both looked pretty decent on the ball. Despite the wind against us we soon found our stride. Something happened to this football club over the summer. After many years treading water in the lower echelons of the Central Super League we decided it was time to reinvigorate our football club. With youth! With speed! With goal getters! Four games in, having won four and scored 25 goals in the process, our energized squad is looking proper handy, as shown today with Benson's and Joe Haley's four goals each, Max's hat-trick, two goals for Liam and one for Aaron. 5-1 up at half time with the wind against us, the lads seized the second half to play keep ball and shoot on sight. The score was maybe a little flattering. Barking have some very good players and did make a game of it. Their late goals in the second half had us rattled and even 11-1 up we wondered if Recreativo would even fuck this one up!
So a good day for our club. Flying high, a massive squad all eager to play and a fantastic winter of football every weekend stretching out in front of us. Bring it on!
And so we found ourselves under the darkest skies we had encountered all year, heavy rain on and off all day, everyone soaked. The portakabin dressing rooms offered scant refuge from the downpour, semi flooded floor, mud and shit all over the place. It was a relief to be out on the gorgeous green pitches that looked in absolutely tip top condition. When the rain did stop, the conditions seemed near perfect to play a game of football. Having battled through traffic in such appalling conditions, everyone seemed more determined than ever to charge about for the next two hours.
The first half saw Barking have decent spells of possession, their right winger and the funki dread left midfielder both looked pretty decent on the ball. Despite the wind against us we soon found our stride. Something happened to this football club over the summer. After many years treading water in the lower echelons of the Central Super League we decided it was time to reinvigorate our football club. With youth! With speed! With goal getters! Four games in, having won four and scored 25 goals in the process, our energized squad is looking proper handy, as shown today with Benson's and Joe Haley's four goals each, Max's hat-trick, two goals for Liam and one for Aaron. 5-1 up at half time with the wind against us, the lads seized the second half to play keep ball and shoot on sight. The score was maybe a little flattering. Barking have some very good players and did make a game of it. Their late goals in the second half had us rattled and even 11-1 up we wondered if Recreativo would even fuck this one up! 
So a good day for our club. Flying high, a massive squad all eager to play and a fantastic winter of football every weekend stretching out in front of us. Bring it on!Team: James Humphreys, Mario Pisano (Marcus du Sautoy), Joao Spinola, Joe Dunthorne (John Megaughin), Jimmie Gregory (Russell Smith), Benson Chambers, Joe Haley, Adam Bradbury (Tino), Aaron Gayle, Max Bland, Liam Greenaway.