Yesterday, all the talking stopped. Colwyn Bay Staff vs. Colwyn Bay Fans in the “Match of the Season”. The club was the obvious benefitter: raising £750 before a ball has even been kicked. It brought fans, players and the community together in such a big way.
That being said, we wanted to win.
We arrived at half 10, and we went pretty much straight into the away team’s dressing room. We had the home kits, and got changed for a pre match warm up and team talk. Me and Jay said to each other we’d try and play 90 minutes. Alas, that wasn’t to be for me as I started on the subs bench.
The original plan was to hold back and defend for the first 10 minutes, and then beat them later. That was the plan, but in the end we just went straight out and attacked. After 21 minutes, Jay scored a hell of a goal, which means that Han wins the golden goal contest. A few minutes later we scored a second, and then came my time to shine - I had been itching to come on from the first minute. Immediately I began bossing people around (I’d make a good assistant manager), but I felt hypocritical, as I don’t think I touched the ball for the rest of the half.
Come half time we had a word with our manager and sent back out. I started on the bench again (we played rolling subs), and eventually got my time to shine about 10 minutes into the half. I stayed on for the rest of the game and - whilst not playing brilliantly, I felt I played okay. Sometimes I kept up with the ball..
Sometimes it went past me…
But thankfully we kept ourselves in the game, largely due to our Man of the Match winning keeper, who made some crucial stops and won everything. We even went 3-0 up, which made me very happy.
However, we began to fall asleep as a group, and relied on our keeper too much. They managed to get two back, making a nervous last 10 minutes.
It gave us a wake up call, and a quick reshuffle in the back meant that we started a new tactic - the offside trap - which was played to perfection on a number of occasions.
I even managed to touch the ball!
In the end, we manage to hold on for the win.
I was thoroughly exhausted, sore, but happy. A 3-2 victory meant we could hold our heads up high. Mum cornered me for a winning photo, but I was too tired to stand up!
We then sat in the bar, stuffed our face on Sweet ‘n’ Sour Chicken and buffet, and I got rather drunk. Wahey! We also sat through a rather dull cup final, and then went on the piss in Llandudno. All in all a good day, and we’re doing it again next year (with a year’s football behind us, so hopefully we’ll be a lot fitter). But I’m feeling it today, in a tight muscles/hangover combination!
Update: More photos are on my facebook album here.
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Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay.
Awesome, sounds like a great day there
This is what football is supposed to be -fun. Who needs £100,000 per week …
Whee - well done!
Told you you’d be on the substitute bench!!
wedgie! haha You really do look like your trying to fly in the second photo and no comment on the last!! :S
WEDGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Damn, I was only a few minutes off and still lost. Congrats to Han.
Looks like it was a good time. I’m jealous.
Looking good, Rhys!
Just seen your blog and thought I’d see about our famous match. Really enjoyed the day (and even though its months after) enjoyed reading this blog. It will probably take me till Saturdays home game to catch up on all your other entries now I’ve seen it!!! Great comments, and now I can show them to my friends and family who didn’t believe I could still play a bit. Cheers.