The Shambles approached the start of the new campaign with a somewhat threadbare team, Captain Graham injured, Blues sunning himself on holiday somewhere dreaming of the golden boot that managed to elude him yet again and Clint and Carl on 11 a side duties . However, the team that was assembled Flash,Jethro, Blink,Worst , HRH and newboy Tim (on permanent loan from Coogan's who somehow failed to register on time - thanks Steve!), were eager to carry on their winning ways from the tail end of the previous season. With Flash starting on the bench (obviuosly trying to harness in that tremendous pace ) the Shambles got off to a perfect start with Tim and Blink combing up front well allowing Tim to strike first , 1 - 0 Shambles with less than a minute on the clock! Within 30 seconds of the restart Blink doubled the talley to make it 2-0. The Shambles felt a surge of confidence that always seemed so alien but felt may appear someday! HRH was next to strike with one of his "what's he doing up front again?" runs that ended with him bladdering the ball from right to left in his trademark finish 3 - 0. The front pair of Blink and Tim combined well yet again resulting with each of them netting one more each before the ref blew for half time. A score of 5 - 0 at the half way point was a familiar one for the Shambles but usually on the receiving end! The whole team ( yes even Flash!) played like a well oiled machine with great passing ,marking and actually looked like a proper football team.
The second half carried on as the first finished with the Shambles pressing forward once more allowing Tim to add another 3 goals to make it 8 - 0!! what the blue blazes was going on?? As if we all realised that this score line was somehow completely wrong , it was then that things started to get back to normal with a few mistakes leading to the first of Knowles' consolation goals finding the back of the Shambles net ( Worst , you have to roll it out to someone in yellow!). Knowles found the back of the net 2 more times before the ref blew for full time.
Apart from the last few minutes,this was a fantastic performance from all The Shambles players and the players absent from this game wil find it hard pressed to regain their spots at this rate.
TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!!!!!