Certainly was. I have always wondered what the true effect of having someone like Crabbeman on the pitch really is. He was loud and positive on Sunday, each time we went behind all you could hear was him screaming encouragement - and it's always encouragement. You certainly can't say that nobody else would have been up for it if he wasn't there doing it, but he was anyway, and rarely (if ever) gives any less.

For me, psychology is a major factor in Sunday league football and Crabbeman is a big asset for us in that department. It was a pleasure to watch their player get sent off on Sunday. Not that I would encourage anyone to deliberately wind another player up to the point where you get elbowed, but that player was not a bad player at all and yet he couldn't handle it. Crabbeman never deliberately hurt him but he was 110% competitive and could handle being deliberately elbowed without reacting, whereas there player, who'd scored 2 goals already that game, couldn't handle being tackled (particularly a tackle on him as he scored - what a prick) so he went looking for Crabbeman and ended up off the pitch. You can be as good a player as you like but if you're stood giving people abuse from the sidelines and telling your mates how hard you are then you're no use to anyone. Crabbeman wins.

Not sure I've ever seen him lose in those little personal battles on the pitch. He can stop skillful players just as well as he can stop total cocks. If everyone else was half as loud we'd never go more than a goal behind.

Next week; "Kirkham. What's that about?"

Yeah I'll back Crabbman up. It was his deflected shot that set Glen up....

I bet some of there players had sore shins in the morning though, Crabb pretty much kicked them all in the air at some point during the game! Superb performance from him/you though.

I didn't see it so if anyone else wants to make a claim on the cross then go for it. Can't imagine it was really Crabbeman - why would he have been out wide when there were plenty of men to kick in the middle of the pitch?

Shane that was my pin point cross i skinned the guy as well!!! just thought i would let you all no
: 0 )

A great report, of what seems like a great game. However, if you're not going to make it a fair report, you might as well just write the last paragraph again.

'A great match, Shefford dominated. The other team were rubbish'

The frost may have melted but the Henwick pitches were hard underfoot as players went through the ritual studs v moulded debate before kick off. Q Associates started strongly and kept Shefford pinned in their own half for the opening 10 minutes, before the visitors began moving slightly further up the field.

A worrying sign for Shefford with Q getting a free header from a corner was turned into worse news shortly afterwards. Another corner swinging in, another free header well saved by Smurf but it fell to a Q player to finish from close range. This actually sparked Shefford into a response and the rest of the game was played pretty much in the Q half. Chance after chance went over or wide until Gareth Withers picked the ball up on the left wing, jinked inside and fired a looping shot into the top right hand corner to equalise with the last kick of the half.

Posession shared at the start of the 2nd half until Q's main player muscled the ball through nearly the entire Shefford defence. Tackles went in but none strong enough to get the ball off him and he eventually fired a low shot into the bottom corner. Shefford responded well and Withers again made an excellent run down the left to feed a neat cutback to debutant Glen Canning who only needed one touch to side foot it past the keeper.

Shefford now looked the stronger team and began limiting Q to chances, before an effort from outside the box squirmed out of Smurf's hands and dribbled over the line. The shot was accompanied moments later by a typically timed Crabbeman tackle so the scorer then spent the next 5 minutes seeking him out for retribution, which came in the form of an elbow and a second yellow card, putting Q down to ten men. Suicide against a pressing Shefford side and duly punished when a cross from (insert who crossed it here I can't remember) was headed home by Canning for his second on his debut to make it 3-3.

It was all Shefford for the last 10 minutes but the closest they came was a Crabbeman effort close in but at a tight angle and the ball wouldn't come out from under his feet.

Points shared - probably fair enough cos I haven't mentioned Q's disallowed (rightly) goal or their shot that hit the inside of the post and rebounded across the goal and out. But Shefford made more chances and scored better goals. Familiar story.

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Kennet lost as well so although we actually dropped a bit in the league we're still in a healthy position. But we can see now that it's not just between us, Kennet and Q anymore you can add Hermitage Reserves and Bucklebury to the equation. It's all nice and open still. Thought we showed good character throughout yesterday and created far more chances than they did. Unlucky not to grab all 3 points, just shows we'll not be able to just turn up against anyone - we need to put some real effort in.

The John Sills match report follows.

Remember the last game of the season before last? (the relegation one) when we lost 3-2 to Hampstead Norreys who got promoted (think they even won that league). Well we were very poor that season and still only lost 3-2. No surprise then to seem them rock bottom of the Prem Div, having played 10, won just 1 (against Partick) and lost the other 9. Their keeper was a retard.

Yeah there's still tons of twists and turns to go yet. Think about last year when we ended up winning by 10 clear points and it never really felt certain until 2 games to go.

I have no doubt that Kennet will drop points, as will everyone, but other teams are having some good runs of form. Like you say, anyone from the top 7 are still well within grasp of the top. We've still got some good teams and some bad teams to play.

We'll have to see what Q are like on Sunday. They've had some bad results recently but we missed a trick last week as if we'd beaten Kennet then Q might have come into the game secretly expecting not to get anything out of it. As it is, they'll now be going into it in the same mood as us, off the back of a disappointment and knowing that the other team aren't invincible.

We've got a strong squad out on Sunday, only Lewis missing, so it'd be nice to play some decent footy - we know we can pressure them and we know they don't react well to conceding. Might be nice to let them hear that we only had 9 men last week against Kennet...

Just had a good look at the league table and who's played who etc and we're still in the mix, I think the top seven teams will be thinking they'll have a chance to get up there if they can get a winning streak going. We still have the advantage (looking at it positively) of games in hand over some and Kennet who are 8 points ahead of us now are going to drop points before the end of the season.

They have Hogs Head to play twice who look in good form, Bucklebury - who we know only too well can be a tough team to beat on their day and Hermitage Res who they've already lost too once. Plus they need to beat the other teams at the bottom, as just turning up doesn't guarantee a win....

Obviously we still have to beat these teams as well, but just trying to put a positive spin on things on this gloomy Friday morning!!

First things first though, massive game on Sunday - where we really can't afford to drop points.

Been a long time since we've conceded more than 2 goals in a league game. I take it as a personal insult. Hear that noise? That's the sound of heads rolling. Heads.

I didn't think there would be a big write up on here today after that shower of shit yesterday....

Apparently it wasn't a free kick from Ben but a goal from open play and quite a strike by all accounts. 7 goals and Lewis didn't get one - he was not happy.

Amazing, these write ups get better and better. And it sounds like a superb performance, although I'm left wondering whether the phrase 'this is for you, Shane/James' was shouted every time someone kicked the ball, just in case it went in...

It's getting tasty at the top eh? Hermitage Reserves are right on our arse too and haven't lost since September - though that was one of those games where we were all over them for 90 minutes and came out with a draw wasn't it?

It'd be funny if it came down to us v them again but I think there will be more teams in it this season.

The John Sills write up follows - adapted from a Matt Atkins report as I was in Torquay this weekend...

The sun rose over the Henwick mist like a lava lamp in Genghis' living room, hallway or bathroom. Shefford took to the pitch against a team they'd already destroyed 5 - 0 in arguably one of their best performances ever, but finding themselves a place behind them in the league. 3rd placed The Swan would have approached this game confident in their own ability but with bad memories of a footballing lesson from Shefford earlier in the season.

What better way to start then, than with Matt Atkins growling around the box from a corner and shouting "this is for you Shane!" before stabbing the ball in from close range.

Shefford enjoyed the confidence this early lead gave them and after half an hour of almost non-stop one-touch passing, Dave Lewis threaded and incisive ball through to Andy Miller who yelled "this is for you Shane!" before beating the advancing keeper.

This seemed to spur The Swan into some resistance and they clawed their way back into the game just before half time with a powerful strike into the top corner. He didn't shout anything.

Half time regroup with the game in the balance. The Swan started strongly but Shefford restored their two-goal cushion when Gareth Withers worked his way down the left wing and crossed for Simon MacIntyre to shout "this is for you Shane!" before finishing with a tap in at the far post.

But The Swan didn't want to give up and forced their way back into the game with a decent passing move to create an opening that was finished well to make it 3-2.

Shefford kept their heads up well and one dangerous ball forward required The Swan keeper to charge out of his area and head the ball clear. But it fell to Atkins and in the mode he's in at the moment it couldn't have fallen to anyone better as he shouted "this is for you Shane!" and coolly lobbed the ball from 40 yards out, over the retreating keeper and into the net to once again restore the two-goal advantage.

The Swan now had two goals to catch up and had seen how much effort it takes to put two past Shefford, so they faced a big mental battle to stay in the game. Basically, they lost that battle, when Withers produced some good skill again to feed Adam Davies on an venture forward. Davies received the ball, shouted "this is for you Shane!" and finished from close range.

The Swan players looked at each other and knew this was the end. All their training, all their hard work, for this. What a crock of shit, they probably thought to themselves. So imagine how they felt when the diminutive Ben Kirkham was somehow allowed to take a free kick from the edge of the area (this will be discussed in training) and launched and unstoppable goal of the season contender into the roof of the net, after shouting "this is for you Shane!" during his run up.

"Fucking cock off" probably said the goalkeeper, under his breath.

All that was left was for Chris Brown to finish off the scoring, shouting "this is for you James!" before lifting a deft lob over the keeper from 10 yards out to make the final score 7-2 to Shefford and send out a chilling message to the rest of the league.