18 February 2007
Friendly
Away (London)

This, to be fair, has been an eagerly awaited re-match for both the Ball Bois and the London Titans and although classed as a ‘friendly’, the two teams were as equally determined to win – with the Titans displaying an array of unusually competitive tactics!

With a bigger squad than the Ballbois, the first half started with the Titans being much the better side with their strong possession especially in the midfield. To quote the coach: the Bois didn’t really have their ‘shooting boots’ on at the start, yet some reasonable chances to score were created several times but could not be finished due to pressure from the opposing side.

However with all this, the Ballbois never gave up and kept their heads up even through injuries including Gareth D’s nosebleed and other calf injuries caused by the hard and muddy surface. The team finished the first half 3-0 down and awaited another inspirational talk from the coach.

Having learnt some lessons, the team returned to the pitch revitalised and played in a new 3-5-2 formation to take possession of the midfield that had been under the control of the feisty Titans. The Bois had finished acting relaxed and the second half brought the two teams from their first half ‘arms length’ approach to a ‘team-on-team’ transformation.

With a tremendous fight back, the Bois managed to strike terror into the hearts of the Titans by placing immense pressure on them and with some nice attacking from Brett L and Chris L it led into the best second half the supporters had seen in a while. Within the space of about ten minutes, three fantastic goals were buried in the Titans net from Chris L, Ian R and Sam N with sensational support coming from the traveling supporters!

Now the Titans were worried (and the sound coming from their supporters began to dwindle…). The Bois battled on strong and never gave up with many more attempts to score including a humorous shot from Chris straight into the goalkeepers nose! However being a league team, the Titans did fight back securing a final goal at the end to make it seem like a convincing win for them.

On the day, the better team won and this win for the Titans now makes it their seventh consecutive win in a row. Yet it is definitely a sign of progress when the Ballbois can put up a respectable 6-3 score against an unusually competitive league team. Our team came out with many positives and learned lessons which I’m sure will be put into action in future matches. The Bois spirit never died though and even though there were injuries, they returned to the pitch within minutes later to fight back

A strong game for both sides and although the result didn’t go as planned for Nottingham’s only gay team, the day (and evening!) was extremely enjoyable. To sum up simply: we were beaten – yet not defeated! The Bois return to ‘The Big Smoke’ in two weeks, but next time against the Falcons and there is no doubt in this reporters mind that they will return to prove that the Ballbois are the BEST!!

Team: Tony L, Gareth D, Brett L, John S, Andy B, Sam N, Dave O, Ian R, Paul B, Basil L, and Chris L
Subs: Phil H, Tom M
Goals: Chris L, Ian R, Sam N