SHOREDITCH UNITED 15-10 F.C. SE7EN - 17.09.20

It was another tough defeat but it was closer this time round. There's definitely some signs of improvement. Much of the game was very evenly fought but match fitness proved to be our biggest weakness, as about two thirds of the way through we wilted in the autumn heat as Shoreditch Utd punished us.

I'll be the 1st one to admit that my teammates carried me for a lot of the game. I was knackered ! Literally after 5 mins I was struggling but on a side note, it was a major milestone in my personal FC7 story. 18 months since I last played and more importantly it was my first game after the transplant operation. It felt amazing if tiring, but it's really pushed me on to lose my excess weight. My running regime has shed more than 1.5 stone so far, but I still have a very long way to go in terms of fat loss and long term endurance. But significantly I'm really enjoying the challenge, pushing myself further as each day goes.

I have never run or gone to the gym in my life, so if I can do it...anyone can!

The day was beautiful, very sunny but not too hot, and we started the game really well. We pressed hard, were well organised and went 2-0 up very quickly. United tagged us back soon enough but like a brutal heavyweight boxing match we were trading gut wrenching 1-2-1 blows by the minute.

Utd were quite a physical side, but we still matched them, which bodes well for the future. The scores were pretty even going into the 40th minute. A couple of us started to feel a bit pain from old injuries and the pitch was a strange one.

Powerleague Shoreditch (as with most Powerleague pitch) claim to be 4G. I still saw rubber infill, so not sure what makes their pitches 4G. The surface was playable, but I felt the deep surface was quite lumpy, which oddly mirrors a real grass turf quite admirably. As a result, we thought that AG boots are a probably a requirement on these pitches. I found it very sour on my soles, and my ankles experienced some sharp pain when I tried to run. Take these comments with a pinch of salt, as myself in particular, I'm very out of shape, and Jumbo and Frodo were saying they aren't fully match fit yet. So these could be contributing to the pain.

Speaking of Frodo, he was about 20 minutes late, tsk. He's been reprimanded. Eventually Billy Bobz swapped sides due to white/dark shirt ratio, so is getting a lot of Judas stick, for the short term anyways.

Incidentally, it was the first outing of the Black FC7 Home shirt. We were a bit apprehensive and didn't want to look too try-hard. But in the end, I personally thought we looked wicked.

Very professional indeed, we wouldn't of looked out of place on Sky or BTSports you know.

Anyways, I digress again! Back to the game. Shaun Whittle proved to be a diamond striker, he doesn't always get to play for FC7 but when he does, he's a valued member. A hat-trick on his return but even he admitted his fitness was lacking, so a recurring theme. Tey and Jumbo were as solid as ever, but it was Frodo who stole the show. Dazzling skills, deft touches and wizardry on the wing, earned him his first Player of the Match (POTM or Hippo) Award.

We don't want to draw too much on our lack of fitness, there will be more posts on that as it's a big feature of our journey, so we'll limit this sort of chat within the match reports. It's important to mention though.

We popped by a small bar, which wasn't too busy and was adhering to the government guidelines on Covid19, something we felt was hugely apparent in Shoreditch worryingly. The Rule of 6 has now been implemented by the government due to rising infection rates, but thankfully organised team sports don't come under this. So we carry on.

I'll be posting the Photobook soon, so you can us in all our glory. It's was harder to get a lot of action pics, so we took a lot of the Shoreditch scenery and the bar.

We keep on plugging away, more determined then ever...the FC7 Story continues. Follow the highs and lows with us...