FC Jiggleitalittleitllopen 0 Boys From Brazil 1

The penultimate Friday in May means only one thing - the start of Crawley's biggest five-a-side tournament of the year. Yes this was full steam ahead Summer Fives 2003!

For the Jigglers it's been a strange pre-season with only intermittent practice possible and continuing uncertainty about the size of the playing squad. One week it's ten, the next week it's five. Fortunately the Jigglers do have a five who can be depended on week in week out to turn out when the chips are down and so it was over to that five tonight. Phil Laker lined up as ever between the sticks supported in defence by David Leake and Chris Laker beginning his final season before university. Jon Hawtin lead the line in attack with Dave Carling continuing to show great commitment to make it back from uni as often as he does. Tonight was also a televisual treat as the Jigglers thanks to Dave Leake's dad the newly appointed Jiggle cameraman, made their first appearance on film. Fitting then it was that tonight saw a game featuring not one but two goalkeepers in the same hideous orange goalie top as Phil Laker lined up opposite a man offering a worrying insight into what he may look like in 10 years time should he fail to improve his on-pitch fashion sense.

Boys From Brazil lined up as reigning Summer champions but did make a claim that this was their first game for nine months. Any rustiness would need to be exploited. Whether it was rustiness on the part of the champions or a flying start by the Jigglers the first half was a very evenly matched affair with Jiggle a shade unlucky not to be in front at the break.

The gameplan prior to kick-off was to hit Jon Hawtin's feet and allow others to get forward to feed off the front-man. In the first half it worked like a dream. The match was just three minutes old when Jon received the ball and weighed up his options before chipping into the path of Dave Carling who was denied by the keeper. This was surpassed two minutes before half-time as the front two linked up again with a fine ball from Hawtin latched onto by Carling to bring a flying stop from the Brazil keeper. His opposite number Phil Laker was remaining largely untroubled thanks to some excellent defending which was keeping all Brazilian attacks at arms length.

At half-time it was hard to see Jiggle ending on the losing side but as with all good sides the champions moved up half a gear while Jiggle found it hard to maintain the early momentum. From kick-off Jiggle were on the back foot as a striker made space to bring a sprawling stop from Phil Laker. The pressure built and lead to the killer goal. The keeper was forced into another block from an effort with more than a sniff of inside the box about it. From the resulting throw the striker found the first half yard of space afforded and clinically found the bottom corner for 1-0.

While looking just as likely winners at 0-0 chasing the game was a different matter. Brazil were more than happy to protect what they had and rely on counter-attack while Jiggle couldn't get any sort of forward momentum to cause alarm. The only sniff of a chance fell to Dave Carling two minutes from time after a duff throw-in but a last ditch challenge did enough to avert the danger. Brazil looked the more likely to add to their tally but still failed to drive home the advantage and will know they have to up their game if they're to match last year's highs. It could have been two but for Dave Carling's second great sliding tackle of the night but as the full-time whistle sounded one was to prove enough.

The Jigglers will be disappointed not to have got anything out of a game that was there for the taking at half-time but the night did see the steady improvement of recent weeks continue. Next week sees a meeting with former New Year winners The Blues but before that the chance for some cup glory with the first day-tournament of the year in Burgess Hill kicking-off in just 11 hours time. Best get to bed I guess!