| V. The Stragglers The Leopards have been taught a few harsh lessons at the start of their new season in the upper echelons of London football. Back on astro for the first time this season, the Leopards were made first of all to wait some 40 minutes as the Stragglers, true to their nomenclature, dribbed and drabbed their way down to Battersea. The Leopards fell for the gamesmanship, using the time to exhaust themselves with aerial bouts of miss-directed headers and wildly optimistic shots, instead of knuckling down for some serious muscle toning exercises and sparse eating. The second piece of gamesmanship that unnerved this normally steely pride of great game cats was the announcement by the oppo�s captain, delivered complete with effete voice, that they were off on a cricket tour next week so could we please mind their ankles. Rather than telling them where they could stick their boxes, the Leopards softened their growl and failed to bite for the first half hour. By which time the Stragglers had made full use of their pace up front and the lack of linesman to sneak one in. Despite the Marie Celeste style midfield, the Leopards held their own and were delighted, if somewhat flattered, when the graceful skill of Rupert combined with VDA to produce the most attractive goal of the night. Assurances by your reporter that together with the rest of the defence he would play �much tighter� in the second half were exposed as pure baloney within five minutes of the restart when once again charitable interpretation of the off-side rule and wishing Paddy or Pete were there lead to another breakaway goal. The two that followed almost immediately after were more straightforward cases of charity. Stopper Fenn-Smith was brought back from midfield to bolster the rearguard, which sealed the gaps there. Typical Leopardine determination and pride began to shine through with some more creative midfield play emerging. The reward was several chances, none clear cut, but enough to salvage some pride. So a 4-1 warning. Passing must be crisper, harrying must be more ferocious and some cunning gamesmanship must be developed. And never again must we make allowances for our oppositions� unseasonal sporting sojourns. |