Wanderers Wyse heads make Pearson runs and Breeze to Victory.

The Mall beckoned, but fortunately the lure of Clifton Wanderers V Avonmouth in the return of an earlier season match proved more attractive than Millies Cookies, The Teddy Bear factory or an Egg Nog frappalattemachaccinno.

However upon my arrival at Avonmouth there wasn’t the bristle of Lavender and Black as would be expected. It seems it was another tough week in the player availability charts. Finally the coaching team had 14 able bodied men clad in the silver kit ready to take the field, Warm up complete and the side was then bolstered by the arrival of a fifteenth man “Carpark Sam” to complete the line up.
Apparently he was on his way to the mall when his car took a sharp right turn into the Mouth car park, his fate was then sealed. A shrill blast from the only Bluesman refereeing this side of the Mississippi delta and “Muddy” Waters got the game under way.

A front row of Wallis and Denton had another new partner between them in Simon Bannister who did a great job in the loose and the tight, as well as good line out work, Second Row of Leroy Pearson who showed some of the power and enthusiasm that has been lying in wait, carrying ball, and shrugging of at least four attempted tackles to “gently” ease his way over for a 5 pointer. Alongside Leroy in the row was Max Potter, newly signed for the Hogwarts first XV, giving a spellbinding performance on his first showing. Back row of former X factor contestant Rhydian, Andy Blowers and Lewis “Zig” Beer ( unfortunately his partner Zag couldn’t make it this week) were an all action trio, with Blowers taking good line out ball for the Wanderers and also stealing some of the Avonmouth ball. Avonmouth had a big side and looked to be a threat early on but the gallant chaps up front battled hard top turn over ball and frustrate the “Mouth” behemoths.

This week the usual sniping runs, and barking of orders from Jamie Allen at 9, were replaced by the skills of Dan Venn. Who manfully pulled on the 9 shirt and did all that was asked of him getting the ball to the back line. At 10 was Ben Breeze who like a fine red wine was opened at the start of the game, left the breath, and then poured comfortably in its delivery, giving some consummate moments of enjoyment with the right amount of kicking, allied to his silky running, he also scored in the process, Breathless! Rich Wyse complimented the fine wine at 10 with a more Cider like performance, Robust running and straight to the Point. Skipper scouse was this week playing at 13 where he did a great job with some crunching tackles on his opposite number. Both midfield boys had their hands full as the Avonmouth centres were strong, fit and looked dangerous. The back three was Kahn, not Fotual’I, Kerry Locke look alike and flanker “Polish” Rob and the man of mystery “car park” Sam

Over all the game was end to end, nip and tuck, exciting stuff all the way, with scores changing hands faster than a mistletoe bunch at a under 16’s disco, leaving the Clifton touch judge/shirt collector/ball finder/physio/ coach wheezing and dribbling at the unusual amount of exercise.
The Wanderers wisely took a penalty attempt in the 2nd half to end the ping pong scoring and giving a 5 point cushion rather the slender two point that It had been for most of the game. This seemed to galvanise the boys and another score was added to make it more than two scores for “The Mouth” to come back. Avonmouth fought hard and pulled back a try but missed the kick leaving it a 30pts to 20pts as the final score.
A great win and a great way to go in to the Season festivities.
A very Merry Xmas to all

Tarquin.