Club match - a thriller for the decades!

And this could be the spin Taunton Vale D are putting on their team's withdrawal from the scheduled league game that was unfortunately cancelled this past weekend. Taunton CS however did not shy away and instead raised 20 players early on a cold Saturday morning to play a club match.

The new formation of Taunton CS Reds and Taunton CS All Blacks saw the first competitive senior game many had played. New faces included Sam 'Woody' Woodland, Jamie 'JJ' Everett and Evan 'Evan' Tarr. The match also saw the return of absentee and recently engaged star striker and top (joint) goal scorer Mark 'I'd rather be snowboarding' Sawyer. However it must be noted that when the pushback time arrived some were still absent and Julian 'how do these shorts work' Brown was still trying to figure out the complexities of wearing the goalkeeping kit.

The match started with the All Blacks at a numbers and man power disadvantage as well as lacking in the goalkeeper department. Taunton CS Reds however, felt that it would be discourteous to score during this period and Julian 'where does this helmet go' Brown eventually limped on to the pitch after 7 minutes of game play. Almost instantly CS Reds capitalised on some fantastic build up play and went 1-0 up.

Like a strawberry blonde ray of light James 'what's a mobile phone' Coles decided it was time to make a fashionably late appearance and galvanise the All Blacks midfield. Moments later a scuffle in the D brought a short corner for the All Blacks and in a move far slicker than the average TCS short corner routine, the ball reached Andy 'only scores from two yards' Carter who notched up the equaliser slotting past Mike 'I like toy soldiers' Whitman in the cool manner TCS have become accustomed to.

Shortly after levelling the scores the All Blacks took the lead as a careful through ball from Curtis 'curt' Bradley found Carter in acres of space to charge at the keeper before slipping the ball to Josh 'back door' Stevenson to net his first of the match. The All Blacks went in 2-1 up at half time and Ali 'Skipper' Johnston gave a team talk more rousing and jubilant than ever before. The result of which being an early equaliser for the Reds moments into the second half.

Mark 'Tap in' Sawyer netting on his return made the score 3-2 to the Reds but unfortunately for the part time hockey playing snowboarder, the goal eluded him on the following 9 or 10 clear cut opportunities. Carter was displaying the same skill at shooting from more than two yards that has been his nemesis all season missing two 1 on 1s narrowly edging past the post.

A defensive mix up later led to the scores being levelled again when Whitman in the Reds goal and Dan 'Captain Angry' Adams decided to dance with each other rather than clear the ball leading to a gift for top poacher Josh to bag his second of the game. Another short corner arose from the increasingly suspect tackling of Dan 'who cares about winning the ball' Adams and a trade mark drag flick from Simon 'I got this' Jones was aided in by Mike 'I've won a lovely jacket' Whitman to put the All Blacks 4-3 up with just 7 minutes to go.

Ali 'too friendly' Johnston then decided that the only fair result was a draw as he allowed the ball to be stolen within the 25 and a teasing pass found Sam 'probably the best in his family' Witt who smashed in his second of the match from around 3-4 cm out, top stealing skills were displayed. With the match hanging in the balance Seth 'Oh my god he's quick' Price slid the ball into the D and it was pushed past a helpless, floundering Julian 'which way is up?' Brown for the Reds winner.

A great game and a really promising result for the future of the club with two teams showing up, the hopes of a league A team are one step closer. The man of the match award went to a very deserving Sam 'Woody' Woodland who had a very sound and confident debut for the Reds. The DOTD award went to Mike 'I wish I was in Wales with little toys' Whitman who just pipped Mark 'how is he top scorer' Sawyer by one vote to earn the jacket.

Teams

CS Reds - Mike Whitman (C), Sam Woodland, Dan Adams, Ben Witt, Toron Everett, Sam Witt, Evan Tarr, Seth Price, Jim Smith, Mark Sawyer.

CS All Blacks - Julian Brown, Ali Johnston (C), Jason Harris, Simon Jones, Jamie Everett, Josh Stevenson, Andy Carter, James Coles, Curtis Bradley, Jon Smith

Goal scorers -

CS Reds - Toron Everett, Seth Price, Sam Witt (2), Mark Sawyer.

CS All Blacks - Andy Carter, Josh Stevenson (2), Simon Jones.