A typical breezy day at common edge saw the mighty Excelsior take on league contenders Waterloo. The battle of Waterloo, only this time out we were concentrating on being Wellington’s army and not Napoleon’s.

Again the gaffer was stuck with a selection process that Carlos Alberto Parreira would have struggled with. In the end we lined up 4-4-2. Mills in goal, back four of Clarkey, Steve Mac, Ross and Neil, a familiar midfield with Mercer, Fiss, George and Danny and upfront our two goal machines,
Wozzer and Sean. Today’s bench was made of steel, very strong. Scholes, Andy Mac, Daz Wozzer, Danny and Ali kept it warm.

We won the toss up and opted to play against the wind in the first 45. 10 minutes in and we played the opposite to our usual slow start. We went straight for the jugular and pinned Waterloo back in their box for a good 10 minutes as they struggled to find their spine. We took them by surprise, this was not the same Excelsior that got turned over at the fortress that forgettable Sunday morning.

We waited a full 30 minutes before we broke the dead lock. Some great football and movement in spells leading up to this really did mean it was only a matter of time before we got the goal but this chance really came from nothing.

Wozzer picked the ball up half way in the Waterloo half,
after making light work of the defense got himself to the byline and squared excellently to Mercer, who had the simple job of rolling the ball in net. A goal that Wozzer can be proud of, he simply did all the hard work and unselfishly gave the final glory to a team mate.

Half time 1-0 to us.

After tucking 11 Waterloo tails neatly between their legs we jogged in for a team talk from the Gaffer. Main topic – Where the fu*ks all the water? Brilliant. Never mind, rehydrated or not we’ve 45 minutes left and at only 1-0 we still had some work to do.

We worked hard from the off, closing down, working the space and challenging our men all over the park. The hard work paid dividends around 10 minutes in to the 2nd half. Two goals coming from midfield in quick succession put Waterloo to the sword. The first was a well taken chance from Fiss with the left foot and the second from George with a far post tap in.

3-0 up and coasting.

If any Waterloo fans thought they were about to see a valiant come back from their team were setting themselves up for a fall. An Excelsior corner kick was sliced in the back of the Waterloo net by their top player to make it 4-0 and game over.

On came the cavalry. Daz for Danny, who I was sorry to see come off after another great game, Ali on for Mercer and Scholes on for Wozzer. Lining up 4-5-1 to see out the game. Very impressed with Ali’s contribution, the lad is 17. With his 1st ever touch of playing in the men’s league decided
to have a go at the full back and boy did he rinse him. More time on the pitch and we will have a great player on our books.

The subs slotted in well and gave their all for the cause. Waterloo seemed to throw the lot at us but it was never going to be enough, this Excelsior is not for breaking
(you need to get past Steve Mac first and nobody can do that). The 1st thoughts of our only clean sheet of the season were turned to pipe dreams when Waterloo, rustratingly, grabbed their consolation. They even managed
another, nothing to write about really.

A crazy moment saw the ball slip through Mills’ gloves from a nothing chance in the bottom corner. I should have realized this would happen when the branding on his new gloves read Lurpak.

Time for one more and Scholes is back on the score sheet. The Waterloo stopper failed to hold on to a shot which rolled out invitingly for Scholes to tuck in the bottom corner. A great gamble and run on for the goal, all in all a fantastic way to end the game.

Final Score 5-2

Man of the Match – Steve Mac.

Every week its getting harder and harder to separate a single player from a team that is playing so well but I feel
nobody will disagree with my choice. Danny was a very close second, as were Sean and Woz for their hard work and defending from the front line.

Oh and Woz set up every goal apparently, including the oggy????

Well done again lads. We are climbing the league and people will be looking at us as a tough game because that is what we are. We can not allow Autoweld to stand in our way on Sunday. Everything I want to see happen on the pitch is happening, I’m seeing team spirit, courage, work rate and
commitment all these go hand in hand with winning. Long may it continue.

The proudest skipper in the game
Fiss