Letchworth Eagles Zaffre 0 : 2 Thaxted Rangers Yellows 26/1/20
 
Apparently Zaffre is a blue/black colour. I thought it was a type of juicy orange. More importantly, would the home team make the Yellows look like a bunch of lemons? We beat their ten-man team 12-1 at home in the reverse fixture, so hopes were high for a similar result. However a strangely narrow pitch with a steep slope from goal to goal put paid to any chance that we’d able to implement our usual passing game.

The play was confined to such a compact area that  wingers and full backs were rubbing shoulders with centre backs and central midfielders to the extent that, at times, you felt you were watching an under 7s game where all the players follow the ball like a swarm of bees.

The benefit to a narrow pitch is, of course, crosses, corners and long throws become a more potent weapon than ever and as a result, for the first time in memory, both the Yellows’ goals were scored from headers. The first came at the 30 minute mark, with Harley’s cross finding Lewis in the box. The second came on the stroke of half-time: Ed’s penetrating free kick eventually rebounding to Rory who’s spectacular back-header found the top right corner of the net.
 
The home side had a couple of opportunities to score despite the Yellows’ general dominance. Their best chance probably came from a free kick following Chris’s foul with 75 minutes played. Only a superbly instinctive block by Ben prevented a certain goal. And talking of impressive blocks, a quick shout out for Jack who was twice felled by close-range smashes into his face! Luckily no damage was done and the boys were able to enjoy a fairly routine league victory.