BCFA Shield Final

By some miracle, or perhaps divine intervention, Hope FC have made it through to the final of the Bristol Churches F.A. Shield Final. This prestigious event will take place at Little Stoke Park, this Saturday morning. We're expecting a moderate crowd.

I should explain at this point that the BCFA Shield is a bit like the EUFA cup, in that it's competed by teams who got knocked out of a bigger competition (in this case the BCFA Cup) in the first round. I'm sure there are some other similarities too, but none come to mind right now.

Preparation for the final has been abysmal. Firstly we drove all the way to Radstock last Tuesday night to lose 6-1 to a bunch of whipper snappers, who clearly weren't old enough to drink. Saturday's game was cancelled as we only had 9 players available, which did at least mean I could get hammered at Breakout on Friday night. Finally, earlier this-evening we made the trek to Bath Uni to lose 3-2 in the rain to one of the two teams who are actually below us in the BCFA second division.

Neil's favoured number 10 shirt had been claimed so he donned Jonny's prized number 2 kit. At the end of the demoralising game he suggested that we all chip in to fly Jonny and Mike over for Saturday's final. Much as we could do with the help of the man with no fear (nutter), who sticks his head where others wouldn't stick their feet (and ended up with a fractured skull); and the workhorse, the engine, the midfield general (the list goes on), we're gonna have to win it for them instead.

The route to the final has been completely blagged. Firstly we lost 3-0 to Pip'n'Jay Church in the 1st round of the BCFA cup, which won us qualification to the shield. Then, in the first round proper we were drawn against the worst team in the two BCFA divisions, who turned up with ten men including their long retired manager. We stuffed them 10-1.

We then received a bye through the quarterfinal when our bitter rivals Santos couldn't get a team together. So, after one victory (and one defeat) we found ourselves in the semi-final against one of the top first division teams, who we miraculously beat 5-4 on penalties after perhaps the luckiest 120 minutes of football I have ever witnessed. Our keeper, who is known for his howlers (and was largely responsible for all three goals that we conceded tonight), was man of the match, and I remember him saving at least a couple with his arse.

So anyway, we made it. This will be my first final, in fact my first chance of winning anything, ever... Do come!