On 4 November 1922, Howard Carter opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. They discovered a mummified corpse - non-moving, ancient and looking decrepit. It was much the same for the Vets on Wednesday as the recent good run of results came to a crashing end leaving the team looking very ancient by the end.
It was an optimistic bunch who assembled and confidence was high. Much talk of Fantasy Hockey and values of players. Unfortunately the valuations at the start would have altered by the end - and the collapsed would mirror the Wall Street Crash.
We started well, and moved the ball really well for 10 minutes. We should have taken the lead when a flowing move involving six players saw the Northampton keeper making a fine save that rebounded to Richard Thurman. He missed the open goal (that's 1 million off his value). Then we became more staccato, and Northampton grew in confidence. They took the lead against the run off play - which saw the Sils defence lose £6.3 million in value. It was like watching the collapse of Northern Rock in 2007.
The umpiring was excellent - Nobby making his Vets umpiring debut. It was nice to see him supporting the experience Woolford at the other end. The weather was also improving and the M42 traffic was moving well. Have you noticed I'm trying to avoid any mention of the game? That's because having reached half time 1-0 down, the 2nd Half was a disaster.
Northampton were strong, and we weren't. Despite Sam Stephen running 4.2 miles, Nick Danks putting in a good shift, and Nol Mortimer working well, the goals would not come. The opposition keeper was inspired and we failed to score for the first time since April.
In the end 4-0 tells the story of a bad defeat. But hey-ho - it happens. The Fantasy League points have now been revised for the Vets, and the new values are as follows.
Jim Goldstraw - 5 shillings
Nol Mortimer - £25
Chris Thompson - a bag of peanuts
John Scott - a new pair of red trousers
Mark Dovey - 10 Euros
John Rice - a groat
Simon Russell - £2.1 million (he was MoM)
Nick Danks - 3 sheep and a goat.
Gary Perkins - half a dozen eggs
Sam Stephen - a rear bike light
Andrew Scott - independence for Scotland
Warren Gray - 100 dong
Steve Aylin - the price of 5 therapy sessions after his 20 minutes as a CF.
So the Vets bandwagon has been derailed, and its 168 hours until the next match when we need to rebuild our game and Fantasy points. A great performance of umpiring from Nick Oppenheimer was the highlight. That says it all really.
Have a nice day.