Sils win at last - STOP PRESS

Well my dear old things. Ring President Trump. Call Putin. Let people know that the old boys are back. After the Gotterdamrung of last week against Worcester, we played some lovely stuff against the boys from Will Shakespeare land. When we have a crisis in the Vets, we go for age - and a recall for Nick Oppenheimer and Warren Gray. It's always good to get some experience and cunning back. Stratford are a tricky bunch, and they arrived with some well-known faces who we knew could cause trouble. Fortunately we were on form from the beginning.
From the start, Sam Stephen and Simon Russell caused problems in the midfield. Mark Dovey (having refused a Bosman to Worcester) was back, and helped break up the attacks that washed over us from time to time. Up front, we had willing runners and Richard Thurman. Both keepers were called into action on a regular basis, and the Stratford keeper was an impressive looking unit and he kept out many shots - the scoundrel. Stratford attacked well, by the venerable and increasingly Compo-like John Scott was in impressive form. We scored an excellent goal through Richard 'I want to roof it' Thurman. But then the thespians struck back to leave it 1-1. It was like watching a ballet of excellence at times (Bit OTT? - Ed) and the Sils had got some rhythm.
Half time - a team talk that was positive (bit like the sweat test on Nobby), and the question was could we up our game. Cap'n Sensible was on good form, and Keith Leeson was hiding any hamstring pains that may have been appearing.
On 18 Jan 1991, the Air War in Desert Storm was well under way. Sils played the second half like they were part of this campaign. Great use of width and pace (and Richard Thurman) meant that Stratford were under pressure. Best - Sam 'Eddy Merckx' Stephen was running the midfield with all the aplomb of Bonaparte at Austerlitz in 1805. Sils banged two more fine goals in through Sam Stephen and a powerhouse strike from the mercenary Dovey. Stratford were close to scoring on more than one occasion but the sterling efforts of defence and keeper restricted them to one goal. In the end it was 3-2, and performances of note from Cap'n Sensible, Stephen and Dovey meant we earnt a welcome win. In the bar afterwards, there was much nonsense spoken and beer drunk and MoM was a close affair before being awarded to Sam Stephen. It was nice to win and ENJOY the win. Lets hope this is not a false dawn. As Shakespeare said 'westwards look - the land is bright'.