The Worst Night of Cora's life

A match report collaboration by Rach, Tish and Hils

A miserable Friday evening in March isn't the best time to be meeting to play football as one nameless player pointed out in pre match Friday afternoon emails sent to subtly find out whether the game would actually go ahead. Fingers were crossed, the power of Leona Lewis was invoked but no Cora the euromillions gods decided "it won't be you" and the game was still very much on. Yes, despite the icy wind and the driving rain.

Before the game from Rach's perspective:

At 6.15, 3 people still weren't at the meeting place, so Cora decided to leave and go to the pitch cause her GPS said it would take 50 mins to get to the pitch.

On the way there, Caz called asking if we were stuck in traffic and we said that we were nearly at the pitch. We got to the pitch at 7.05 and waited until 7.27 before going in. there were 4 of us (me, Cora, Dina and Jackie, the last 2 had a little nap on the way to the pitch) and then Nicky arrived, so there were 5 of us. When the ref arrived, he wanted to call the game off but their delegue said that he had to play the game. Still only five of us at 7.55 and the ref said that he wanted us out on the pitch but we had no kit, so our delegue said that he had to wait until 8.15 before calling the game. Cora and I filled in the pink sheet and I kept saying how many minutes there were until 8.00. the rest finally arrived with the kit and then we had 3 minutes to warm up. There were a lot of calls exchange and a lot of swearing and ' I'm going to kill Ana, Lokke and Hils'.

Before the game from Tish's perspective:

At 6.15, 3 people still weren't at the meeting place, and Cora, knowing what Friday night traffic can be like, wisely decided to leave and go to the pitch. Caragh's car had to wistfully wave Cora and her GPS goodbye and hang on for Lokke (who's dodgy geography saw her thinking that Park Cinquintinaire schuman entrance was in fact at Merode) Hils and Ana. Luckily we had the CD Rach had downloaded for Caragh to entertain us, not so luckily it only had one track. At least Caz knows the words now ;o) We finally set off 25 minutes late which is not a good start when trying to get out of Brussels on the motorway on a Friday evening in driving rain knowing (as Tish kept pointing out) that Belgians can't drive in the rain although, as Caragh pointed out in an effort at international diplomacy (and because we had a Belgian in the car) Brits can't drive at all. Anyway, somebody couldn't drive in the rain because inevitably we came across bumper to bumper traffic caused by an accident. After the news that Cora's car load had gone a different way to avoid the traffic and was already at the pitch, and after 40 mins of crawling along the motorway there was a fair bit of cursing of the 3 late comers in the car behind us and railing at the gods. When the traffic exchanged crawling for a standstill (and with the ever cheerful Tish having gloomily prophesised that we might not get to the pitch on time), Caz decided it was time to get on her hotline to the Big G upstairs and beg him to get the traffic moving. He obviously couldn't hear her over the one track CD so she wound down the window to shout her plea, when all at once we saw the light (of a pick up truck) and the traffic miraculously cleared. Caragh then took on the challenge of the Brussels to Budingen speed rally and got us to the ground for almost dead on kick off time. We threw our kit on (well, some of us did, others went to the loo, waved tampons around or searched out non-existent sports bras or some thing) and got out on the pitch. The ref who had been so keen to cancel the game if we didn't get to the pitch on time, showed remarkable reluctance to get out on the pitch himself which meant we started the game with everyone out and on the field.

Before the game from Hils' perspective... the Saga of Hils and Ana...and Lokke

What turned out to be a normal, relatively relaxed Friday for most of Hils' colleagues, was something very different for Hils herself. It was match day! All day the excitement was building and bubbling to the surface as she could hardly settle on her seat in front on the computer.

Following a nutritious lunch, emails were exchanged between Captain-Supremo Caz, striking force Ana and the aforementioned Hils. These emails talked of tactics, excitement and skills, all preparing for the game ahead. Also involved in these emails were discussions on logistics - who was driving, what car would be driven, what time would everyone be meeting, and where…It was finally agreed that the Hils-Ana combo would use Mirko's car and collect someone from the communal meeting point at Parc Cinquantenaire.

So the end of the day finally came, and Hils slipped out of work early at 5.20pm, immediately texting Ana as the door closed behind her. In this message Hils was desperate to know - Ana, will you be ready when I get there because I'm coming to get you?! Rios replied - do you want a cup of tea to be ready for you? Anyone close to Hils will know…tea is her weakness…and so a quick cup was agreed upon...

The tram to Ana's seemed to take a lifetime, especially as match fever pumped through Hils' veins and the thought of a quick brew could almost be smelt. Eventually Hils was ringing Ana's bell, and was soon sipping delightful Tetley tea. The time - 5.45pm.

Hils began asking Ana if she had everything - boots, shin pads, ID, tee-shirt...yes, yes, yes was the answer. It seemed to take an age though for Ana to finally get moving, and the tea had nearly been passed out of Hils system by the time the car was on the road - the time, 6.08pm. The traffic of course was heavy, and the ride to Schuman slow, meaning arrival at the communal point wasn't until nearly 6.20pm. At this time there was only one other car there - the other had already buggered off.

Lokke, another late arrival clambered wetly into the back of the car, and in treacherous conditions, the convoy of 2 eventually left Brussels. The rain came down in bucketfuls, and visibility was hampered. All this and Ana's bad taste in music meant the first half of the journey was bad...but not as bad as the second half. On getting onto the E314 the cars were stacked bumper to bumper...uho...time was running out...

The music continued and the car in front seemed to be happy...heads bobbed and stuff, so the car behind thought everything was fine, even though the clock was ticking down to kick off. The continued to fall, the wind was howling, the clock was ticking, and as Ana eventually went silent, it became obvious to Hils that the traffic jam must have lasted a very long time...

Many long minutes later, flashing orange lights appeared, and then like the parting of the red sea, the traffic then began to flow again. The gas peddle was hit, and the two vehicles sped off to try and find the ground. Leaving the motorway the cars sped along the long Flemish roads. Turns to the right, turns to the left, eventually the cars came to a stop. The time 8pm.

Caz was soon at the car yelling that she didn't mean to be funny but we had to f*ckin hurry. We all dashed into the changing rooms, and hurried to get kit on, sort out forms and, despite having boots, shin pads and her ID, Ana was without a bra…much to the fury of Gibbo. Poor Hils leant Ana hers...and poor Hils, who had started her blob that very same day, was looked at in disgust by Tish when she needed to stuff a tampon up before the game...Tish knew time was running out.

Eventually though, it all pulled together, and as the rain fell on possibly the soggiest pitch ever, 11 players came together to face the might of...who were they again??

The match

It actually was like a field on that pitch and a very muddy one at that. And completely waterlogged which made for a very tough game where the ball wouldn't travel far and any bounces it made were kind of hit or miss as to where they'd go.

Rach: Their goal number 1: can't really remember how it started but number 2 got the ball on the left and then cut in and scored in the bottom right corner in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Tish: Our goal number 1: BUFC recovered well from the first 10 mins when it had seemed as if we all thought we were still stuck in that traffic jam (and we might as well have been for the good we were out on the pitch). We started to dominate the game putting all the pressure on them and leaving them no real chances except for occasional counter attacks. The ball went out for a throw in on the right, Hils came into receive it, did her usual Hils magic holding off a few of their players before she saw Caz free on the right. Caz dribbled in and launched a beautiful high ball up at the goal. Everyone on the pitch (including us, the ref and their goal keeper thought it was well over, but the wind and the ball dropped down and just into the top of their goal. Or something like that ;o)

Half time 1-1

Rach: Their goal number 2: I think it was number 14 who crossed the ball in and the ball bounced funny and up onto Jackie's arm and the ref gave a penalty, and then number 2 scored from the penalty.

Hils: Our goal number 2: Hils beat 2 players and then slid a lovely through ball to Caz, who then cracked a great effort from outside the box onto the post. Fortunately Ana was following up, and even though it took her an age to get her shot away, she eventually smashed the ball into the roof of the net...

Rach: Their goal number 3: Nicky made a brilliant save and the ball stayed on the line but the ref said that the ball went out of play even thought Cora was pointing to the ball and telling the ref to come look but he wouldn't cause he didn't like us. Their captain scored from the corner with a header.

Tish: Our goal number 3: Still fuming about the blatantly wrong decision that resulted in the last goal, the ball was passed high up to the front from the kick off to restart play. Ana's speed took the defender by surprise so she did what all crap defenders do when faced with a speedy striker, she took out the player. Caragh took the free kick calling for Ana's or Hils' head an Ana did a great run into the box and rose to head the ball into the goal (either that or it hit her back and went in - I was too far away to see) but it was a well deserved equaliser.

Rach: Their goal number 4: number 2 went down in a challenge from Jackie (Jackie said that she dived to get the free kick). Number 2 then scored from the free kick (my dad said that some of their players were offside and that they distracted Nicky and that the ref could have called offside but the ref not liking us, he didn't). Then Nicky made some really good saves, I did a very, very, very bad goal kick that went straight to Cora and one of their players got booked for time wasting at the end of the game.

So it was gutting to spend an hour and a half driving to Budingen on a Friday night in the pissing rain and to be the better team and score 3 goals but still lose!!!! Ah, well, we'll know to mark them well at set pieces next time.

Man of the match: 1) Caragh 2) Hils 3) Ana

Delegue: Tam a.k.a. Davey Lees

Supporters: Tam, Sharon and Nicky's Dad

Unlucky player who had to wash the kit: Ana or Hils (I can't remember which)

Biggest Moaner: Cora or Tish (although I think Cora get's it for the "worst night of my life" statement