Following last week's unfortunate 21-2 defeat against Barnfield, the Zebras were less than thrilled to discover that they were facing the same opponents.
This was another piece of brilliance from the tournament organisers and did not go down well with Zebra management or players.
The Special One, Freemisco, briefly threatened to refuse to play while Bexfieto actually stormed out of the building after discovering the identity of the opposition.
To be fair to Bexfieto, much of his anger was directed at Freemisco who had cunningly picked a five-man squad.
With Reito and Tattersao relaxing on a beach somewhere, and Paildo exiled forever, Freemisco recalled Vanhoino and Brodhiinosa. Unfortunately both bailed out at a late stage (excuses ranged from iffy to poor) which meant it was impossible for Freemisco to call up replacements.
Consequently an indignant Bexfieto found himself lining up alongside Freemisco, Latinaldo, Austisco and Ricadisco.
Not for the first time things did not begin well as the Zebras argued among themselves over tactics. The portly Freemisco insisted that he should stay at the back to marshal the defence, despite the fact that he floats around with all the speed and verve of a leaking air ship.
Eventually he was forced to push forward with Latinaldo and Bexfieto holding the line. This worked so well that Barnfield hit the post before the Zebras touched the ball.
Chances began to come for Barnfield and it was no real surprise when they broke Ricadisco's gallant resistance to open the scoring. Despite Bexfieto's best attempts to waste time and hold on to the ball, a lack of fitness and skill began to tell as Austisco and Freemisco were unable to saty with their runners. The result was a 4-0 lead and the very real prospect of the Zebras being blanked.
However, the Zebras got the goal they deserved when Freemisco found the back of the net. He was so pleased with this effort that he promptly unleashed a free kick which sailed over head height, thus conceding another free kick and setting up a quick counter attack which would have ended in disaster but for a combination of brilliant goalkeeping and crap finishing. Nevertheless the Zebras trailed 5-1 at the break, an improvement on 10-1 from the previous week.
Sadly the second half did not begin well. Bexfieto spat the dummy, raging at Freemisco that, "You're fucking shit! Don't fucking tell me how to play football!"
That led to a disastrous burst of three goals in two minutes, Freemisco setting up one goal with a beautiful pass that begged to be slammed into the net, as he threatened to stop trying because his father-figure, the ageing Bexfieto, had shouted at him.
Surprisingly the Zebras rallied. Austisco used conciliatory language to get the team back on track (as befits a man of Brazilian and Swiss heritage) and Freemisco cut the gap to 10-2.
Austisco missed a sitter but was rewarded with a penalty. He took the kick himself but produced a lame shot, worthy of a lame child (or a Wolves player) which was easily saved, but the kick was ordered to be retaken. Freemisco stepped up to ram the ball home to complete his hat-trick and the Zebras had life at 10-3.
Not much life.
The midfield was overrun in the closing stages as Freemisco decided that he'd done his bit. Latinaldo and Bexfieto produced some tough tackles but were swamped by attackers and only some sensational goalkeeping kept the score down to 12-3.
However, it represented a triumph for the Zebras as they conceded nine fewer goals and bagged one more than last week; if they can maintain this rate of improvement they should beat Barnfield the next time they play them; which knowing the brilliant organsiational skills at Stopsley should be next week.
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