5s HOLD ON AGAINST EVERY RINGER IN THE SOUTH

Three teams showed up on Saturday. The 5th XI, the Vets and Stephen Gilbert's Blackheath All-Stars. The Fives took them all on. It was a very loud and sometimes hostile crowd, an experience many of us would not have had before. It was like we were playing Milwall at The Den, without any of our own supporters. Although we had Mike Earnshaw - thanks.

Despite drafting in every ringer they could find in the south of England, the Vets couldn't defeat the fighting fives. Despite drafting in the 3s' goalkeeper which the 5s protested against (WHAT HAPPENED TO TOP DOWN SELECTION POLICY?), the Vets couldn't defeat the fighting fives. Despite throwing everything at us, their desperation at not being able to win was showing - they departed from their pre-planned substitution schedule, just to keep Nim on the pitch and get Mingle back on the pitch. And it still didn't work.

It was a very different Vets side. We'd expected to have to mark out certain players. We were worried about Andy B, and whilst he was great, he was controllable when he got going late in the second half. But Nim and Mingle were in a league of their own, outpacing us. Nim and Mingle hadn't played a single match for the Vets all year. They were going straight through everyone.

They had two other players who were very strong in the midfield, possibly also playing their first matches for the year. I asked the captain where he got one of them and he said "Oh we found him out at...". So they had a decent midfield, two crazy strikers, and Sturge in goal. So given how good the others were, working the likes of their regular players out of the game wasn't even a priority.

The Blackheath All Stars played all over the place (a team of champions, rather than a champion team), but they were that good that they could get away with it. Because they were playing all over the place, they'd often have players free as they flooded one side of the ground.

Unfortunately it seems that discipline issues still plagued our opposition, with at least one player who would have been sent off for dissent. Because the vets attempted to be ruthless and get a win, the scoreline unfortunately meant that club legend John Bartlett declined the invitation to come on for the 5s (his initial team in the club) in the final minutes, which was the right decision but a pity. A true club man.

The Fives put up a stunning fight against the Blackheath All Stars team. we were playing a side which was really several leagues above us, and we did very well.

Tom Conway got man-of-the-match, pretty convincingly, some fantastic saves under heavy pressure. Congratulations to John Bartlett on 50 years with the club!