(no subject)

Took the train up to Reading to see the Hawk girls take on poor old Reading Town Ladies. Dick gave a run-out to Yzzy in goal, who I think only touched the ball about five times all game, and to Becki in defence, who played a blinder. Chloe's dad Chris asked me for my predicted score before the match; I went for 9-0 while he reckoned we'd get double digits again. When Hawks' eighth went in on 32 minutes, Chris turned to me and said "That's your 9-0 out of the window," and his wife repeated it five minutes later after Lizzie threaded a through ball for Chloe to strike home number nine. Susie shouted to the girls to get one more goal before half time so I wouldn't be going in smug. Sure enough, the tenth came soon after, direct from a Lizzie corner; I yelled "Nice one, Lizzie" and Chloe's mum retorted "Say it like you mean it."

The referee was an acerbic type who gave short shrift to Jenna's protests after a foul against her wasn't given then a foul by her was : "I've only got one pair of eyes! I didn't see the challenge on you but I did see yours on her!" Jenna proceeded to loudly voice her opinion of his performance to Sam; he promptly called Jenna over and booked her. When Lizzie said something about "smashing" the opposition he warned her "If you're going to start smashing, I'm going to start writing"; not long afterwards he booked her for arguing. Someone asked him how long there was left to play and he replied 21 minutes. Telé exclaimed "Are you having a giraffe?" but got away with it.

Hearing there was only one train per hour from Tilehurst, Chloe's parents offered me a lift as far as Basingstoke to allow me some drinking time with the girls. Even better, the bar served Magners.