The Better Team One

Pilli 1's won the 'Battle of the Berrie Dome' in what turned out to be an attacking display from the side - slotting two past their local rivals and conceding none. A penalty from Squeak and a second career goal from Daniel Costa saw Pilli 1's keep pace with the top of the table - and almost certainly booked them a place in the play-offs.

Pilli 1's a.k.a. 'The Better One' began the match with three players missing - Clayden, Fonseca and Fynn due to a knee injury, ankle injury and international duty respectively. The player shortage resulted in a reshuffling of the squad's usual formation with captaino Stephen Foldi dropping into a centre back role and Costa Daniel Costa sliding up onto the right wing.

The first minutes of the game were littered with a flurry attacking moves down the right side of midfield with Daniel Costa and Jacob Healey working well to slice open Pilli 2’s a.k.a. 'The Shit One's' defense - however, crucially, Pilli 1's remained unable to finish.

This continued to be the case until Daniel Costa launched his side into the lead with a beautifully taken shot into the bottom corner after the ball floated around lazily in the 18 yard box. His teammates (and the massive crowd) were initially overcome with jubilation until they were reminded of who had scored - meaning they were defintely were not going to hear the end of this as Costa is known to have a considerably sized ego, which some say may just be a method of compensation...

However, Costa wasn’t the only summer aquistion to be making an impact. A speedy Michael Treacy had been thrust into the forward line to partner with the sneaky Greek that is Alex Poulos. Both were able to cause a significant amount of trouble down Pilli 2's back line with their combination of silky skill and Usain-Bolt-like pace (or extremely non-will-clayden-like pace).

Defender Jackson Versitano also made sure he did not remain unnoticed in the race to become 'Rookie of the Year'. Repetitions of his goal line saves and also his efficient support for Daniel Costa and Jacob Healey kept him in contention. Strangely, in light of some great performances, Pilli 1's only manged the one goal in the first half.

The second period opened less rapidly as Pilli gradually rediscovered their dominance they displayed in the first half. Healey, Phipps and Costa continued some brilliant exchanges down the right hand side. Though, equally as sleek was a tidy one-two between Treacy and Healey which resulted in the centre midfielder firing a solid left footed shot, smacking off the far post. It was a case of so close yet so far for Healey who has only coughed up the single goal on his debut game. The midfielder had numerous chances to change that run throughout the game - though a sexy overall performance seemed just enough ro keep him happy and not being hell emo for the rest of the day.

Pilli's second goal came not far from the final whistle as an in-the-box tussle between someone on my team and someone on the other team resulted in a penalty and a bleeding nose from someuy on the other team. Lacking detail? Yeh 'cuz I didn't play and was busy playing with Em Gilbs dog. His name is Toby. He is cute. Like me. :)

More to the point, Squeak stepped up to the plate and bounced the spherical device which is the ball to the 'keepers right and into the old onion bag. From then on Pilli eased back to the concern of one William Clayden. Though Pilli 1's managed to hang on and earn a vital three points in the race for the minor premiership. An exciting fixture list awaits Pilli 1's and it may even appear the minor title may be won on the last day of the season. How exciting! Don't you think?