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Miles describes the first day of the 2008 10th Anniversary Tour...
Something special
For the 10th anniversary tour of Milan the mood at Gatwick airport was positive. Meeting at 11.30am in the South Terminal we quickly checked in and moved to the departure lounge. Fines were suggested for latecomers.Paddy was on the blacklist as was Scotty but the prize went to Jacobs for being one hour late - impressive stuff. We were handed out tour t-shirts (courtesy of Paddy’s design skills), a slight retro feel to them they were a good reminder of the tour that we were about to embark on.
No major dramas were reported on the way to Milan and with very badly broken Italian somehow the taxi drivers understood and we all made it to the hotel. A quick mission to the supermarket ensured we were well stocked with beers, crisps and of course haribo. After a reunion in reception we made our way to the astro pitch as the rain came tumbling down.
Under floodlight the ground looked impressive and we were in good spirits to play against our sister club Rinosbois. With plenty of deep heat, marmite (yes you read that right) and water we got to the pitch and commenced a warm up session led by Pratty. The team was read out and all those present were handed their positions. The 4-4-2 formation was as follows:
Kuczynski, Walsh, Nolan, Littlechild, Pratt, Fribence, Jacobs, Tooley, Moore, Cavanagh and Luca.
From the dugout Budgie and Sloane had a useful role cheerleading and avoiding the mosquitoes while quaffing beer. With the referee in place and the floodlights beaming down the game kicked off under a light drizzle of rain. The tempo was fast as CPR soon dictated the pace and passed the ball fluidly, a symptom of the youth and exuberance in the team. Stu had a couple of opportunities but the deadlock was broken after about 15 minutes.
Some useful passing moves between Stu and Walshy led to a great pass to Jacobs who slotted in from 20 yards, the goalkeeper stood still and took the ball out of the back of the net. A few minutes later CPR doubled their advantage as a clever ball in from Tooley allowed Walshy to head home into the top right corner of goal - a position the keeper had no chance of saving.
The whistle blew for half time and after a 1hr journey from the airport Peppers had arrived. A quick shuffle of the pack allowed Peppers to slot in as Nolan went on the bench - his first debut for the first team went by reasonably well. Rinos picked themselves up a bit in the second half and would prove to be the scorers of both goals.
A good block from Luca was followed soon after by a goal by Rinos. It was a fair reward for their efforts but not long after the ball was back in their own net courtesy of an excellent ball by Tone. A nice chip of the keeper took the score to 3:1 and even Jacobs would be proud of that one.
As the clock ticked down CPR tired a little but the effort was still there and despite a couple of later efforts the final whistle blew. Crucially, with no injuries to the team the start of the Milan tour had commenced in earnest.
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