Nannas 4 plays Dynamo Tehran 4

Attendees: CG, JH (hat-trick MOM), TH, RH, AW

This was the classic game of two halves, the first of which was dominated by the Nannas. In spite our age, our creaking bodies, our lack of numbers (which is all Cocky’s fault), and the fact that some of us thought that we were getting way too old for this caper, the Nannas have found something this season. The Nannas truly are on fire, and this first half was no exception. We were passing well, running into space, making the most of our opposition’s shit touches, and their shit attempts at attack. I really only remember once when the opposition opened us up, but the shot was way off target, so it didn’t come to anything and they came up empty handed.
The Nannas, by contrast, probably should have had four or five. We got two. The first was from Gilla who, left unmarked, ran his full measure out of his goals to unleash his left foot. Their keeper got in a tangle and could not stop it, earning a typical Gilla, goalie goal salute. The second was the patented Nanna sucker punch. Gilla threw long, I got my head to it and in it went. Gilla decided sometime after that just because he threw it, it was his goal but it did touch my head, and as I understand it, the goal belongs to the person who gets the last touch (so there Gilla). And that’s how it stayed until half time. 2-zip.
The second half started somewhat like the first with the Nannas again applying pressure, and we went further in front after we got a penalty just outside their D, and Rhian fed the resulting free kick to me to poke home. It hurt like hell on my busted toe but it felt good to get that kind of goal all the same. 3-0.
At this point, one of two things happened, and I am not sure which. It was either we took our foot of the gas because we were in front with about 12 to go, and we thought had the game sewn up, or it was because Cocky didn’t show up (because of some lame, whopping cock excuse), which meant that we didn’t have a sub, which meant we slowed up a bit. I personally like to think it’s all Cocky’s fault (which it probably was) but it could have been a mix of the two. But then again, Gilla did give them about three or four one-on-one shots after some particularly shit throw/kick ins (he saved all of these except one), and I did the same one time too (but he didn’t save the one off my shit kick in. Typical).
Anyway, whatever it was, once they got those couple of cheap goals, they got a sniff and really started to come at us. They got that one where I thought the ball was well out (because it was going well over my head) and that dude with the killer left foot headed it from right on our goal line somehow getting it over Gilla’s head and into the net from an impossible angle. Three apiece. From there they pushed and pushed and pushed, and finally got a fourth and all of a sudden we were behind 4-3.
It was here, with about four to go, there was another very slight momentum shift, when the Nannas decided to pull their fingers out. Somehow we didn’t concede again (which would have put the game out of reach) but with about two minutes to go, I think it was Tom or Andy that won the ball in midfield, releasing Hinkley into their backcourt. He only had the keeper to beat but he heard my call and fed the ball back to me with an open goal. I only had to tap home, which I did to make it 4-4. And that’s how it ended. The Nannas got out of Dodge.