Another week, another grading game and another attempt by the reigning Div 1 runners up in both cup and league to convince Better Football they deserve a spot in Div 2 so the young ones can continue binge drinking on Saturday nights and the old ones can continue telling their spouses they can still dominate on a footy field.

And a 9am kick off was never going to bring out the best of the Froth. With 7 players confirmed to play by midweek, the lines were hot convincing mates to give up their Sunday morning and join the lads. As per usual though, the Frothers are so popular they had 16 players keen by Saturday night and ring ins were being turned away. As it was, 13 turned up ready to play and Yash made it 14 when he rolled out of bed half an hour late.

They were up against a Debt Collectors team that had a fine mix of players who would look at home in any Div 1 team and others who may have never played above Div 4 level and it led to an interesting game. While a few glimpses of class put the Frothers under momentary pressure, it was fairly easy to cut down and the defenders were comfortable for the first half. Hunter became a Striker and enjoyed the extra time and space on the ball to create chances every time. The first two goals were thanks to his assists, first Jacob and then Oli putting fine finishes past the 12 year old in goal. Remembering the aim of the game was to not qualify for Div 1, the Frothers then spent the rest of the half actively trying not to score with Yash, Ryan and Hunter all spurning great chances.

The second half started with Better Football administration discussing promotion/relegation matters with Frothers management mid play, and making it clear that they would still be playing in Division 1 regardless of the result. The case was not helped with Oli picking that exact moment to thread a great ball through for Yash to run on to and expertly finish over the keeper. Yash had the ball in the back of the net twice more soon after but both were called back for offside. Frothers started to roll the subs and switch things round, looking comfortable. Evan wanted to spice things up and played a back pass straight into the goal, giving Dylan no chance to keep it out.

A wake up call for the Frothers and after a few more traditional subs were made, it went from 3-1 to 6-1 in about 5 minutes. First Yarride, helped through by a great flick header from Ryan M, rounded the keeper and scored an open goal before the Frothers turned to the trusted set piece with the North American pair, Charles and Evan getting on the end of corners.

There was time for one more clusterfuck, this time Patty Moore and Dylan combining to give an open goal with the final score 6-2.

No MotM or DotD for grading games but a special mention to Yash for turning up 25 minutes late and then arguing that it counted as being a sub for all that time so he shouldn’t have been subbed later on. Also, refusing to play CB despite it being a game where everyone else changed positions, arguing against blatant offside calls and to top it off playing a cross, while under no pressure, straight over the fence and into the bush. Setting a ridiculously high bar that no doubt Farshid will manage to meet whenever he returns. To Div 1 next week. Up the Froth.