My women's team played away in a cup game against a team called Peninsula today.
Whereas my team are Div 4, the opponents were Div 2 and the difference in class was quite marked, we went down 5-0.
This was despite a truly heroic performance from the girls, one of whom (Kelly) collapsed a couple of times and had to come off to inhale her asthma puffer.
I insisted that she did not go on again, but she assured me that she had recovered, and that the weather had become cooler, thus making it easier for her to run. She assured me that collapsing, retching and demanding her puffer was part of her usual modus operandi.
Kelly had been playing full back and had played a blinder, running down attacker after attacker, so I put her up front and told her to park her backside on the halfway line and chase no-one.
We only had eleven players, no subs, and at half time Danni said she had to go to a family function, she couldn't delay her father any longer so we went down to ten players.
Amanda had previously pulled her thigh in a six-a-side game with me on Friday, and it started acting up again, so she swapped jerseys with Renee (who was in goal) who then went to play striker. This caused a bit of a flutter amongst the men because Renee was wearing a very un-sports tiny bra.
The girls tired badly towards the end, but they played with a lot of heart and spirit and some with not a little skill. Every male coach should look after a woman's side for at least one season, it's life-affirming.
Afterwards in the dressing room, I asked Amanda to make sure the team was dressed when I came to do my post match talk. She assured me all was fine.
I went in and half the team were in their undies!
One dropped her shorts to reveal only a thong.
Oh, and we actually were awarded the game because the other team fielded an illegal player from their womens Premier League side.
This job is turning out all right.
