Tackling is a simple business. They have the ball, you want them not to have the ball anymore, you go get it. Incredibly simple.

It can however, go wrong. You might not get the ball. You might get the ball and a bit extra. You might miss out the ball altogether and get a lot extra. But this is what happens in football. If everybody did everything perfectly all the time there would be a lot of nil-nil draws - or ten-ten draws. Either way, in reality there is the occasion where somebody will win and somebody will lose. Somebody scores more goals, somebody makes more saves, somebody gets tackled and someone else successfully tackles more often. But it can be close.

I'm late for football - by arriving five minutes early.

The teams have already lined up.

Team A (Bibs)

K. Maguire
J. Brownbill
B. Watts
B. Francois
D. Blackett (in Jr size bib, like a walrus in a boob tube)

Team B (rocking the no-bib look for summer)

R. Paine
S. Leeming
D. Nolan
C. Egner
H. Shafeie

No Diego Miranda this week, luckily Leeming steps up to the plate - even after two hours earlier in the day of 'playing on the swings' and 'skipping'. Even sides. Wahay.

It starts tight - neither side creating much in the way of a clean cut chance. Blackett and Francois take up station in front of Maguire, Watts and Brownbill leading the charge. Nolan as ever starts forward - Shafeie at the back - Leeming and Paine in free roles either side, tracking and pushing. Finally the Bibs start to pull into a lead - Brownbill's dribbling earning him space and opportunities against Egner in goal.

The early part of the game in dominated by either ineffective attacking or half decent defending depending on your point of view.

Speaking as one who spends most of his time wandering left and right behind the half-way line, I tend to rely on luck and past experience more than anything else. I'm the slowest there, pace and footwork wise - so can't really recover when mistakes are made - unless the attacker takes too long. I've been playing with the same people for a long time, I know some of their tricks, which way they would like to go, how often they'll try and drag it back or muscle past me. Or simply run around me - which works a disturbing amount of the time. I try to be a pain. I try to block off avenues and nick at the ball even if I know I'm not going to gain control of it, just to try and make them uncomfortable. My feet aren't fast enough to wait for them to make a move and react - I have to predict, or play the odds. The overall strategy is to get in the way as much as possible and be an annoyance. This should be a surprise to no-one I play with.

From what I've seen Shafeie's tactic is to be everywhere at once. More than anyone else he'll fling himself to the ground to get in the way of a shot or to cut out a pass - frequently it works. He doesn't know when he's beaten and is forever stretching a leg out to hook the ball away - and it's very effective. In this match he is pretty much single handedly cutting out or breaking up any early counters from the Bibs. They're in his pocket.

Obviously though it 'Sunday Night Football' so the goals do come - at both ends. Nolan breaks from the left and scores a mirrored copy of his first time volley into the far bottom corner from a couple of weeks ago. Watts hits a swerving side foot shot into the top right. Brownbill dribbles from his own left hand side, jinking past pretty much the whole Bibless team and finishes from the right hand side of the goal. Nolan in denied a header from a pinpoint Paine cross - who himself was denied a shot from range by the post at the top right. Later he will dink the ball over Blackett before bustling past Brownbill to knock the ball past Maguire for a well taken goal - only marred slightly by the sight of Maguire somehow launching his boot off the side of the pitch, hitting a floodlight post in his attempt to deny Paine his moment. Leeming is rewarded for his persistent work down the right with a shot slotted into the far left corner of the goal off the outside of his left boot - of course outpacing Blackett to get the opening. During the course of the game Blackett manages to influence the ball with his face, arse, balls, stomach, and hand. Less so with his feet, although he does manage to kick the ball into Paine's face - and nearly lose his knee up the same players anus. Sterling work from Maguire helps to keep Team B at bay - and despite a late rally it is the general opinion Team A came out on top - with no official final score line available.

An incident reminiscent of the old days of Sunday football rears it's head at the end of the game - with a player taking exception to the manner in which he has been tackled in the game. Not the atmosphere you hope to finish such a closely fought game with, and an unfortunate end to an otherwise highly enjoyable night. Hopefully the video tape from the fourth official will clear it up and all will be well next week.