The Lowther Oaks gently purred in the night breeze; the adjacent arena hummed with spirit and application and for the first time in many months, belief.
However, the Rangers still came, they marauded and invaded, they stretched and harried; but one man stood firm. Wokingham’s favourite son, a solitary barrier in Yellow; a twelve-pointed star with the agility of a cat on hot coals. Woody………the last line. As hope teetered on the brink, time after time he pulled ‘brilliance,’ from his toolbox repelling the beast and dousing the spectre. Always more ‘Banks,’ than ‘Schmeichel,’ he did so unassumingly, with grace and dignified flair.
Slowly the tide turned. Mikey’s early goal had given more than a handhold, but it was less than plain sailing for a long half hour. Slowly the game plan crystallised, the midfield battle was evened up and their ‘channel running,’ wingers were forced backward. At the Orange ‘bow,’ the ‘Hercules,’ toiled without fatigue, a mass of upper body strength, elbows and ‘snarls,’ wearing the opposing backline into gradual submission while at the rear ‘Spartacus,’ wearied by ceaseless effort warmed to his task and threw off the shackles of exhaustion.
Reborn yet again to leadership.
Suddenly, exaltedly we were in the ascendancy. The lights briefly flickered and from the shadows emerged the ‘New Champion of the B&Q.’. Languid but fizzing with energy and blessed seemingly with telescopic limbs his range of ball playing skills seems to know no bounds. Relishing the physicality but displaying a ‘Best like,’ resolve to keep the ball this kid really is something else. ‘Remel-Remeell-Remeelll!’.
To paraphrase Meatloaf ‘we got flat out Remel! We’ll be safe when the morning comes!’.
And ultimately, we began to flow. Remel’s audacious rounding of the keeper followed by a confident Penalty for the ‘Portuguese Prince,’ and despite a late consolation for the opposition we were home and hosed.
Wokingham 3-1 Risborough.
The relegation zone is left behind and with gusto. ‘Purbs,’ jigged in the clubhouse and the ‘Egg,’ simmered nicely. You can do it if you B&Q it! There is a long way to go but things continue to build nicely to a season crescendo. The Sumas are on the rise and ‘the Lord’s Scaffolder,’ has met ‘St. Peter,’ in mortal combat………….to the end.