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The Easter holiday league break was interrupted with the eagerly awaited re-scheduled fixture between second-placed Wahooo! and third-placed rivals Rugby Club AXA, writes Austin Rudman and Simon Bromyard.
The Rugby Club AXA boasted a full squad after several players returned from injury and suspension and looked to capitalise on their new look 3-3-1 formation. Club favourite and local football pundit Derrick Delboy Rodney led the new formation up top. Wahooo!, having ironed out a new contract, decided to reward veteran striker and local radio and TV personality Krazy Kevin with a start (his first since the 1986 season).
Both teams battled hard for early supremacy with a series of strong, but fair, ground and aerial challenges. The deadlock was broken after 10 minutes by the Rugby Club's playmaker, Adil Gila, who rifled a low shot into the net from just outside the box after receiving a return ball from Delboy following good work from Hinson and player-manager Dave Waffy Waugh.
Wahooo! immediately showed what a quality team they are and levelled within three minutes. El Houssaine El Bachraoui went on a mazy run from just inside his own half; reminiscent of Diego Maradonna's World Cup effort against England in Mexico, and after beating a series of defenders unleashed an unstoppable shot to beat Sean Cooper (who barely had time to put out his first cigarette). Dave Allison hammered the Rugby Club crossbar with a 30-yard power drive after Frank Doberman had hauled down the advancing Wahooo! striker.
Wahooo! continued to press forward and on the stroke of half-time, Chris Tucker sneaked in behind the Rugby Club defence from a long defensive clearance, turned inside and was hauled down inside the penalty box. Ex-Conference League referee, Nick Davis, had no hesitation in awarding a penalty, which Tucker converted.
Angry Waffy kicked several advertising boards on his way back to the dressing room at half-time and banned any media from joining the Rugby Club team talk. This was in stark contrast to the Wahooo! half-time huddle led by Krazy Kevin. He treated everyone to an Ibiza Club remix of the Bachman Turner Overdrive classic You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet to entertain the now bursting BSB stadium as they queued up for a well-earned cup of Bovril.
A fired-up Rugby Club came out and immediately bombarded the Wahooo! keeper with a series of long range shoots. He looked increasingly nervous under the high ball and elected to punch on several occasions leading to further confusion in and around the Wahooo! box, which at times resembled a scene from the Battle of the Somme.
The equilibrium was restored five minutes into the second half. Sustained pressure resulted in Rugby Club being awarded a free kick about 30 yards out. Stuart Stuey Smith fooled the Wahooo! defence with a cheeky short pass to Gareth Gazza Brown, on the overlap, who then unleashed an unstoppable firecracker into the top left hand corner from 20 yards out.
Wahooo! were on the ropes and forced to play a number of Watford-style long balls into the Rugby Club penalty box.
Geordie-born Gazza then won a routine free kick just inside the Wahooo! half. He elected to have a crack himself and launched a Patriot missile from 35 yards which deceived the hapless Wahooo! keeper. The sensational goal-of-the-season contender gave the Rugby Club a well deserved 3-2 lead. The frantic last five minutes saw Wahooo! throw everyone forward and the excitement was kept up right until the death.
Jubilant Rugby Club manager Waffy could hardly hold back the tears of joy: "It was a great team performance tonight with everybody in the squad making a valuable contribution," he said.
The result means that with only two league games left the Dilly are leading on 12 points with Wahooo! and the Rugby Club breathing down their necks on 10 apiece. The league returned, after the holiday break, on Monday.
Details of the mouth-watering and potentially GulfWeekly Premiership Trophy deciding encounter between Lordy's chart-topping Dilly outfit and the rejuvenated Rugby Club, plus relegation-threatened BSB's clash with mid-table Saar Eagles, will be in next week's issue.
