St. Anne’s 3rds travelled across town to battle against Magdalen 2nds in a game that had more ghouls than sense. Yet despite the match ending 10-4, the contest will be best remembered for Anne’s hauntingly accurate rendition of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ during the pre-match warm-up. One spectator described it as “More blood-curdlingly terrifying than the Haka” whilst a petrified old man walking his dog added that he ‘could have sworn MJ himself was leading the dance”.
Unfortunately for Anne’s, they were unable to transform from their zombie-like forms and carried the horror show with them onto the pitch, finding their defence slashed to pieces in the early stages.
Magdalen’s elusive Tarquin netted five ghouls before the break, before Anne’s Captain Ollie Waring tricked his own defence and treated the opposition with a frighteningly well finished sixth. Chris Lim spooked Magdalen with a spine-tingling consolation, before celebrating by running around in a soon-to-be typical fashion with a pumpkin helmet on his head.
Yet despite being dead, buried and 6-1 down at half time, St. Anne’s refused to give in, rising from the grave and resurrecting their previous form throughout the second half. Under the dim light of the full moon, the 3rds transformed from an uncoordinated bunch of boys to werewolf beasts in a matter of minutes.
Bone-crunching tackles flew in across the pitch, transmogrifying the Magdalen players from vampire lords to rattling skeletons of their former selves as the 3rds started to dominate. The immortal spirit of Matt Waller haunted the park, adding two ghouls; the pick of the bunch being a decapitating strike which almost sent the ghoulkeeper into the afterlife.
Mutated into a forward role, Dan ‘Voodoo’ Nichol injected all the pins, mummifying the Magdalen defence before slicing them apart with scything through balls. A series of bewitching passes then allowed Alex Cavell to ghost through the Magdalen back line, unleashing a daemon calcitration into the top corner for Anne’s fourth.
Anne’s passionate spectres were in great voice on the sideline, ‘wheeey-ing’ every pass Anne’s made, successful or not. Chants as gutsy as ‘8-4 and you still won’t sing’ and the infamous ‘Big Bang’s on the shirt’ provided unerring motivation to the 3rds’ players, whilst sounding more like a banshee’s wail to the dispirited Magdalen faithful.
Yet despite camping in Magdalen’s half, Anne’s defensive nightmare continued, with Howard Jones and Matt Prior burning themselves at the stake with two more well taken own ghouls.
The match ended 10-4, yet despite the scoreline it was the Anne’s players who left the park with their heads held high and a spring in their step. Magdalen, the dominant team for much of the match, were demoralised and disconsolate by the end, as if the grim reaper himself was following them back into the changing room. From start to finish, Anne’s personified everything the fourth reserve league exemplifies: fun, humour, passion and a never-give-up attitude, whilst at the same time providing everyone who wanted to play with the opportunity to. Magdalen may have walked away with a 10-4 statistic in their favour, but Anne’s claimed just about every other victory possible.
