Big Time Weekends

This weekend has been fairly huge. They don't come along very often, but when they do, I like to call them a, "big time weekend!", most probably due to massive sporting events all in the space of 2 days. This was certainly one of them.

We'll start on the Friday night, and training. I didn't want to go, as I had had a crap day generally for reasons you may well know or not know. And it's fair to say, the session went badly, with people just not bothered or messing around or a bit of both. I was in the, 'not bothered' camp, mainly because I didn't want to be there, but it doesn't help when you haven't got a lot to do as a goalkeeper. Take this, plus the slightly more aggressive gaffer, who attempted, (and failed), to make the session more structured, claiming we have a massive game on Sunday. No one listened. Same old story, really. As you have probably worked out, I didn't care. I was more bothered about Saturday than Sunday really.

When I got home, I was tired. This is a good thing, as I could have a good night's sleep before the big refereeing assessment on Saturday afternoon. I went to bed at about 10, waking up 12 hours later, giving me enough time to pack my bag and generally relax before I left for the dizzy heights of Clifton. I was beyond nervous. I hadn't felt so nervous in a long, long time and driving there seemed to take forever. I couldn't work out whether I was looking forward to it or not, and me being Mitten, I started thinking about whether I actually wanted to do this or not. What's the point in doing it if you're not going to enjoy it? This was the point where I thought, "You're practically there now. It's not life and death, it's an assessment. Enjoy yo'self!"

Yes, I did say that last bit in the style of Rick James. This made me chuckle.

So, I got there and for reasons unknown, I completely relaxed. The worst that could happen was that I get a crap mark and so what? It's not as if it's the end of my life and I do have 2 more assessments to make up for it, (one of which is this coming Saturday! No rest for the wicked!) I met John, the assessor, an old man who looked like he knew his stuff and he simply said, "I'll just walk around", which made it sound less of an assessment, more a walk in the park. Which, for him, it essentially was.

The game itself went fine. I could of done my pre-match routine a bit better, but when it came down to the nitty gritty of the 90 minutes, I was pleased with my overall performance. I made a couple of mistakes, but no-ones perfect and John pointed out a couple of things I could have done better but his general consensus was, "you did well kiddo"! He didn't say kiddo...

So, I drove home a happy enough man, and I am still waiting upon the results of the assessment, which I was expecting today, but will now probably get tomorrow. I spent the rest of Saturday evening simply lazing around, recovering. I had put a lot of physical effort into the match and I was ruined. Despite this, I didn't get to sleep till 5am on Saturday night. And we all know where this is heading...

Yep, I had to be up at 9am for the, "big game". At 9am, I would much rather have chosen bed over football, but given this was a cup semi-final, I figured the adrenaline may kick in when I got there. It did, and I played well. The team we were playing were 2nd in the division above us, and we were strong underdogs. Before the match, we were out there, 30 minutes before kick off, warming-up, looking like pros and by 10.20, they were nowhere in sight. They didn't look up for it at all, although the match itself was very even. 0-0 at half time, after a few handy saves from myself, but we went 1-0 up at the start of the 2nd half. Lovely! A debatable penalty made it 2-0 and the fight of the other team was nowhere to be seen. We maybe relaxed a little, and conceded, but we still won 2-1 and another cup final is on!

Instantly, I pointed out that I wasn't going out on the town if we win this one... Remember last time? Oh dear.

Still, Friday 15th April is the new date to remember, as the old date to remember, is today. Yep, this evening, I find out which County Cup Final I've been put on and I've been told it's a cracker. As long as it doesn't fall on the same date as MAFC's final, I'm happy. I leave in 45 minutes and despite a bit of a struggle with the meaning of 'Smart Casual', I'm looking forward to it!

As for the rest of the week, it's same old. Nothing happens in the week, worth bloggling about, usually. This makes me more normal than I think. Given I live for the weekends.