Graham ‘the cat’ Burt returned as the Vags goalkeeper last Sunday after his recent jaunt winning silverware in Thailand and pulled off a series of stunning saves to help the Vags secure a point against Zion and in doing so put to bed any aspirations that James ‘wankspider’ Musgrove had of claiming that position for himself. 

With a midfield shorn of Sheard, the Vags started brightly but soon Christmas came early for Zion who were awarded two penalties in 5 minutes. Graham ‘the Cat’ superbly saved the first but could not keep out the second. With the Vags midfield regularly going AWOL out wide there was plenty to keep the defence and ‘the Cat’ occupied whilst Phil and Chris were creating problems at the other end. Lyndsey ( male- it can be a boys name too ) had a glorious chance to score, but didn’t.

The Vags equalised as the half wore on with a sublime goal from Phil Cockerill who doubled his and Vags tally in the second half with another great finish. Cock- a- doodle- doo! – the first Vagabond since Alex ‘brains’ Sahara to score 10 goals in a season.

Unfortunately, Zion levelled a few minutes before the end, they had had us under the cosh for some time but thanks to Graham ‘ The Cat’ and some stout defending didn’t look like they could finish, but they could and did so it ended 2-2.

Standout performers were: Steve Glenn, as always, Garry Robertson in the holding role, Roy out on the left, Phil  and of course Graham ‘the cat’ Burt. A big thankyou as well to a heavily pregnant Hisako, Paco,Pabs, Brian, Tomo,  Phil’s wife,Sarah  and a few others from the bar who stayed and cheered  us on, literally.  Richard Straughan as well who comes to manage us and especially  young Jake for running the line- being substitute and standing there wishing you were on the pitch is a lot worse when you are also banished to the other side of the pitch so you can’t even have a chat with your teammates. Thanks to all of you.

Finally, those not familiar with players in our team may be under the impression that Graham’s sobriquet is something to do with his agility between the sticks. It isn’t, he’s refered to as ‘ the cat’  only because ,perversely he likes to bury his own excrement in the garden.

 Up the Vags