We had to sing Maria happy birthday at least 4 times! She is definitely getting to grips with the idea of presents now and is probably already looking forward to Christmas. Grace and Lily were lovely and played very nicely but my sisters were not quite as good forcing us to watch X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing which was fun!

Our trip to Longleat to feed the sea lions

Maria's birthday

Maria enjoyed her cousins visiting from Plymouth and had so many presents she wasn't quite sure what to play with first. The doll's house was very popular with Glen who was playing with it the next morning.

Football updates

Since promotion we've had two hard games and lost narrowly in both. The first match of the premier league was very tough and we struggled to create much in the face of some creative play accompanied by lots of running, a combination which always seems to make us struggle for some reason!

It was only thanks to some rugged defending and excellent goalkeeping that we managed to get near the end only two goals behind. Incredibly we almost snatched a point as I shot and saw the effort deflected off the defender's backside into the net. Moments later the ball broke to release me again but in stretching to hit the ball the contact wasn't good enough allowing the keeper to save.

The last game, our second was a less enjoyable affair in some ways as we created little against an under strength side. Despite their one man deficit, they took the lead fairly early in the game and could have added more as we failed to apply much pressure. At the end of the game it was hard to remember their keeper being forced into serious action although a couple of headers had flown just wide.

It looks like scoring will be the biggest concern as it was a few seasons back but it's early days.

Football update

In the absence of any game for a few weeks and being on half term holiday, I thought I'd take the chance to catch up on the historic past weeks which have seen Sparkshop defy the odds to attain premier league status.

The big game came a few weeks back and saw us take to the field weakened through the loss of the big fella at the back but with a solid looking line up as we took on the might of the third placed side. As might have been suspected the game was a tight affair with chances few and far between. The key moment came into the second half as we turned round goalless. The defence and midfield, as so often this season, were resolute as they countered any threat on goal leaving us foraging on the odd break up front.

The ball was released to manager/skipper/guru Kev who smashed a shot across goal but slightly wide of its target. Fortuitously the ball winged its way to new Matt who reacted with lightning reflexes to sidefoot home from close in. The goal confirmed his status as top scorer in a very successful season.

The table provides all the evidence needed of a memorable season. Just two defeats, one by the odd goal and the other a 8 - 1 thrashing with a weakened side (Doug was in goal but they weren't all his fault!). Despite that result the goals against column shows the strength of the side allowing us to grab wins in closely fought games.

			P	w	d	l	f	a	gd pts
1	Chicken Dippers	10	9	0	1	32	6	26	27
2	Sparkshop	11	9	0	2	27	16	11	27
3	The Unknowns	11	8	0	3	27	6	21	24
4	G-UNITed	11	7	0	4	33	20	13	21
5	Super 7	11	6	1	4	26	17	9	19
6	Layby	10	5	0	5	18	12	6	15
7	FCUK	11	5	0	6	16	34	-18	15
8	Old Guns	11	3	2	6	9	23	-14	11
9	U-Drive	11	3	1	7	18	25	-7	10
10	Dark Knights	11	2	2	7	12	23	-11	8
11	Formula One	11	2	1	8	9	22	-13	7
12	Redefine	11	2	1	8	8	31	-23	7