Sparkshop avoid being frozen out

It was a bitterly cold evening yesterday when we played at QE with the pitch harder than I've ever known it as we lined up for a cup game without Kev or Rich in goal. The big fella returned and we had the pleasure of Dave in goal and he didn't anyone down in a solid display only marred by a bizzare goal late on when a clearance struck one of the opposition closing down and deflecting the ball goalwards.

It's a measure of how far we've come that we won comfortably against a team we've been evenly matched against in the past and it should have been more than the three goal to one victory (3 - 2 overall as they start with a goal advantage).

There were plenty of chances throughout and I missed several of them with new Matt dominating in the air and providing good chances from flick ons. One chance did eventually go in with a shot from, for me anyway, quite some distance which thumped into the corner of the goal from the edge of the 'D'.

A second goal had to wait till the second half but Phil had gone very close with a flowing move setting him free wide right and smashing a low shot goalward only to see it smothered anxiously by the keeper. The goal came from Matt C and was a nice finish from a tight angle, my pass being further in front of him than I'd have liked. He made it look more effective with an assured finish.

The thrid goal was from a throw which went no distance and allowed me to control the ball on my chest before hitting home from some distance again. It didn't quite make up for the miss earlier when I'd skied a shot when the goal was at my mercy but I didn't take the time to take a touch and tried to hit it harder than required.

We had plenty of pressure throughout and there was lots of running and passing with Pete and Phil tireless in the middle and Dom and Doug more than solid at the back. Matt C was able to get forward more than in recent games and he linked a lot of the moves together.

The pub discussion this week was centred on crime figures and the death penalty. For what it's worth I've copied in information from the 2009 crime stats (recorded crime).

Police-recorded crime in England and Wales fell 9% in the 12 months to March, latest figures suggest.The statistics also show that while the risk of being a victim is at its lowest ever level, people still think that the rate is going up.

The annual crime report for 2007-2008 reveals the longest recorded period of falling crime - down 48% from 1995.

http://www.epolitix.com/mpwebsites/mpspeeches/mpspeechdetails/newsarticle/miscarriages-of-justice-paper-given-at-the-centre-for-legislation-studies-at-the-university-of-hul///mpsite/chris-mullin/

The above is a link to a paper concerning miscarriages of justice and it attempts to deal with the idea that although there may have been mistakes in the past, things are better now. There are still too many areas in the judicial system where there is scope for errors, deliberate or otherwise, to be made.