An Ipeland side made of mainly backup players, some included as reserves, played a group of fans selected randomly from the crowd, representing the Iglesian Archipelago, whose players and fans failed to turn up to the match. The Ipeland FA, who realised that the players of the opposite team wouldn't turn up anytime soon, started picking random people from the crowd by seat number. Due to the amateur nature of the fans, the Ipeland manager fielded a team of backup players to keep the first team from getting any injuries. The two 'teams' lined up as followed:
Ipeland (4-4-2): Starters: Fogherty, Maxen, Johnson, White, Donaldson, Lee, Kamp, Carting, Phillips, Saunders, Fr. Simmons Subs: Stainag, Baker, Morris, Marsh, Collins
Fans (5-3-2): Starters: Cox, Harrison, Mason, D. Rogers, Marshall, T. Rogers, Clark, Hall, Patel, Gibson, Griffiths Subs: Price, Williams, Foster, Smith, King
Ipeland were obviously favourites for the game before the fans were decided, and would have been favourites even if the team had turned up, but the team was now made up of men and women from ages 14 (Gibson) to 55 (Price). The fans lined up in white neutral kits with their names scrawled onto the back in permanent marker, with numbers 1 to 16 printed below them. Only one national anthem was played for both teams, the two captains shook hands and Ipeland got the game under way.
As expected, Ipeland dominated the game. But the fan team was not to be under estimated, and the backup defence was given a scare as the 14 year old Gibson shot up the right-wing and crossed it over to Griffiths, who missed the ball, and Fogherty collected it easily. Gibson's run collected some lukewarm applause from the 12,000 fans in Walkden Stadium. As the manager, anticipating a very easy game, took notice of the attack and became more serious shouting instructions at his players.
The players heeded Stainag's words and launched a fast attack heading towards the goal, Carting and Fr. Simmons playing a few one-twos before laying it to Saunders, whose weak shot was comfortably saved by the opposing goalkeeper. Ipeland launched more and more attacks, expecting the fans' defence to crack sooner or later. But the 5-3-2 formation worked rather well and the defense played well, doing tackles expected of quite high end players to dispossess the weakened Ipeland attacking force. The goalkeeper played her part as well, making some fantastic saves to deny Carting two goals.
The players were doing well, but the freak weather conditions, not usual for this time of year apart from by the south coast, played a major role. The wind picked up around the 20 minute mark, and blew at gale force constantly towards the Ipeland goal, which gave Fogherty something to do to keep the wind from scoring. Add to this a thin layer of fog was hanging very low on the ground, just about up to a normal sized man's ankles, which obscured all vision of the ball, means passing was incredibly difficult along the ground. Luckily the wind stopped just around the 45 minute mark, and the fog had risen to just above a normal man's head, which in turn created a lot of problems of it's own, especially from set pieces.
At half time, the fog had all but cleared, but the sky was still overcast and incredibly dull. The perfect weather for a picnic then. One of the companies sponsoring the match had put a picnic hamper under every seat. One of the fans on the closest rows donated one of the picnic hampers found under Price's seat, so the fan team sat on the pitch and had a nice lunch. The Ipeland team and staff joined them with another hamper. The players were enjoying themselves so much they forgot they were in the middle of a football match, so the half time interval lasted about three-quarters of an hour. No-one cared as they were enjoying themselves too much.
The second half was much quieter, despite having both goals in them. The half was mainly made up of passing around the midfield, and the only two shots were the goals. The first shot/goal came in the 66th minute, Fr. Simmons shooting from long range, which was just out of reach of Cox's fingers. The second goal came late in the game, just the allotted added time was supposed to end, Carting popping up and tapping in from a corner.
Overall it was a fun experience for everyone, and not really much of a serious match at all. The next opponent is Grunuik, away.
