Miracle on Chapi Street

Omens are omens and they were not good as Chapi vets prepared for their next foray.

Picture: Luciano (watched by Lewis 2) , pirouetting elegantly - as his name would suggest - pre-match.

First: Only a bare eleven turned up including old lags the two Lewis's and El Davo.
Second: No goal keeper present and after El Davo vociferously declined, Charles 3 took the gloves.
Thirdly: Our opponents, Boadilla del Monte looked young, fit and good, with two or three subs.

The omens continued and after 20 minutes, Chapi were 2-0 down. No hope left, the unbeaten run over, let's try to avoid humiliation, no other option.

Picture: Before the match. Rafael, looking more and more like his Italian artist namesake, with a pensive baby-face.

Well, with the pressure off, Chapi started to play. Baby-face Robert pushed on to his left foot 20 yards from goal, unleashed a rocket that cannoned off the bar and was bundled in by Lucas. Not long after, Boadilla tried repeatedly (and ill-advisedly) to dribble from their own 6-yard area and in the resulting melee, the ball richoched slowly over the line.

More fun to come. Shortly before the break, baby-face found himself free again and in a one-to-one with the keeper, slotted home.

Picture: A disbelieving and knackered George 1 at half-time.

A bemused Chapi, spent half-time wondering how on earth they were winning. But what the hell! The second half proceeded with Chapi holding out despite (or due to) El Davo's tough tackling, and sometimes fouling, around the Chapi box. The final whistle went and Chapi ran out 3-2 winners.

After a break, it's probably time for more profiles. This week Lucas. A cultured defender or mid-fielder, Lucas did complain some months ago for having his 'air hot' pictorally highlighted on the El Davo blog. A quick interview determined that he works in the building trade and is finding it tough with the crisis. Father to a baby (of indeterminate sex) born in March, Lucas was one of the Chapi stars in the wars (along with George above of course - look hard for the joke!), in the Boadilla match going off with a knee injuring but bravely returning to see in the victory.

A weekend off due to some saint or other will hopefullly be followed by another outing shortly.