Sunday League 18th January 2004 HASSG Lions and Qandil 3 Barrowman FC 3 Orchard Park Ground Hull, England by Mo

It's chilly and frosty at 10 am when I meet up with the lads in Pearson Park awaiting the rest of the HASSG Lions teams arrival. Accepting an offered cigarette I'm told were playing at Orchard Park where we duly set off by car. This week there was a changing room, where the fellows kitted up and listened attentively to Billal's pre game strategy talk.

The mood seemed confident coming from last weeks hammering of Orion FC at the top of the league. Billal their manager cautioned them not to make any assumptions about todays' opposition, Barrowman FC.

Barrowman FC lie 7th in the league, coming off 2 straight wins against the Kingston Hawks and by default over Skipsea Rovers (who couldn't scrape a team together that week). Two of their players had apparently switched allegiance to North Ferriby.

The Barrowman lads come from Orchard Park, West Hull, Anlaby Road and Bransholme areas, none of which are renowned for their affluence. Enter the Referee, a Ms Jane Cameron McLean, the only female ref in Hull, to inform us that the allotted pitch No 4 is deemed unsafe due to frozen puddles all over the ground.

This is Jane's 6th fixture this morning. With so many games cancelled, she has ended up with us and is relocating the game to pitch 12 to our relief. I follow her out to the pitch to see her helping the teams organize the goal nets and clear the pitch of any obstructions.

Now this is a referee who takes the 'beautiful game' more seriously than any male ref I've seen. Jane referees for the Sunday Men's as well as Women's Premier and North East Counties Leagues. Pete Wray, the Barrowman's Manager, has only been in charge of the team for seven weeks and tells me most of their players have work on Sundays, so getting a team together is a challenge.

Today though, a full squad of 15 turns up. The game kicks off at a furious pace with both sides fighting hard to gain possession, Barrowman FC, though, are getting the upper hand of the midfield with an impressive work rate. They were definitely the underdogs in this battle and were in no mood to sit back and allow the HASSG Lions room to play.

In tune with the flow of play, Phil Brown takes the Barrowman FC team into the lead with skilful individual play to beat the Lions keeper Saed Kamaran (1) with sheer power in his strike. A shocked Lions team recompose themselves.

Despite several scrambles in their own goal mouth, they breakaway through Ramazan Ako (16) their captain, feeding the ball through to Hassan Azad (9) - a player with speed and skill to cause havoc in most defences. True to form he beats the defender and slips the ball past the Barrowmans keeper to level the score at 1 a-piece in the 35th minute. Lions are caught offside again for the second time and pushed right up by the half way line as the Barrowman back four step forward together leaving Mohammed Kaiwan (8) and Hassan Azad (9) both awaiting a through-ball in the cold.

Despite the presence of a female referee, the language on the pitch from both teams is typically Sunday league. Jane McLean deserves credit for keeping the lid on some rather abusive exchanges.

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Sunday League 18th January 2004 HASSG Lions and Qandil 3 Barrowman FC 3 continued Orchard Park Ground Hull, England by Mo

Barrowman attack is relentless and breaks the Lions defence as Graham Walker successfully takes on three Lions defenders to put the ball past the keeper and take them a goal ahead at 2 to 1. With the Lions front runners learning how to avoid Barrowman's offside tricks it is Ramazan Aco (7) Lions captain that latches onto a through-ball to face and subsequently leave the Barrowman's keeper with little chance.

The half time whistle sees the team's level at 2 each. The second half carries on as the first left off, with the Barrowman side fighting hard for possession and stringing their play well together, again dominating the Lions HASSG team. Hogar with white gloves but no bandana this weekend is hobbling somewhat but still successfully feeding the ball out to both wings for the Lions.

A drop ball from the referee is twice passed to the opposing team's keeper as a sign of mutual respect these teams have for each other. Barrowman attack hits the Lions post and the resulting breakaway Lions response is cut short by yet another offside trap, catching Kaiwan (8) out of zone. His frustration leads to a warning from the Referee. Barrowman FC again take the lead with battling guts and determination through Phil Brown for his second goal with only fifteen minutes to play.

An increasingly desperate Lions team make two substitutions through their manager Billal. Mohammed Kaiwan (10) in the attack is pulled off for Dlir Abdulkarim (12) and Mohammed Wafa (2) for Karim Mohamad (13). Lions come back for a final attack with only minutes left to go. Omar Hogar (11) successfully scores before the final whistle is blown to leave the game at a 3 3 draw.

Unfortunately, a visiting Lions supporter from Leeds is excessively abusive to the referee after the full time whistle and tarnishes what was an exciting game between these two teams.

Despite an apology from Billal, the Lions Manager, a complaint will be issued probably resulting in a fine against the Lions. My 'Man of the Match' award goes to the Referee Jane Cameron McLean for a fantastic job today. The next game is February 1st against Skipsea Rovers at Hornsea Secondary school ground.

Team list. Billal Gafur. (Manager) 1 Hamasali Araz. 2 Mohammed Wafa. 3 Jabar Karwan 4 Abdheia Bashir 5 Hassan Azad 6 Saed Kamaran 7 Ramazan Ako. (Captain) 8 Mohammed Kaiwan 9 Mohammed Manaf 10 Suhad Mohannad 11 Omar Hogar 12 Dlir Abdulkarim 13 Karim Mohamad 14 Shahban Askar 15 Hatm Ali 16 Kadir Mariwan

Match Video.	Dialup 38 Kbps	ISDN 48Kbps	Broadband 150Kbs	Broadband 340Kbs
Barrowman Goal (38 sec)	209Kb	257Kb	751Kb	1,734Kb
Lions Goal (2/0) (1min 12 sec)	375Kb	463Kb	1,370Kb	3,149Kb
Play (1 min 10 sec)	369Kb	454Kb	1,344Kb	3,018Kb
Lions Goal (59 sec)	132Kb	161Kb	470Kb	1,085Kb
Finish Up (59 sec)	383Kb	310Kb	1,131Kb	2,601Kb

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