Relegation fears grow for Thwaites......

Thwaites FC suffered yet more misery yesterday with a 4-1 mauling at the
hands of S & W FC yesterday in the Sunday 7-a-side league. The brewery team
put in a well below-par display with manager Dominic Southworth feeling the
wrath of the fans at full-time who were calling for his head. Chants of
'Southworth is a dingle' are sure to have upset Southworth whose problems
have been mounting over the last couple of weeks.

Southworth has been slated in the national press over the weekend after
allowing the bulk of his squad to go round Blackburn town centre on Saturday
night and drink copious amounts of alcohol. It is believed squad members
Dominic Hopwood, Simon Tipton and Jamie Hopwood joined Southworth on a
drinking jaunt this Saturday which ended in total disaster. Hopwood threw a
kebab in a corner exclaiming it was 'Shit'. He left the kebab house situated
on Darwen Street in disgust. Hopwood has been on anti-inflammatory tablets
ever since. Southworth and Tipton were involved in a brawl which led to
Southworth being punched and Tipton head-butting someone in retaliation.
Dominic Hopwood was rushed to hospital after a dodgy kebab gave him a mild
dose of the human form of mad cow disease.

Back to the game then and the first half was a subdued affair with not many
chances falling for either team. However, minutes before the break the
deadlock was finally broken as S & W FC were awarded a free kick at the edge
of the box. The ball somehow got through the wall and evaded keeper Paul
Slater who must have seen it very late. S & W FC remained one goal in front
before the half time whistle blew. A lead they just about deserved with
neither side playing with great fluency.

Thwaites fell to pieces in the second half - their passing was dire at times
and players dragged out of position time and time again. It was only a
matter of time before Thwaites caved in and conceded. S & W eventually
scored two quick-fire goals after some mediocre play from Thwaites which put
them 3-0 up. The game seemed to be over as a contest until Sean Tormay,
capped a gritty performance with a deflected goal to pull one back for the
brewery side. Thwaites began to carve open several chances, Simon Tipton
hitting the woodwork after some neat build-up play with Tabbinor. Jamie
Hopwood and Dominic Hopwood both had drives blocked out before Tabbinor
nearly finished off a fine up-field surge with a goal. However, there was
not enough power in his shot to cause the keeper any real concern.

Match Ratings (out of 10):
P.Slater 7 - Not much to do apart from pick the ball out of the back of the
net.
D.Tabbinor 7 - Solid. Could have scored
D.Hopwood 6 - Gave the ball away far too easily. An average defensive
performance.
J.Hopwood 6 - Not his usual self. Struggled to get into the game at times.
Starved of assistance when he had the ball in dangerous places.
S.Tormay 7 - Gritty performance. Deserved his goal.
D.Southworth 5 - Growing managerial pressure starting to affect his game.
S.Tipton 6 - Going through a dry spell. Unlucky not to have scored when he
struck the woodwork late on in the second half.

Referee 2 - Useless as usual. Made several baffling decisions.

Thwaites remain bottom of the league on 0 points.