The match was supposed to start at eight in the morning.I woke up at 7:30. Which was surprising given the fact that I had gone to bed after 1:30 in the morning after X Men 2 night show, and a movie on Action channel after that. Anant was already up, so was Koushik, who had stayed over with us after the night show. We were all set by 7:50. Several conversations with Ashish on the mobile and we knew that he was coming, so was the other Anant (Tonmoy's roommate). Tonmoy himself has been indisposed following a leg injury from a minor bike incident a couple of weeks back. A quick call to Sumeet K. and he was also coming. We gathered up Ankur Saboo's brother, and made our way to the field. Ankur declined the offer to join us, but promised to come over in some time, if only to watch us play.

We started at 8:30. Only half an hour late, by our standards, that was nothing. There were seven of us to start with and we divided the teams with Ashish, Anant II and Gaurav on one side and Anant I, Koushik, Sumeet and me on the other. However, Ankur came over and joined in on Ashish's side before we started.

The first part of the game was really energetic, and as usual, Anant I and Ashish made their presence felt above the others in no time. Anant II wasn't bad either. The first twenty minutes or so saw a lot of scurrying around, false and ambitous shots going meters over the goal and plenty of ups and downs, the later including Sumeet's downfall!! It was Ashish, I believe, with whom Sumeet collided, and hurt his nose. In fact, there was some blood shed also.

At this juncture, the players took a welcome two minutes break, before resuming without Sumeet. He however showed his grit, and joined in soon, sore nose and all. It was at this point that the opponents (Ashish and Co.) started gaining some ground. They came perilously close to the goal on quite a few times, and it took all the defense's cunning to fend of Ashish's repeated attacks. We however had the first real chance to score, when Anant I's shot went inches above the goal (the goal was about 10 inches high, a stone bench really!) It was then that Ashish and Anant II's foxy maneuvres paid off and they scored, partly helped by a lapse in the defense.

However we did not give up at this minor setback. We pressed on hard, and slowly, the game took a turn our way. After a few more failed attempts, at last we scored, when Anant I's shot from a pass from Koushik scraped the top of the bench before rolling out. As per predecided rules, it was a legal goal. At this point of time, the players decided that they had had enough for one day. Time was called in a mood of mutual tolerance, and a sense of equality.

The two Anants and Ashish were undoubtably the best players. Ankur also came up with some fine display of footballing skills towards the end. (We were short of one pair of boots and Ankur had played the major portion of the match in his slippers!) readers may have noted that I haven't mentioned any of my own contributions, but that is hardly surprising. Footballing skills is not exactly what I advertise in my bio-data, and I generally do not like to mention my contributions to the game, since they usually are favourable to the opponents! Well, you just got a golden hint about a particular lapse in the defense mentioned somewhere earlier. No prizes for correct guesses about it!!!