A lovely sunny day and a trip to ISCA college to play and Ashmoor side defeated 8-1 in the return leg in November. With a far stronger home record in the league it was going to be tough but the rewards were great with a win or a draw sealing the league title (barring any deductions).

Ashmoor started the brighter and capitalised early on from a short corner deflected by Captain Not So Angry Dan. This steeled the resolve of the TCS table toppers and a slick piece of interplay from Andy Carter and David Grenfell found Bill 'the Hammer' Horner at the top of the D who hit a turning strike into the bottom corner of the goal. TCS were quickly feeling the effects of Captain Dan's heavy night on the lash as he saw a green and yellow in quick succession and the resulting short corner saw a lovely little touch from Stevie G putting the ball between the legs of Julian 'One Touch' Brown to put Ashmoor back ahead. Despite being down to 10 - and then 9 as calm calm Conor Neal picked up a green - TCS equalised through Dan Fowler and took the game to half time at 2-2.

Oh yeah ... there were 3 more cards before we (they) got there however. In a moment of lunacy, Andy Carter swung an arm behind him catching a young Ashmoor defender flush on the jaw. Straight red for Carter and an early bath. Then, after receiving a hefty stick tackle, Stevie G lost his cool and earned himself a green card from one umpire which was then upgraded to a yellow by the other umpire as he continued the argument on the sideline.

After a stern talk - possibly, unsure - Let's just imagine Captain Dan ripped his shirt in a flurry of passion and gave a Braveheart style speech that struck fear and emboldened courage in the hearts and souls of the TCS 10 who were to do battle valiantly for the coming 35 minutes. Perhaps a Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday re-hash:

I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time.

Either these or a replay of every half time team talk of the year - "simple ball" (C Neal), "Keep the shape" (Stevie G), awe filled silence (Any of the young lads), "Forwards and midfield are lazy" (J Brown), "I got tonnes of space, give me the ball" (B Horner) etc.

The second half was a totally different story as a match smart and more disciplined TCS capitalised on a tiring and leaky Ashmoor defence and three goals from Conor Neal, Dan Fowler and David Grenfell sealed the game in the favour of TCS A meaning an unassailable lead at the top of South East 3 (barring any mishaps).

Man of the match went to Conor - I think - very dominant play in the centre of midfield and a beautifully taken goal. DOTD obviously went to Andy Carter whose season could well be done. Special mentions go to Dan Fowler for two well finished goals, David Grenfell for another sterling performance at the top and the all over the pitch, and Alex Bartram for some phenomenal defensive work.