Feels like minus 5

[santa sangria]

First game of the season
It's only a preseason friendly
But it's 3rd division of a medium-sized Northern European (proud) nation
And it's in a 10,000 seater stadium
That will be empty
And it will be 1 degree - but feels like minus 5 with the wind chill
There's an empty spot on the line
On the other line is one of the FA's referee managers

... so, do you take the game, it's there, waiting...?

My god yes, with bells on! Let's go! Let's have it!
Baptism of fire... or ice... for this season
I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[SM]

Go get em mate!

 

[santa sangria]

Light freezing rain, not so much wind chill, about 50 fans, not too eerie, buzzers no mics
First was half seemed to be all out from both teams. 2nd half passed without incident.
Impressed by the pace and athleticism. Some very fast and hard challenges on a slippery surface - new to get used to.
I was fine keeping up with play, lots of crabbing, felt great actually.
Slight annoyance after 80 mins when I marred my contribution with a dim-witted half flag - as I started to signal for a push in front of me I noticed my ref was as close as me and obviously not giving it. Maybe in a non-friendly I would have flagged. But in this case I went too soon. My timing had been great up to this point. I put it down to first match of the season blues. That's what practice matches are for
2-2 it finished. And a good morning out in the drizzle!