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Misato, Sat 21st April. The last time BFC turned out with a bare eleven they were humpteed 4-1 by Hibs in the league. Eleven was all BFC could muster for Saturday's Footy Japan Cup semi-final. They lost again.
Injuries to Taka and Ryo, Pablo's wedding party and Morson's wife going into labour left BFC with no subs. One look at the lunar surface we were to play on and we knew we were in for a long day. Pink Neil was asked to play right-back, adding an extra element of surrealism to the occasion.
Take nothing away from the Geckoes. They deserved their win, secured thanks to a golden goal which was quite clearly offside, although the suspicion is we could have played until dusk and BFC would not have scored a winner.
And yet BFC had looked like keeping their hopes of a league and cup double alive when Shosuke Yamagishi bravely met Paul Wadsworth's cross to score with a header moments before halftime.
Alastair Himmer should have made it 2-0 after the restart when through on goal but a combination of -- a: a lack of composure, b: a monster bobble, c: 3kg of undigested Korean beef in his belly, d: all of the above -- resulted in a tame shot which Geckoes goalkeeper Rob saved easily.
Utter pants and it summed up BFC's day.
Back came Geckoes and, with Carlos struggling with a groin strain and very little resistance from BFC's midfield, the defence came under increasing pressure, although Geckoes equaliser was, from a BFC point of view, a dog's dinner.
Two air-shots from BFC defenders attempting to clear an innocuous cross from the right gave Kosuke Itamura a free shot and he gave BFC keeper Jason no chance. You didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Morson, no more babies during the football season please!!!
Shosuke continued to provide BFC's greatest threat despite another pummelling from the opposition. Again, a lack of protection from the referee left BFC's Marlboro Light with a nasty injury that could rule him out of the next game.
Quick to produce cards for being informed he should be protecting players but keeping them firmly in his shorts when Shosuke was clattered from behind for the umpteenth time, you just knew it was going to be one of those days.
On another day Geckoes' number 2 would have been sent off for persistent fouling but he avoided a ticking off, let alone a yellow. When Shosuke, fed up with being battered, committed his first foul of the game, he was promptly booked.
However, BFC captain Jon Day, who had recovered in time for kickoff after being shoved in a dentist's chair and force-fed tequila by Geckoes players the night before, had a chance to restore his side's lead when he and Shosuke broke through the Geckoes rearguard.
But with both players politely offering the loose ball to each other, Rob decided to come out and claim it himself. Chance gone. And so to extra time, of which I remember very little.
A couple of missed tackles on the edge of the box and the ball was slipped through to Kosuke Kitamura, who, while a couple of yards offside, brilliantly dragged the ball around Jason to slip the ball into the empty net.
Geckoes celebrated as if they had won the World Cup, and why not? They deserved it and we wish them the best in the final, while hoping Carlos and Shosuke recover from their injuries in time for next week's league game with Jetro.
Pablo and Hisako's wedding party made up for the disappointment while news that Masumi Morson had given birth to a baby girl (and several bottles of Dom Peri) helped soothe the aching limbs.
Report by Korean Stirfry
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