Mes Amis breathed new life into their Legal League title challenge with a well deserved 4-1 victory versus the J-Leaguers.

Again Mes were slow off the blocks with the J-Leaguers seeing far much more of the ball in the 1st 15 minutes. The J-Leaguers showed good passing and clever movement, however, the Mes back 4 were well-marshalled by Norman leaving the The Japanese side's best attempts coming from outside the area.

Stuart McInnes missed a golden opportunity to fire Mes in front in the 20th minute when he hit the post with a 20 yard shot when through on the keeper. He had cause for regret when the J-Leaguers snatched the lead 5 minutes later. A ball was played to Kenichi Sekino and whilst the entire Mes defence waited for an offside call Sekino crossed from the right for Toyokazu Yamazaki to put the J-Leaguers in front.

1 - 0 J-Leaguers

When the going get's tough the tough get going. Dowding and the tenacious Nguyen battled hard in midfield to break up the J-Leaguers possession. Off came Yip for the Mes. Yip carrying an injury - a belly injury .. a Pepperoni's Pizza & Ribs Combo ... again - made way for Steven Crane. Birmingham born Crane made an immediate impact, receiving the ball from Dowding and dribbling it into the J-Leaguers penalty area only to be brought down. The ref - the crap one; you know the one; curly hair; doesn't really pay attention ... except for when he's asking for his $240 at the end - waved away the Mes appeals ... probably cos he wasn't watching the game.

The J-Leaguers later had a penalty appeal waved away to even things up - Chopper Rowland bringing down a forward in the area - the 2nd referee probably making amends for the earlier penalty decision

On the stroke of half-time Villa fan Craney hit a delicious shot - bobble bobble bobble - from the right past the keeper's despairing dive. Superbrum - as he is affectionately known - does it again.

1 - 1 half-time.

Unfortunately for the J-Leaguers, Mes Amis found their top gear in the 2nd half. A slick move from Mes as Norman passed to Superbrum on the right, who in turn released Henry "Sign him up for your Fantasy footy team" Turner. Turner was left with a one-on-one and he calmly slotted the ball under the keeper for Mes's 2nd. It was Turner again for the 3rd with a well-taken shot and again it was Ozzy Osbourne fan club president Crane that set him up.

 The J-Leaguers pressed forward in search of goals including a Kanu-esque moment when the ball went over the crossbar from 6 yards out. Tommy Smith Jnr started to cause problems at the other end, and it was his neat flick to Turner, who in turn headed the ball into the path of incoming Ashley Bell that created the 4th.

Bell didn't break stride as he - was running to the ice cream van by the perimeter of the pitch - saw the ball at the last second and before you could say "Zoom ice lolly" the ball hit him on the shin and flew into the top corner. The Mes deserved their victory for a second half of attacking intent after they had shrugged off the blow of falling behind to Yamazaki's early opener.

MOM for Mes - A tough call. Very tough. Great peformances from everyone. Literally everyone. But I think SuperBrum Crane may take it - snatching it from Turner, Nguyen, Dowding, Smith jnr, Norman, Mait ... Everyone.

Yippy