On the morning of Saturday 8th May, a team of LOFT players faced a team representing the Leyton Orientear fanzine for a friendly on a waterlogged Hackney Marshes pitch.

And lost. Spectacularly. 1-6, to be precise.

To be fair to the LOFT team, they had never played together before, and for the first 45 minutes the match was very close. Orientear took the lead early on through a lob that dipped agonisingly just under the crossbar, but after that LOFT pegged them back in their half, until a rashly-conceded penalty on the stroke of half-time made it 0-2.

After the break, the 'Ear scored two rapid goals to end the game as a contest. Another two goals (one looking decidedly offside from the sidelines) followed as the LOFT's players' heads started to drop, while at the other end LOFT could not get the ball into the opposition net thanks to a combination of the woodwork and good defending from the Orientear.

LOFT's manager (our sometimes-esteemed Chair, Doug Harper) looked on from the byline, shouting "Overlap!" at random intervals, until finally LOFT scored the goal their play had deserved. In the final minute, LOFT won a corner, and sent everyone up; the ball was played into the box, and it finally fell to the keeper to crash the ball into the net with the last action of the game, prompting a one-man (Doug) pitch invasion.

"6-1 flattered the 'Ear", said Doug afterwards, as he congratulated the Orientear on their win. "We had what was more or less a new team. If I can arrange some more games, then the sky is the limit!"

Pictures from the game can be viewed by clicking here.