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Leaving an overcast Hamm, and passing through a gentle flurry of snow at Hannover, JCFC was pleased to find clear weather at his destination - so clear that he could see Blackpool Tower in all its Christmas splendour as he took his seat for

Friday 13th December 2019
Oberliga Nord-Ost Nord
Tennis Borussia Berlin   3   v   2   SV Tasmania Berlin
Tom Channir  (Pankow); Fabian Zastrow, Philipp Gentsch.

Recalling his recent confusion between Bradford Town and Bridgwater Town - having initially used BT for each - the various Ts and Bs were reduced to H and A..The  home side were top of the table, Tasmania just three points above the relegation spots. Unsurprisingly it was the home team that made the livelier start. Within the first ten minutes they were off target with a free-kick from just outside the box, and had seen the visiting keeper stoop to head a through ball clear outside his area. Tasmania responded and came close to opening the scoring when an 11th minute free-kick was curled in, an attacker met it well, but the home keeper spread himself desperately and the ball deflected off his leg. The corner came to nothing and as the home side countered, an attack-stopper  brought a yellow card. This was followed a minute later by a less obvious one for the home side. On 17 minutes the home number 8 beat the offside trap and gave his side the lead. Thus encouraged, they dominated for the rest of the half, with some decent passing and the visiting keeper was kept  busy, making a number of good saves (and one boob, when he miscued a back-pass for a corner.) On 35 minutes, though,  the home side swept forward, number  8 offside all the way, but the passes avoided him until he was eventually onside to score his second.

The second half was a different story, Tasmania pulling a goal back within two minutes of the restart, and drawing level on 63 minutes. Tennis Borussia were somewhat rattled and wasted several attacking chances on their right.through speculative attempts on goal rather than playing it into the danger area. On 77 minutes, however, they attacked on their left and scored their winner, amid claims for offside from the visitors. The closing minutes brought a great block by the visiting keeper, a clearance off the line at the other end,  two yellows as home players fouled attackers - and finished as the home side rolled the ball just wide of an empty net.

The assistants both tried to switch hands, but in a rather haphazard manner. Initial impressions of Herr Channir were mixed, with reservations about his whistle and tendency to over-penalise, but he mellowed and became less obtrusive as the game went on, which is as it should be perhaps. In the end he kept a firm grip on the game in a decent performance. It may be that he contributed rather more than was apparent from the distant stand. So where, knowing JCFC's penchant for Toms, does that leave him in the German list? He could not compete with Tom Bauer, but moves into the silver medal position: the fact that to date there are only two entrants should not be held against him!